Picture your 19 year old self. You always wanted to be a [fill in the blank], and you worked hard for it. You took the right subjects, had the right co-curricular activities, checked the boxes on leadership positions and met your number of hours of community service. You met the conditions; or maybe not.
Maybe there were some hidden ones because you didn’t get into the course. Maybe they shrank the cohort in your year and you were excluded as a result. Either way you took a gap year. It was a good time, to gain exposure and experience new things. Suddenly there were new possibilities. The field or career you wanted maybe wasn’t that attractive anymore. But you’ve vested so much. You apply again to the course. You’re so tired, there is so much pent-up tensions.
Nope. Rejected. You didn’t get into [fill in the blank]. Now, that’s liberation. Go lead your life. The life where you are not working for something guaranteed, where you are taking risks because you care about the process of growing, of learning, of being better rather than ‘being someone’. Live the life where you’re defining your own standards and making yourself accountable rather than trying to live up to others’ standards and always feeling like you’ve to justify your worth or abilities to others.