Life Is Not a Race

Go to high school. Stay four years. Graduate. Go to college. Stay four years. Or not? If you are like me, either you are in my same place and not graduating in society’s pressured, “four years of college” or you’ve been there. Maybe you are lucky and you graduated “on time”. Let’s talk about this.

Thankfully for me, many people at my stem school go the five-year track to graduate because that’s how long it takes to successfully pass many engineering/science/technology courses. Comparatively to my peers from high school I am feeling pretty left out/ left behind. If they went to college, they are all graduating on time from four-year universities. How would I know this? We have a Facebook group from the year we graduated and somehow it blew up for the first time since we were seniors and everyone is like, “WOW, guys look at us all graduating! Congratulations”! To read that and not feel like a failure in a way is hard. I should not be feeling like this though, I am getting two majors and staying for an MBA. Obviously, I will be at school longer. So many of my classmates have started families, are engaged, and getting real jobs. It is so hard to not feel like a failed by not graduating in four years.

However, what I keep reminding myself is that school is not a race. It is not a race to get to the finish line before anyone else. In the game of life, your only competition is yourself. You are the only one who will know how hard you tried and how much you cared at the end of it. When it comes to people getting engaged/married/starting families, I just remind myself that I am only in my early twenties. I do not need that yet. There will be plenty of time to settle down. I am content where I am in my life right now. While it may be taking a bit to get there, I am still getting it done and isn’t that what truly matters?

Things to think about…