The millennial struggle of having TOO many options
As someone born at the dawn of the new millennium, I am
often overwhelmed with the abundance of options and pathways I have available
to me. Of course, being born into a middle-class family that has always
offered their support has only cemented, if not increased these options. And I
am, of course, eternally grateful for that privilege.
From a young age, I, like many other kids, was often told that I could be anything or anyone I wanted to be (though my parents made a point of frequently suggesting dentistry). And while at the time we’d nod our heads, murmur “yes, Mum,” and hurry back to finishing our Shih Tzu’s agility trial on Nintendogs in peace, for those of us who are driven, self-motivated, and have the tools to chase our chosen goals, they were right. We can, in the most literal sense of the phrase, do and be whatever we want. The sky’s the limit, the world’s our oyster, and whatever other motivational proverb you can think of - they’re all true.
Now, don't let my tone later fool you - I love having all of these options available to me. In fact, it’s what I love most about
life. These options are what took me from being balls-deep in a serious depression in 2018 to standing on a boat in a big, plastic raincoat in the
middle of Niagara Falls crying tears of gratitude
exactly 12 months later. It’s these options, and the subsequent decisions we
make from them, that have the power to get us to exactly where we want to be. However,
for the chronically indecisive Pisces-Gemini like myself, this abundance of
options can also be the catalyst of many meltdowns and existential crises.
In my final year of high school, I was overwhelmed by the number of potential career paths. As I stood in a sea of soon-to-be nurses, teachers, and lawyers, I quickly realised I was one of the few students in my cohort with absolutely no clear direction. My final course preference list looked more like a random selection of jobs someone had picked out of a hat than a thoughtfully curated plan. Thanks to my self-proclaimed, slightly-above-average talent for creative writing, I hesitantly chose a journalism degree - only to realise a month later: “Why the fuck would I want a journalism degree?” and eventually deferred. And truthfully, it took me until recently to realise that the back-up course I eventually chose is actually what I want to do (clinical psychologist, if you're wondering). Hell, even now, I sometimes wonder if I’d be happier in teaching, marketing, public relations, or as a contestant on a reality TV show.
Despite all of this confusion, I have, in my wise age
of 20 years and 8 months, appeared to have stumbled upon the solution. And that is: keep moving. Keep working on being the best version of yourself. Jump from idea to idea if you must, but whatever you do, just keep moving. It doesn’t matter if your life isn’t perfectly curated by 23 (a lesson I have to remind myself of from time to time), and it doesn’t matter if you feel unsure about what direction you're heading in. As long as you're moving, you're one step ahead of where you were, and one step closer to whatever option or goal you’ll eventually choose to chase.
And when you’re taking a break from the grind, feel free to blame your star sign, your upbringing, or Mercury being in retrograde for your indecisive nature like I do.
- Loz
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