When school becomes stressful, many of us tend to hear the phrases “this is pointless, I’m becoming a stripper” or “I’m just going to try and win the lottery” etc. Learning isn’t always easy, we all know it. Especially as the year goes on, we begin to get lazy and not want to work as hard as we did in the beginning of the year.

Most of us are exhausted by the time finals come around, and we usually say absurd things that make us feel comfortable with the fact that maybe school just isn’t for us. Recently, in my case, I’ve been contemplating just dropping everything including my education and my future. It’s hectic times like these when the pressure of doing well gets so high, that we start to slowly become delusional.

I’ve recently been thinking about why such young and talented people go through these times of distress… especially college students. And it's mainly because society has shaped us to believe that earning a living and being successful are the only things that matter.

Not only society but also our parents and our relatives. Since we were little, we began to think about our futures. We looked up to our parents and saw them go to work every day, we admired the homes we grew up in, and we began schooling at a relatively young age. It became a rule to living that every one of us has to have a job, a family, and an average life.

I feel like there is a subconscious voice in most people telling us that this isn’t really what we want. The world is so big and filled with so many adventures and people to meet. Sometimes (even more recently) I’ve been wanting to just let go of all my responsibilities, move far away to some beautiful paradise and live off the land. And yes, I literally mean live off the land, as in wear clothes made of plants and drink from coconuts.

I know I sound crazy, but I feel like I am not the only one who feels this way. Whether it be to Africa, Asia, Iceland or anywhere else exotic, I think we mostly feel like we need to escape somewhere.

Of course, being exposed to the high-tech resources for so long, we probably would have a tough time adjusting to an unindustrialized lifestyle at first. But somewhere along in our genes, we were actually meant to live using the resources provided to us by the Earth.

It’s crazy to think that nowadays in order to achieve a sense of pride you have to prove to the world how much money you make, how grand your possessions are, and how many people like you. I sometimes wonder “why am I really in college?” Is it because my parents are making me, it’s because society says I need an education and I need to make something out of myself, or is it because I really want to do this…

There are some days where I am content with being in school and learning about interesting topics (some, not so much) and I would never want to waste an opportunity like the one given to me. But other days, I think “is this what I want to do for the next third of my lifetime?” It’s hard to look into our futures, but I know life ahead of us is going to require even more effort and work.

We are processed to believe that since the day we were little, we need to make something out of ourselves, and if we don’t, we are considered invalid. Our entire lives are shaped through obtaining this goal that was embedded in our minds that we may not even really want. Some people have a passion and want to earn their dream job, but many of us, honestly don’t know what we want to do with the rest of our lives. And it’s a stressful thing to think about on the daily, especially when academics get more difficult.

So I just wonder if there is a way that we can redefine the definition of “successful” because maybe it doesn’t mean that we need to have a job and earn a sufficient living, maybe it means we need to achieve happiness and peace with ourselves first. Just a thought.