Raise your hand if you have a Linkedin. Now keep your hand raised if Linkedin has provided you with unique and exciting experiences that have changed the trajectory of your life. If your hand is still raised go delete your Linkedin right now and contemplate how you got to this place. But don’t you dare blame Linkedin for this mindset. Sites like Linkedin and buzzwords like “networking event” are simply cogs in a dangerous machine that is propelling you, and me, into a place where we aren’t meant to be…yet.
Here’s the thing about trying to get too far ahead, you get too far ahead. Let me clarify what I mean for all the people scoffing and saying, “well sorr-ee for caring about my future and wanting to be successful.” Please dismount the high horse for a second and take a breath, I am not attacking ambition. What I am criticizing is the accelerating speed at which college students feel the need to grow up; a generation obsessed with time traveling straight into the professional world. Here’s the paradox: a lot of people out there, wish they were back here.
The thing that makes college so awesome is knowing it eventually comes to an end. Not because that means that one day you won’t have any more homework or 8 a.m. classes, but because it means you never get a do over. It is as irreplaceable now as it ever will be, and that’s each day. These four years (or five, you do you) have an expiration date, and that is a blessing. If you had all the time in the world, you wouldn’t care about anything. Thank goodness you only have a limited amount of time in the student section of sporting events because each game is a distinct memory that only a few proud share. Your experiences in college are exclusive, which face it, you love. That 2000 something NCAA championship team, that was YOUR team, you were THERE when IT happened.
There is no other time in life when you will be able to drive to the beach at 3 a.m. with some friends to watch the sunrise just because you want to. Sure, you could that outside of college. But for some reason, it doesn’t sound as cool or responsible when you are retelling the story to some co-workers who are 20 years your senior. I can bet that you won’t get many high fives around the office for the bruise you have on your face because you thought it would be fun to ride rollerblades, while holding a rope tied to a moving vehicle. College is the time to do the unconventional, the irresponsible (sorry mom and dad), the impossible, and the outright irrational. But again, thank goodness it’s not forever.
Yes, college is the best four years, but so are the next four, and the next four, and the next four. Every stage of life is the best stage yet because it’s the only stage of its kind. Some stages might have a few more speed bumps, but the best always do. Why would you ever want to jump forward before you have to? You are setting yourself up to have a bad case of FOMO.
I can guarantee you’ll have better answers to job interview questions if you’ve spent your four years getting a few bruises, rather than connecting with CEOs on Linkedin. Food for thought.
