It’s that time of the year again, when we’re all either returning to or starting university and I think we can all agree that it’s a period of great turmoil, though not necessarily in a bad way. But it’s around these times when we all start to stress out about not accomplishing what we ought to, not moving quickly enough, and not reaching our full potential. We set out goals and promise to establish new ways to remain productive throughout the year but a month in, after everything starts to pile up on top of one another, we forget the promises our ambitious selves made in the summer.
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For some reason, by the time we’re 16, we’re expected to have our entire lives figured out. I’ve had way too many people ask me about my life plan and usually, the first thing I really want to do is very bluntly laugh in their faces and tell them that I don’t think I need one. I’ve had friends that have believed they had their lives figured out since they were 10, but we all know how life gets in the way. And I also have friends that to this day have no clue what they wish to do with their lives. Now the question of the century is this, which path are we meant to take? Or maybe we should begin by simply not asking that question in the first place! Because truthfully there is no way to precisely plan out the exact road someone is meant to take in order to reach success. And maybe the entire point is that we’re not meant to. We go through these cycles where we feel intense rushes of ambition and enthusiasm which are then sometimes washed over because of the chaotic events of everyday life. Why is that viewed as such a negative thing?
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What I’m trying to say is that it’s okay for our plans to change and for us to go through waves of bewilderment. We don’t need to constantly remind ourselves that we need to do more, as long as we’re simultaneously conscious of not becoming lazy and passive. It’s important to never lose sight of who we wish to be but drifting apart from our initial goals and ambitions is not always a sign of weakness or regression. Every once in awhile, it’s important to take a step back and enjoy the little things in life and not worry so much about what the next step in our lives has to be.
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Some people are meant to drop out of university and go backpacking around the world only before being able to find efficient ways to help save the environment and some are meant to go on to a prestigious law school, work at a law firm, and represent influential clients. We all have our own ways of conquering the world and most importantly, we all have our pace at which we go about doing so, it would be irrational to claim one is wrong or right.
Now, I am in no way saying that to plan out your entire future is a ridiculous or absurd way to draw out your future. I just wish to convey that it should be considered okay if life does not exactly map out as expected in our heads because just like humans and emotions, life itself is unexpected, messy and sometimes quite fickle. As human beings, the one thing that should and will always stay the same is change, and I believe that it’s refreshing to embrace that.