Fear. The word itself has a piercing ring to it. We have all in some way, shape or form encountered fear and how we have reacted to that fear can sometimes define us. I'm here writing this to say that any particular worry, on the contrary, can in actuality be the greatest gift and wildest adventure.
It's graduation season and that can mean a lot of things. Excitement, relief, working, hardly working, defined goals and no goals, this time is noted by the mixed emotions and split levels every one finds themselves in. Whether they realize it or not, we are all in the same boat, no matter how much the select few think they have it all figured out.
The truth is we are all going to fall flat on our face in the near future. It may hit us during our first college exam, first job, first roommate, first child--whatever "first" real life situation we are thrown in. We all may have delicately laid plans, but we sometimes fail to recognize that our expectations rarely match reality moment to moment. This is not meant to sound pessimistic, though. The joy of not knowing exactly what will happen next in your life can in fact empower you. You control your destiny and you alone are the only person who can live your life your way, so don't let the bumps in the road decide the approach you take to becoming successful.
Jumping into the unknown is terrifying because you are essentially naked. You are on your own, vulnerable and sometimes with very little shield to protect you from the obstacles the world constantly tries to throw at you. Why is this incredible? Because you get to learn from every fall and every rise. If we all were given our own crystal ball with our futures explained and laid out, living would be so boring and, at times, possibly pointless. I think a major part about living the life you are given is delineated from the times you made hard choices, learned lessons and rejoiced when you surprised yourself. Not knowing what will happen tomorrow, next month or in the next five years gives you the opportunity to dream bigger, think harder and survive stronger because the feeling of ignorance of certainty allows us to think one of two ways: positively or negatively. It is all up to us to decide how we deal with an unpredictable future. We either seize the day, or choose to sit comfortably out of an unconvinced feeling that our goals seem unattainable. I think anyone owes it to themselves to at least try, because, after all, this is one of the only times in our lives where we don't have much to lose.
It is important that we try so we can say we did; regardless of the outcome, a lesson is learned. Pre-Med is not always the major for every one, deciding not to go Greek does not make you antisocial, loans can in fact be payed off with the right planning, your roommate does not have to be your best friend, your high school sweet heart may or may not be your soulmate, these are all things that can be explored. What we must recognize is that we have the time to make these mistakes and journey through the unknown to come to these conclusions.
As J.R.R. Tolkien once said, "Not all those who wander are lost." Our lives were never meant to be plans, but the moments leading up to those plans, what we learn. You don't have to have it all figured out right now to get your happy ending, you just need to believe that adventure is out there, and you are the one who dictates where your ship docks next.
