Boy 1: Man I freaking love Tuna
Boy2: Yeah mate; it’s a bit weird having Dolphin though.
Boy1: What do you mean?
Boy2: Mate, Tuna is Dolphin meat.
Where do you think I overheard the about conversation? A bar? A primary school? Between hooded youths on a street corner?
In fact this conversation was between two university students; students who are working towards a degree that will act as proof of their academic achievement and intelligence.
Recently I have noticed how almost everything in this world revolves around how intelligent you are, and whether you can prove it – for example by having a degree.
During the time that I was away from university because of my ill health, there were times that I was unsure whether I would be able to return at all. I began trying to accept the fact that I may not be able to get a degree – and the thing that scared me most about this was the thought that I would be seen as a ‘loser’ amongst my peers, or unintelligent in job interviews, and even the thought that I would think of myself as being a failure.
Logically I knew that not having a degree would not make people think less of me, and if it did then they are people that shouldn’t be in my life anyway. I knew that you don’t necessarily need a degree to get the job you want. But this did not change the fact that throughout my education I have been made to believe that education is the be all and end all in this life.
It is only since I was forced to accept that I might not be able to further my education that I started to realise that it is not the only way to have a happy, successful life; and in many cases the stress of education leads to unhappiness and failure. I can certainly say that that has been the case for the majority of my life so far.
I have intended to leave education at every chance I got – when I turned 16, when I finished my GCSEs, when I finished my A-Levels, and even after the first year of university. The only thing that has stopped me every time has been my fear that if I didn’t follow the academic path then I might not be able to make a success of my life.
The majority of you reading this will be university students – and only you can honestly know why you chose to go to university. For those of you who aren’t students, maybe you decided that university wasn’t for you or perhaps you didn’t get the grades you needed to go. In most cases you will have made a conscious choice about the kind of life you wanted to have.
At the start of this semester, for the first time in my life, it seemed as though my choice to continue with my degree was going to be taken away from me. During the six weeks I missed of university, I spent every single day contemplating what kind of life I was going to have now that I no longer had a choice. Luckily, my health improved and I made the choice to return to university as soon as possible; but that did not change the fact that I had spend weeks contemplating the life I thought I was going to lead.
Obviously I cannot speak for everyone, but personally I want to share the five epiphanies I had during my weeks of contemplation.
1. Never make a decision based on fear.
2. If you want something enough, there is always a way you can make it happen.
3. The greatest achievements in life will often involve great risks.
4. Things will work out the way they are supposed to – but this does not necessarily mean that they will work out the way you want them to.
5. Anything which compromises your happiness is not worth it.
So whether you have a degree or not, I urge you not to judge yourselves entirely on your academic achievements or failures.
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