Now that this school year is in full swing, I imagine that many people have been thinking about their future: what career path will I follow and what steps do I need to take to get there? Grappling with these questions can help clarify your wants and passions, they can help you get started on your journey, whatever it may be.
Even if you have no clue what you may want to pursue in your life, starting with a shortlist of things you might want to learn about or are passionate about can quickly unfold into an intense reflection on what you might want to look into. You may consider your likes and dislikes, your strengths and weaknesses, and eventually be faced with the "authentic" you. On the other hand, if you know exactly what you want to pursue in your life, then figuring out the steps you need to take to reach that goal can be incredibly helpful. Making such a list is especially helpful for those who need help staying on track, specifically over long periods of time, because they may lose sight of their end destination, but may I submit that making a hopeful career path is just as inhibiting as it is beneficial.
Before I say anything else, I need to emphasize that the exercise of thinking about your future in such a way can be incredibly helpful to those who need guidance, those who are completely lost. But once you find your path, you need to be very careful that you keep your eyes open. Planning your career and visualizing certain steps helps you to keep moving forward, from staying stagnant, but it can also keep you trapped. The box that you're stuck in can simply turn into a tunnel if you are not careful enough.
Once you realize your end-goal, then it is easy to focus solely on it, because, in all honesty, if you know what you want, then what else matters? But this mindset can inhibit you from seeing new opportunities that arise while you are on the path, and it will keep you focused on an idealized version of yourself that your outdated-self created. Every step you take on your path will change you, whether minutely or massively, but you will not be the same person nonetheless. As you change, what you want to accomplish may change as well, but you may not even realize this shift if you are stuck in your tunnel.
"Slow down and smell the roses" has never been more applicable. The path you are on is surrounded by beautiful passions and wonderful ideas which you need to slow down to appreciate. Within these passions and ideas, you may find a new career path or subject you want to study, and you can honestly disregard them if you want because just by acknowledging them you are grappling with how you have changed. Reaching the end of your path without acknowledging such shifts can be incredibly detrimental. Suddenly you are at the finish line with nothing else to pursue, no other activities or fields to indulge yourself in. You're suddenly stuck in a job with nowhere to go; an incredibly predestinial predicament.
Of course, you won't be as stuck as those who believe in predestination, but you definitely won't be as free as those who slow down and take their time, those who do not know, or even desire to know, what the end will be. So just slow down every once in a while. Once you wander off your path, you may get lost in the wilderness, but thankfully there are more paths to follow, and even more to create.
