Hi, Your grandmother was telling me a bit about your conversation yesterday. WOW! Being 20 years old ain’t easy.
I heard a comment this morning, a French saying, “Life is like a shipwreck. You save what you can.”
Now, that is pragmatism.
Remember a few things:
To stay sane, you must operate within, what Stephen Covey calls, “Your circle of influence.” (Yes, you have heard me refer to Covey quite frequently.)
There are so many things that will affect your life that you do not control.
This is called uncertainty. Part of becoming an adult is making an agreement with uncertainty – let’s be friends. Give me my share. I’ll take care of the rest.
Right now, you have your life for the next decade charted out like an Einstein equation. And, by the way, I think that is great!! You are very goal oriented. That will serve you very well.
But, you might also recognize that plans, goals, are conceptual artifacts. They help you manage through an uncertain world. But, they are never, ever static. Because the things you don’t control impact your plans and cause you to, guess what, revise your plans. Life is a dynamic. It is said that plans are living, breathing documents (or concepts).
Along the way, of course we will help you with any element of your plans that is outside your capabilities. So, you can relax on that.
But, you must also allow yourself to get comfortable with uncertainty.
Right now, you have yourself off to graduate school immediately after college and you are so focused on your GPA.
But, a year from now you might get a shot at studying in France for a year (or Colombia, or Russia, or China, or London), or something equally exciting, and you decide graduate school needs to wait a year.
Or, you might find yourself in a course that opens your eyes to other interests.
Don’t make too much of a course correction. We love what you are doing and how you are managing it. But, try to take a few extra breaths every time you get anxious, and pull this little note out, read it again, and smile at yourself for being so damn human.
Remember: Always make your bed. Never paddle alone.
