Edited By Lasya Adiraj
After a long and fruitful holiday, we are due to undergo the churn of academic rigour that the upcoming semester will bring with it. However, this semester will be special for a reason, it is when we must decide our majors. Our ticket to future employment or higher studies. For the academically ungifted like me, the decision to choose a major is an uphill battle. This is primarily due to a lack of foresight and my generally incompetent decision-making ability. The pandemic has been massively debilitating and the fear of not measuring up to one’s own standards only adds to it. If this potent mixture of anxiety was insufficient, there is also the constant tug of war between practicality and passion.
At a time when many disciplines are simply becoming ‘irrelevant’ and other promising ones are brimming with superiorly talented competitors, where is a middling student to go? After boosting one’s morale from over twenty odd pep-talks on YouTube, the mind comes up with this, “Do what you love doing and everything else will follow”. A very deceptively feel-good statement, which can cause severe harm if not reined in by reason. You see, being reasonable means coming to terms with the all-pervading mediocrity in our life. A middling individual like me is no Menuhin or Mozart. Passion in a particular area is directly linked to the level of skill one has and is willing to gain over a period of time. If there is a general lack of skill in an area, then the time spent developing that skill could be invested elsewhere with better outcomes. For a mediocre individual, this decision is very difficult because there is a great deal of uncertainty and risk in listening to passion arising out of an average skill level. Today, if you aren’t among the best at what you do, minimal job satisfaction and eventual resignation are imminent. This gives birth to professionals who are ‘figuring out’ what to do, later in life. Not that such a situation reflects poorly upon them. Only the satisfaction of getting it right the first time is lost, sometimes forever.
There are exceptions, of course. Many people have become tremendously successful after progressing on the wrong path and changing course later on. So, reason dictates that the mind is perhaps making a good point. Maybe, doing what you absolutely love can take care of all other aspects on its own. After all, what explains those sudden Eureka moments all too common in famous success stories, where seemingly insignificant chain of events driven by the unrelenting passion of an individual, change the course of their life and history. Surely, there is some hidden power in passion, something which isn’t apparent at first but makes itself known if the passion is strong enough. Reason wants to believe, the mind is cheering it on, and yet some doubt always remains. Reason’s doubting nature is a double-edged sword. Not only has it saved the mind’s skin several times but it has also given it unforgettable retrospective regrets. Ironically, indecision, which arises out of overthinking, is worse than impulsive decision-making arising out of the mind. A life of relative stability with no major achievement or fulfilment is lacklustre when compared to a life fraught with initial hiccups but with major achievements and fulfilments eventually.
Reason wants to gamble, it wants to close its eyes and manifest the dream into existence. It abhors the idea of suffering each day at a job it didn’t want and will never enjoy. It is delighted by the prospect of reaching new heights by the dint of skill in the passion-driven job it never wants to leave. Reason has now appealed to a higher power, a power which can only be present in a mind with tremendous self-belief. This higher power is conviction. The same conviction which moves mountains and turns atoms into weapons of mass destruction. The same conviction which has created infamous dictators and cherished Messiahs of emancipation. This conviction is the difference between the masses and those who lead them. In the face of harsh conditions, defeat & unimaginable risk there is but one recourse, ‘Audacity, Audacity, Audacity, always audacity’. These words were used by George Patton, a distinguished WW2 General of the US Army. He was a man who believed that those who weren’t bold enough simply did not deserve success. Truly, even if one succeeds without such risk taking, where is the joy in such a victory?
In the same spirit, those who have even a small spark of passion should not hesitate to pursue the same as their career. Hesitation in this case only certifies insincerity or the lack of passion. A failed attempt at pursuing one’s passion is still better than a successful one at something else. So, there is nothing to lose if you are truly passionate. Pursuing a major of your choice, so long as you enjoy it, is the best possible course of action. For what it’s worth, maybe your passion will nullify the prevailing notions about the discipline. Maybe, like Einstein and Newton before him, you will, ‘Make your discipline great again!’. So, get out there and live dangerously. Proceed with a strong conviction and face the world. Remember, Greatness is always accidental, but the effort behind it is always deliberate.