This is your final year in school. Your past four years have been an on-going spiral of a plethora of ups and downs, spanning genres of different kinds of drama. Now, you feel like you are in a place of security, on campus at least. I mean most of you have probably experienced as much as you feasibly could in these last four years? Before you even smirk at this rhetoric, I would like to give you second to pat yourself on the back. You have made it this far with many mistakes and accomplishments, but obviously, our journey does not end here. The inevitable awaits us, and it is closer than we would like for it to be.
As a person who has always feared uncertainty, I am feeling apprehensive in taking these next steps. Honestly, I do not know what the future holds for me. Pursuing a Biochemistry major with an economics minor may not be enough, and there are so many moments of hopelessness that gangs up like an ever-consuming abyss. The light is difficult to find when you are so overwhelmed and caught up in the moment of complete anxiety and concern. What if I am not marketable enough? What if my social skills are completely off? The worst and most vague question of all is the: “What if I am not good or smart enough for my career?” Unfortunately, there is no way to judge yourself in all of these categories. Companies look for different qualities, and while you may think that you are not qualified, do not sell yourself short. There is more to you than what you put on paper, and you know that.
Part of me is noting all of this for my own self-assurance and the other part of me is also coming into agreement with some of these realities. This is a market economy, and sometimes it is difficult to think of ourselves as humans when we are just easily disposable to any institution, but you have to think realistically. If they use you, you have to use them back. Your education has granted you to see both the ghastly and the more beautiful parts of our structure. Though we may not agree with it, we do have the power to change it.
I am a senior now in college; what now? Do I even care about my work, or will people ever give a damn about it? For some of us, we go into a career with purpose, but for the great majority, the purpose comes along with the work. If you are unsure now, do not be afraid to lose yourself into the exploration. If we keep exhausting the cost of every decision we make, we will limit our choices. There is no reason to over-analyze something that is uncertain. Though I have many problems with the structure of the market economy in the US, it is important to understand that there is an opportunity for everyone within the system. The true pride exists in the way we want to accomplish our life goals. At the end of the day, content and security matter the most.
Life is not linear but rather a web. If you visualize your life this way, not only will you have opened an avenue of opportunity, but you will have also given yourself the opportunity to be a well-rounded human.
