Straight Paths Are Boring
As a junior at a fast-paced university, I find it difficult when I feel unsure. It’s hard to have questions about my own future when it seems everyone is walking around with sure answers about their own. How, in the world, are they so sure?
One day, it hit me: they probably are not.
At the end of the day, we are all just guessing. We were guessing when we thought that Notre Dame was the best school for us. For some of us it was. For some of us it wasn’t. That is OK. We were all just guessing when we chose our majors. Some of us were right—some of us were not. Shockingly, that is still OK. And, we’re all just guessing now. We’re all just guessing what the versions of ourselves in 30 years will be fulfilled in doing every day as a career. And, we’ll be OK.
It is terrifying to think that we have to know now. It is comforting to know that we actually don’t. You may be wrong about the career you choose in the next couple of years. So… change it. And, you’ll probably be happier. It really is that simple.
It is hard to grapple with the idea that, as 18-year-olds, we are expected to sit down, choose the best university to shape our futures, and the best major to complement our careers. I knew nothing at 18. I know slightly more than nothing now, and I have so much to learn. The little that I do know, I will share:
If in 30 years, I am going to an 18-year-old to ask them for advice on what career path is best for me, then something is going pretty wrong. So, why is it that we are expected to choose, as 18-year-olds, for our distant future selves? I think it is society’s problem, and not ours.
I know it is hard to step off the hamster wheel that is trying to reach success after working so hard at Notre Dame. But, I think it’s one of the most important things we can do for ourselves: to stop and think for a second whether we are really happy. If we are not, then we can change.
So, I conclude that we need to give ourselves a break. Success, however you define it, is not running from you, it is waiting for you, and it is rare that success is reached on a straight and narrow path. Take risks and take turns, and if you need to, CHANGE. As my dad often says: straight paths are boring anyways.