With the start of the spring semester, the pressure to be the best version of ourselves grows. For some, it may feel like time is running out, that there is no time to wander or second-guess ourselves. While we are encouraged to follow our instincts, we are also expected to make the correct decisions for our future.

The pressure to make the right choices can be both positive and negative. Throughout life, we may occasionally find ourselves driving on the wrong side of the proverbial road, but we will swerve back or move somewhere where that’s the correct side. This is very much the case for students trying to finalize their decision of college disciplines. When people are under pressure to succeed, the validation that money and fame bring commonly comes first, resulting in poor decisions for their overall happiness and satisfaction with their life in the future.

At first you can pretend that the money will bring you happiness, but how long can that lie be maintained? Thoughts like, “This is it, this is what I was supposed to be doing with my life,” are facades that become increasingly transparent over time. It is when those facades begin to crumble that a person must choose: crash, swerve back onto the road or move to a place where they accept your way of driving. Peer pressure and expectations of monetary wealth are factors in that choice and while some people become stuck in their chosen path, others begin to pave a new path for themselves in order to avoid a life setback.

As a graduate student, I have friends who are at this crossroads. Some students choose to change their majors, others decide to pursue their own individual interests. It’s perfectly fine to be lost on your journey. In this imperfect world, one does not need to be flawless, but you do need to make decisions.

Courage is when you decide and take a leap of faith into the unknown, even if it means taking a detour.
True strength is admitting you are unhappy and making a change, no matter how frightening the prospect may be.
True success and wealth, is that which no dollar amount, fancy job title or social validation can ever compare to; it is happiness.