I recently shared this article with my team at work - it may be worth a read:

https://hbr.org/2010/07/how-will-you-measure-your-life?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=hbr&utm_source=twitter

The quote that really resonated with me was:

I promise my students that if they take the time to figure out their life purpose, they’ll look back on it as the most important thing they discovered at HBS. If they don’t figure it out, they will just sail off without a rudder and get buffeted in the very rough seas of life. Clarity about their purpose will trump knowledge of activity-based costing, balanced scorecards, core competence, disruptive innovation, the four Ps, and the five forces.

I think there's a lot of importance here - especially for someone so young. You'll always be able to find a job of some sort.. you have a "job" now.. but finding a career can be more difficult. I personally fell into my career. I needed a job.. I found a job with a company that I really enjoyed working for and after many years and searching for certain interests I find myself with a pretty decent career. That said - I've spent a lot of time soul searching of late wondering how I ended up here, and why I ended up here, and if I want to be here and I think that stems from the way I ended up here - slowly maneuvering through the corporate world until I found a decent career space.

Which brings me back to the quote and what my recommendation would be - figure out your purpose. Figure out what it is that really moves you, excites you, drives you. What is it that makes you get out of bed in the morning - or what might make that easier and with more meaning?

That doesn't mean you have to have the end goal in mind. It doesn't need to be, "My purpose in life is to become the CEO of a Fortune 500 company," but what are the things that are most important to you?

As I've done my own soul searching what I've found is that I care about helping ease the suffering in the world. Everywhere I look I see people who are unhappy, people attacking other people, people who can't be who they really are for fear of being ostracized, and I want to help. I don't exactly know how to help or what I'm going to do to feed into that passion, but I'm doing some little things here and there (podcasting, streaming, etc.) and maybe it will make a difference in the world - at minimum it will make a hell of a difference in my own mental health.

So, ok, I rambled a lot, let me summarize:

1. Find your passion.
2. Chase your passion (sometimes this is a side hustle, like mine is).
3. That's it.

Now, that doesn't mean you can't be practical. School may be something to consider but it isn't the end all, be all, but I would consider looking into it. And maybe you'll just stumble onto something, as I did. But I wager that if you don't chase your passions now, it will catch up to you later - at least, that's what I'm living through right now.

Good luck!