For when you haven't figured your life out yet
From a fellow passenger
When was the last time you ever felt that everything in your life was all sorted out?
By “sorted out”, I mean you actually knew what you wanted to do in your life. If the answer is no, it’s alright, almost 90% of the answers are always no.
You’re only getting there.
But why is it that we always feel the need to achieve a set of goals within a stipulated period of time? When did we start building this self-imposed pressure?
It all starts the moment we enter college. After a relatively stress-free school life, we’re suddenly put in an atmosphere where almost everyone feels like a stranger and so competitive in nature. You don’t know who’s who and what’s what. This only builds up the pressure to grow and compete. And thus, we all inevitably and unintentionally enter a rat race
OR
it starts when you’re molded to fit and tick all the boxes out there for a perfect life.
Anyway, the donut chart shown below depicts the stress levels among the college students all over the world. Nearly 45% of the students are stressed about their future. Who’s to blame? The constant fear of recession. It’s the competitive nature and the rising inflation levels in the world right now, coupled with the declining trends of the job market.
But this still doesn’t answer our question —
“When should I have my life figured out?”
There is no perfect timetable but only a contingent plan in case you fail to figure it out. The contingent plan being an overly concerned friend asking you — “What’s the backup plan, bro?”
Here, ‘figuring your life out’ means doing something that actually contributes to one’s happiness, aligns with their goals in life and helps them survive OR it means owning a fuck ton of money by slogging your ass at a 9-to-5 job at the cost of your peace.
But does it contribute to your personal development in life?
If the answer is NO, you are just surviving, which isn’t bad either. While some chase money, others prefer satisfaction. To each their own, I guess.
Either way, we are humans at the end of the day, we get BORED. We lose motivation when our life gets monotonous. Even the most creative job in the world has its own negatives of losing or finding inspiration for further innovation.
The same stagnant routine of — “wake up, get ready, travel, work for 9 hours, develop your career, attend some meetings, hear some feedback from HR, get choked for puking out new ideas, be humble about it, travel back, stay fit, socialize, sleep” is fucking exhausting. This only leads to burnout and discontentment.
Even if the above-mentioned routine was applicable to all (technical and creative fields), we are bound to hit a breaking point between satisfaction and happiness. They’re no longer capable of co-existence.
Otherwise called — “the mid-life crisis”.
A study conducted by LinkedIn says that career pivoting has become more common in the past few years, where lack of clarity has led to young adults in changing careers altogether for some change in their routine. They finally figure what they want to do with their life. Although almost everyone seeks career advice after they hit this stonewall.
The above crisis is bound to happen unless you somehow find something you’re passionate to work on before you enter the job market. Maybe the moment you decide to stop falling in line and build your own path to happiness is the key to end this crisis.
It is indeed a blessing to know what your goal in life is. While some people keep trying to figure their life out until they breakdown, others simply can’t be bothered. It doesn’t matter if you’re 22, 35, or even 50 years old and how many setbacks you face, chances are that you’ll end up working on whatever that makes you happy.
Before any major life-altering career changes, we tend to keep funding our dream job by working in a 9-to-5 job until we refuse to compromise anymore and drop a big fat fuck you in the resignation letter. I believe this is necessary to satisfy one’s necessities.
Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that you need to put in the hard work and some self-reflection on your interests inorder to figure your life out — it won’t just happen. It’s easier said than done.
I’m aware that I’m no one to be advising you on what to do or what not to do but I do know that change originates from within and it’s never too late to click the restart button.
Remember that you’re not alone but just another passenger who’s taking your time and figuring your life out. Until then,
Thanks for reading The Statistician!
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I’d like to mention a post — “feeling lost in your thirties” by
. She talks about this exact feeling of being lost and stuck in between expectations from life. Please do consider reading it. Thanks x
This was a really insightful read!