Life can be tough. As college students, we are beginning a new chapter of our lives, making major life choices, finding out who we are, and discovering our place in the world. We have numerous people counting on us to do well. Our families, who want us to get a degree, find a stable job and have a family. Our high school teachers back home, who hope to see us do well at major universities and make our hometowns proud. Not to mention the huge expectations we all have for ourselves. This outside pressure can seem like it is coming down on you, overwhelming you to the point that you are unable to do well.
In the end, our parents, professors, and past teachers cannot make the grades or do the work for us. The only expectations you need to handle is your own. Before making others proud, you must decide what your definition of success is. If you have met your goals and achieved what you desire, the approval of others will follow. I have learned this lesson multiple times in my short time as a college student. When I first talked about college and enrollment with my parents, they were deadset on me going to medical school, even though my passion has always been politics. They didn't see being a politician as a suitable career, as most of them are "crooked" in my parent's opinion. They didn't view politics as I view them, as a platform to help others and change the world Don't get me wrong, we had plenty of arguments and heated debates over my future. In the end, we mutually agreed that if I was going to be successful in college, I would have to enter a field in which my passion was obvious.
Though my parents were not ecstatic, they came around. This is a perfect example of one of the hardest lessons I have had to learn: you can make everyone around you happy and still be miserable with yourself. In the end, you have to find something you are passionate about and run with it. It will be so much more fulfilling than anything you could ever choose to please others. At the end of the day, the only opinion that matters is your own. I feel that as college students, we tend to lose sight of this. We need to remember we are here for ourselves, to give us the best opportunities to be successful in the world, to make something of ourselves. We can never get caught up in the sauce. If we stay true to ourselves and our beliefs, the rest is gravy.
