Some days the bravest thing is saying “I don’t know yet” instead of pretending to have a plan.

Pretending to have it worked out buys you a comfortable conversation and costs you the help you might have been given. People offer useful things to somebody who is openly undecided and nothing at all to somebody who sounds settled. Admitting you are still working it out also keeps you from committing to a plan you invented just to end an awkward question. Honest uncertainty is more useful than a confident guess.

Next time somebody asks what you are doing after school, say you are not sure yet and name two things you are looking at. Then ask what they would look into.