Multiple Lives

Purpose: Many students face a great deal of anxiety because they “only live once.” This causes trepidation in the major and career decision process. Some students have a good idea of a group of alternatives, but the fear of heading irreversibly down the wrong path keeps them from deciding. This is a different problem from simply not knowing what matches their interests most. The multiple lives activity is intended to allow you to consider what each major or career path would mean for your ‘life path.’ If you are still trying to decide what you like, this activity is an opportunity to demonstrate what activities you enjoy and what activities you would like to experience in life.
This activity will enable you to:

1. Recognize that few major or initial career decisions will set your future in stone.
2. Understand what aspects of each major or career you find most attractive.
3. Recognize what competing values are attached to each of your “multiple lives.”
4. Consider what activities or life goals hold the highest value for your futures.

Process:

1. List what paths you would take if you had the chance to live up to 10 lives. This could include any number of life paths but some examples could be:
   
   1. Beach Bum
   2. Physical therapy
   3. Be a doctor
   4. Backpack through Europe
2. Describe each of your life paths in writing. Consider asking:
   
   1. What parts of this life are most appealing to me?
   2. What is keeping me from choosing this as a major or career path?
   3. What activities or parts of this life are most unattractive?
   4. What more would I need to know about this life to feel confident in choosing it as a major or career?