Does Anyone Know What They’re Doing In Their 20s?

Image courtesy: Hanna Fiorino 

Your 20s are a time for exploration, but sometimes that means you’ll get lost. Your college, career, and social life make it easy to get pulled in all different directions. 

I’ve been exploring the entire time I’ve been in college. I started as a political science major. Now I’m a journalism major with a film minor and a hobby designing clothes. 

I thought through all of that, and I would figure out what path I was meant to go down. But now, a year away from graduating, I can confidently say I am more lost today than when I started college. And for the longest time, that scared me. 

The entirety of 2025, I felt alone. Everyone around me seemed so put together. My roommates had always known what they wanted their lives to look like, and with graduation slowly approaching, it felt like I was the only one who didn’t. 

It didn’t help being a journalism major. The first journalism classes I took made a point to tell you to leave the program if you weren’t passionate about what we were learning. The people I was surrounded by were people ready to devote their lives to journalism. Although I love learning about it, I chose the major on a whim. I enjoyed writing and thought, why not? I had no idea what journalism actually is. 

I spent my first semester in the major feeling lost and behind. It seemed like everyone already knew what questions to ask, how to interview people, and how to write the perfect article. It was like everyone had taken a secret class that I didn’t know about. 

It wasn’t until last semester that I met people who felt similar. The girl who sat next to me in one of my classes shared how she didn’t know what she was doing in the major either. A friend shared that she changed her major twice. One day, my roommate came home saying that she wasn’t sure her major was the right path for her. 

Through all those conversations, I realized I wasn’t alone. Everyone is finding their own direction to go in. I learned that it’s important to share those feelings of being lost. It doesn’t make that feeling go away, but it does make the path ahead seem a little clearer. 

There’s a strange comfort in knowing that the people around you feel just as lost. Being able to talk and laugh about it feels like such a weight off your chest. 

I hate thinking about my future alone, but I love sharing what I think the future could look like with friends. Talking about what careers we could have, the places we want to live, and the people we want to meet makes me excited for the life I have ahead of me. 

My friends and I constantly joke about moving to New York City together. We talk about road trips we could take and foods we need to try.

I am no longer scared of how lost I feel. Instead, I’ve started to think about my future’s uncertainty as an unlimited opportunity. I don’t need to know what my future is going to look like. All I need to know is that the people I’ve shared so many memories with here will continue to share memories with me in the future. 

Strike Out,

McKenna Fiorino

Edited By: Olivia Wagner & Sarah Franquelo

Photography By: Hanna Fiorino 

McKenna Fiorino is a journalist for Strike Magazine Orlando. She is a junior journalism major at University of Central Florida. Outside of writing, she has an extreme love of fashion and film. In her free time, she's either screening a movie or designing something new. You can connect with her through her email @mckfio2005@gmail.com or her instagram @mckenna.journals