The future and all that terrifying stuff

Since this passion post is supposed to be a little shorter, I thought I’d touch on a topic I feel like I talk about a lot, but that I haven’t put into blog-form yet this semester.

I know for most of us here at Penn State (and especially for those of us in Schreyer), it was never really a question of whether or not we would come to college, but rather a question of where we would end up going.

For some of us, our major was even somewhat decided for us before we ever really stepped foot on a college campus – just expected to become scientists, or lawyers, or businessmen/women without ever really having a concrete reason why, other than “I’m good at it,” or “I like it”.

And this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it is limiting when you consider how many different kinds of lives and careers don’t follow the traditional college-job-marriage-kids-retirement blueprint. And it’s stressful too: who hasn’t had a stress-related breakdown at some point in their school-career?

We have so much pressure put on us to always reach for the very highest rung possible, and if we fail to reach it we feel ashamed and defeated. But why do we need to push ourselves to constantly be moving up if we would be happier staying somewhere in the middle and doing our best there?

I think it’s always a good idea to take a moment to step back and realize that just because you think some far away goal will bring you happiness, really only way to be happy is to enjoy what you have at a given time. If you’re always living for a better future, you’ll never enjoy what you have. It’s just hard to learn that balance between working to live and living to work.

 

4 responses to “The future and all that terrifying stuff

  1. What is kinda funny about this post is that I was just ranting to my roommate about this topic! I was walking around my room being all like, “Well who say that I have to do that? I’m just going to join a zoo and train whales!” As my result to stress from all of my classes. I do think that it is important to put stress on ourselves, it is what drives us to do better, but I do think that it is important to think about why we are putting the stress on. If it is something that you enjoy and are doing for yourself I think that it is fine. But when the stress is caused by something you hate then it just hurts. I think that this post is really relatable! I’m glad that you decided to post this. I hope you have stress-free summer!

  2. I completely understand where you’re coming from! I came into college thinking that I wanted to be a pediatrician, get my PhD in genetics, etc. Over this first year, I’ve realized that’s not what I really want to do. There are a lot of other things I am far more passionate about, and I realized that just because I liked genetics and biology in high school, doesn’t mean I should necessarily make a career from it. I used to think that this meant I had messed up, that I was lost – because I no longer knew what I wanted to do. But in fact, it just means I’m closer to really finding myself. Realizing what you don’t want to do is an important step in realizing what you do want. I’ve also decided to change my major, and I’m really happy with the decision.

  3. While it can put a lot of stress on yourself to keep striving to be better, I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing. Like yeah, it’s good to appreciate what you have and what you’ve acheived, but to want to keep pushing yourself is part of human nature. If we didn’t, there wouldn’t be Olympic athletes always breaking records or new scientific discoveries. The problem is when we forget it’s ok to take a break or slip up. One bad grade isn’t the end of the world, so don’t let it drag you down, but it’s ok to want to be better than you are. That’s part of growing and part of life.

  4. I think we can all relate to this post! When I came to college, I fully intended to become a doctor. My brother was in med school, I liked science, and my parents were really into the idea. But when I got here, I realized the whole science thing just wasn’t for me. I had liked bio in high school, but that’s about it. Recently, I came to the decision to switch my major–and I have never felt more relaxed or excited about ym future career!

Leave a Reply