What Passion Brings to the Picture: The Difference Between Making your own Path and Following Others
I recently attended my first high school competition that was not about volleyball, I took part in FBLA's SSLC event. For context, I am an extremely dedicated volleyball player who loves competition and all the strong emotions that come with it. Believe me when I say I love getting mad on the court. It makes me that much more willing to go up there and slam the ball right in front of the opposing team's face. Much like volleyball tournaments, I had to wake up at the crack of dawn to take part of this FBLA event. My morning went much like how it would have if I were going to a game. However, when I stepped into the conference, I realized truly how similar these two competitions were. I could feel the tense competition and smell the desperate need to win one of the sparkling plastic trophies. Nobody had sacrificed their Saturday to come watch others win, not if they could do something about it. I didn't think much about it then but why were we all gathered at this random location with complete strangers?
The answer would be clear at a volleyball tournament, yes, you are surrounded by random girls but all of them love volleyball, just like you. There is something that ties it together and is a clear purpose. If we think about it the same way for FBLA, everyone at that conference must love business and have joined this organization to become a successful business leader. Trust me, half of the people will choose to major in computer science.
The two class system is nothing new to society: the rich over the poor, the pretty over the ugly, the kind over the mean, the educated over the uneducated. No one hopes or works for a life with a 9 to 5, a happy family, and a small town lifestyle. As a society, a fear of being average has developed among us. People who seem to be above the rest lecture and make videos about how to achieve greatness. Because of this consuming fear to be ordinary, everyone follows the "rules" without questioning anything too deeply.
Everyone knows that they need a 4.0 GPA, dazzling awards, and intricate extracurriculars. Next they learn about the achievements of people in Speech and Debate, Robotics, and ASB. Suddenly, everyone goes on to join these organizations without understanding or caring what they stand for. How can one expect to be successful by doing this?
So why were people at this FBLA conference if I assume that they do not truly care about business? They believe this is the path to success: competing in random events and trying to win unimportant awards.
High schoolers are now so scared of being average that they follow this path created by others, which forces them into boring places full of boring people to work towards meaningless goals. It's understandable to want to get into a good college, but trying to do so by making your life a copy of some other student's resume is not a smart approach.
The bigger idea here is that we are all different because of the way we were brought up and our surroundings, so none of us should have the same definition of the word success. This would mean all of our paths and lives are different, but as we approach graduation everyone seems to be a clone of each other. Our youthful years are filled with stress so that we can accomplish the same things as everyone else and end up not having a real impact in the world. You will never succeed in a field that you do not have full commitment and passion toward. In your chosen career, you will be competing against people who have so much love for their career that they will work day and night. This will bring them the accomplishments you hoped for.
The modern expectation is for kids as young as 13 to spend their days studying and working toward a good college. We need to make decisions about how we are going to spend the rest of our lives after living for only about 10% of it. Since either way you will be expected to work hard during these years, you might as well choose a field that you enjoy. This way, you can use the small amount of happiness at its maximum potential.
This fear of mediocrity that engulfs all of us is not the root problem here. It's that we are so scared of not reaching our goals that we try to find success by copying others. This pressure to be someone who is memorable and exceptional should motivate us to take risks and keep on going even if it doesn't work out. This should use it as motivation to be yourself instead of allowing it to cause so much anxiety that we become everyone else. Real success is not measured by trophies or medals; it's waking up at the crack of dawn to go to an event and knowing exactly why you are there.
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