Society puts a lot of pressure on people to follow the social norm; go to school, get a degree, find a job, work the day, get a spouse, buy a house, have 2.4 kids (whatever the average is today), save for retirement, grow old and die. The only mandatory step is the last one.
Based on my observations some people are happy on this path and some people are not, for a myriad of reasons. You are on step 3 and now thinking "wait a minute, is this what I really want?". (Consider yourself lucky to have this question now and not on step 5 or 6 which is a disaster). With out knowing who you really are, what you believe and what you want to do with your life you will be unmotivated, disinterested and ambivalent in your actions. It also leaves you open to falling in with a bad crowd, doing drugs, drinking or mindless sex, etc. as a substitute for a fulfilling life.
Nobody can answer the question of what will make you happy and unfortunately the schools do virtually nothing to help young adults actually achieve adulthood, which I define as being epistemologically independent, i.e you must set aside social and family pressures and think for your self and decide what YOU want to do. Thinking is a solitary act. You stand apart from society and process information, decide what is true and false or right and wrong. When you are done you can share your results with others (to share what you have learned or to get help if you get stuck) but you can't share the process, it is strictly yours. In today's world, finding solitude and being alone is become harder to achieve. Society actually is suspicious of loners but, at root, a thinker is a loner. Many people (the most unhappy as I can tell) are actually afraid being alone. Here is a good article on the subject https://theamericanscholar.org/solitude-and-leadership/#.VUc... but I would argue that being a good follower requires solitude too. We can't all be leaders but a follower must still think to wisely choose who to follow.
With that long preface here is my advice;
1) Read that article I referenced above and reevaluate how "connected' you are with social media, forums, email, smart phones, etc. Maybe its time to take a break and be alone for a bit. Take a short vacation, a cabin in the woods or at the lake and completely unplug and be alone with your thoughts without interruption for a few days. Become comfortable with your self. Alone.
2) Read Ayn Rand's books "The Virtue of Selfishness" and "Philosophy Who Needs it" and ignore the social pressure to dismiss her out of hand without actually reading what she said. Think for yourself and decide if her ideas are true or false. Ignore everything she wrote on politics, its a distraction to your current problem.
3) Start writing a daily journal. You can't understand your self if your thoughts, feelings, emotions, motivations are all floating around in your head without clear identification and analysis. If you do only one thing on my list do this.
Based on my observations some people are happy on this path and some people are not, for a myriad of reasons. You are on step 3 and now thinking "wait a minute, is this what I really want?". (Consider yourself lucky to have this question now and not on step 5 or 6 which is a disaster). With out knowing who you really are, what you believe and what you want to do with your life you will be unmotivated, disinterested and ambivalent in your actions. It also leaves you open to falling in with a bad crowd, doing drugs, drinking or mindless sex, etc. as a substitute for a fulfilling life.
Nobody can answer the question of what will make you happy and unfortunately the schools do virtually nothing to help young adults actually achieve adulthood, which I define as being epistemologically independent, i.e you must set aside social and family pressures and think for your self and decide what YOU want to do. Thinking is a solitary act. You stand apart from society and process information, decide what is true and false or right and wrong. When you are done you can share your results with others (to share what you have learned or to get help if you get stuck) but you can't share the process, it is strictly yours. In today's world, finding solitude and being alone is become harder to achieve. Society actually is suspicious of loners but, at root, a thinker is a loner. Many people (the most unhappy as I can tell) are actually afraid being alone. Here is a good article on the subject https://theamericanscholar.org/solitude-and-leadership/#.VUc... but I would argue that being a good follower requires solitude too. We can't all be leaders but a follower must still think to wisely choose who to follow.
With that long preface here is my advice;
1) Read that article I referenced above and reevaluate how "connected' you are with social media, forums, email, smart phones, etc. Maybe its time to take a break and be alone for a bit. Take a short vacation, a cabin in the woods or at the lake and completely unplug and be alone with your thoughts without interruption for a few days. Become comfortable with your self. Alone.
2) Read Ayn Rand's books "The Virtue of Selfishness" and "Philosophy Who Needs it" and ignore the social pressure to dismiss her out of hand without actually reading what she said. Think for yourself and decide if her ideas are true or false. Ignore everything she wrote on politics, its a distraction to your current problem.
3) Start writing a daily journal. You can't understand your self if your thoughts, feelings, emotions, motivations are all floating around in your head without clear identification and analysis. If you do only one thing on my list do this.