"Oh, what are you going to do with that?"

"Oh, what are you going to do with that?"

This is the second most commonly asked question I get when I tell people my college major is Anthropology.

[The number one question, for those of you who might be curious, is "Isn't that like the study of bugs?" Which I give those people credit, they're close, but they are thinking of Arthopodology. Although why more people have heard of the study of bugs than the study of humans I'm a bit baffled.]

Now before college and during the beginning this question used to fill me with pride and excitement. I was passionate about it and would eagerly tell people about my dreams to travel the world, meeting all sorts of different people.

Oh how glorious and adventurous my future was to be!

But then I moved out of the college dorms where the government was essentially paying for housing, food, and the education. Without much parental help I was, for the first time supporting myself financially. I had learned the meaning of supporting one's self.

[For anyone reading this who is either going into college or has kids doing the same, get out of the dorms as soon as you can! Most colleges require the first 18 hours to be in the dorm but after that get out! Seriously. I figured out that I was paying essentially 800+ per month for room and board. That means me and my roommate were paying 1600 dollars per MONTH to live in a one room apartment with a crappy meal plan with food that'd soon turn your stomach.]

Suddenly the question made my stomach drop and my head spin. I came to dread it because I could finally understand what people were really asking me: "Will you be able to make enough money to survive?"

Okay, I realize intellectually that I was putting words in people's mouths. The truth was, I was hearing my own questions and fears in their words. Most people were just genuinely curious.

So there are three answers that I could give to this question. Each with their own truths and lies.

The first being the most simplistic and honestly the most naive:

"Companies and governments use anthropologists to integrate business and different cultures globally so hopefully I can get paid to travel and work with different people."

The second is the one which I've clinged to lately to save me from my own scorn. But I avoid telling people the whole thing for the main fact that it is a defensive answer and I know people aren't trying to attack me:

"I know very intelligent people with 'practical, realistic' degrees who are struggling to find a career. So instead of getting a degree that is specific and will serve me in one field that is sure to change by the time I get out of college, and possibly not even exist later down the road I have anthropology. Anthropology could easily be sold to an employer as the study of communication between different peoples. In this era cultures are increasingly clashing and grinding against each other so a person who could navigate through this chaos would be a valuable asset."

The third answer is perhaps the most honest but depending on my mood can be told with either stupid optimism or blind depression:

"I have no idea."

And I really don't have a solid idea, at least not one that I'm willing to bet everything on. But here is the thing, we live in an unsecure world, in both a positive and negative sense. So while it is good to have a plan, it should be seen as just as important to be able to adapt to a changing world and know how to seek opportunities.

So have a plan. Have a backup. Have several backups. But also have the confidence to let go of plans and adapt with change.

As my mother would always say, no matter how difficult things got, "We'll find a way, we always do."