The Drifter's Paradise

I have a question that has been plaguing me.

Why are you going to college? Is it so that you can get a good career?

I've been looking around myself at my fellow college students and I can't help but wonder why they're here. Are they honestly motivated by a need for a career? Are they truly in pursuit of a reality that consists of repetition and ritual?

I look at my fellow classmates and I wonder if they see that after they graduate they'll be doing the exact same thing for the rest of their lives, no matter how many different jobs they have.

I look at the many adults I know, and the countless others I don't and I wonder: if they knew then what they know now, would they make the same decisions?

I don't think many would. There are so many adults that I know who do not at all like the job they are in. So many that, if they could, would do something completely different.

What is a mid-life crisis if not a cry for salvation from the life they are in? What, if not a frantic plea for a "back" button, a reset button? I see this and I ask myself, "Why, even though they can plainly see what happens to people who do this, do young people perpetually follow in the steps of their parents?

Newsflash: the path your parents took is not the one you want! Look around! How many adults you know can honestly say that they are happy with their life? Not content with their situation, but actually happy with their life? Maybe a few, but when put up against the masses of the unhappy, they are a tiny minority. Yes, there is a small chance of happiness. But there is an even bigger chance of unhappiness! Why take the risk?

Are there other ways? Sure. Do I know any off the top of my head? Well, that's something you'll have to find out for yourself. Happiness is different for every person. My happiness is not your happiness (I promise!). It is certainly possible that a regular, routine, repetitious 9-5 career is what will make you happy. But my guess is that it won't.

I can really say only this: find what makes you happy and embrace it. Find what makes you unhappy and dispose of it. Don't let a false sense of purpose drag you into a life-long servitude to society. There is more out there than you can fit into 8 hours of play. I promise.