Are You Ready to Ditch the Crowd?

For an indecisive Libran like me, picking a career and sticking to it seems like a mammoth task. 

 

With the cut offs being announced in a few days, I’m still as confused as a deer caught in headlights, wondering what is it that I would end up doing.

If you’re anything like me, you would surely loathe following the crowd. Disappointingly though, we live in a society where not opting for conventional options is still a taboo for quite a number of people, let alone buckling up to try out something fun and new. People will surely look down upon you, at least initially, for treading an unfamiliar territory.

I look around and see a number of students, just like me, eager to follow into people’s footsteps with great alacrity. They are ready to give up on themselves, their dreams and aspirations-  which they never explored. We have been conditioned to blend in the crowd in such a fashion that any slight deviation results in death glares and strange, “what-is-wrong-with-this-person” looks. I would say that it stems from pressure and an inbred fear of defiance. This pressure could sometimes be both external and internal.

Internal pressure could be us trying to put our own selves in testing waters. Sometimes there is an inner voice discouraging us and saying, “You are not good enough!”

And then there is external pressure.

I have experienced the latter and have seen people experiencing it numerous times. And honestly, it is beyond me that why would anyone even bear it!

Ever since we began schooling, from our families to teachers, everyone pushed us to not just excel in academics but in extracurricular as well. But when someone suddenly decides to pursue a career in that sphere, why is it looked down upon by certain people? Sadly, those people are not always our old relatives, sometimes they are our friends as well. (I still remember how once a friend of mine put down a course like English Hons saying “it has no real substance”. And yes, I still vehemently disagree!)

It deeply troubles me to know that creativity is not a criterion for judging how lucrative a career plan could be. People are hell-bent on getting into a Stephens, getting to do B.Com Hons, trying to score 99.99% that they are losing themselves. It’s time to stop and see the writing on the wall!
Why are we trying to turn ourselves into cardboard cut outs of each other? Why is it so far reaching to dream something big, something different? Why is our horizon always limited to strictly academics?

No, I’m not asking anyone to change their career paths. I’m asking them to stir the pangs of passion inside! I want you all to ask yourself, “Is this what I’ve always wanted to do?”

Because there’s nothing wrong in doing English Hons despite being a science student. There is nothing wrong with getting into National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) or Pearl Academy after studying commerce. And there is sure as hell nothing wrong with a humanities’ student taking up Philosophy Hons.

Mark my words, you can never find your innate happiness by doing B.Com Hons from Hindu than you can by doing Journalism from DCAC, if the latter is what you truly desire. Sometimes, it is more than difficult to find your true calling. But finding it and choosing to ignore would be foolish.

So, let’s take an oath that before the list of cut-offs comes out, before we start ticking our preferred courses on that OMR form,- that we will be honest to ourselves. We would not let XYZ’s opinions dictate our decisions. Because it would be US who would have to live with those decisions, which would probably turn into regrets.

Therefore, let the skeptics blabber all they want, let them disparage our decisions and look at our choices with as much of disdain as they can possibly accumulate, but we would end up doing what pleases us. Because if there is something as fulfilling as succeeding in life, it is succeeding in something that you actually enjoy!