Planning ROUGH

When I was in elementary school, I used to dream about what my life would be like as an adult. I would construct fantasy homes in my head, fantasizing about the day I would one day have a car and a job and a family of my own. After all that dreaming, I yearned for the day I would be considered an adult. From as young an age as eight, I was already planning for the rest of my life. Naturally, planning is necessary, for without it, we wouldn’t have a future—at least, not a very organized one. But as I grew older, I began to notice how much routine my life is. I spend so much time setting myself right track that I sometimes forget what I’m doing it all for. In fact, there are things I wanted way back then that I no longer wish for as I’ve grown older. It took me a long time to figure out that over-planning may wind up useless, and even ruin the present.

From the moment we are born, our parents set us on the track to success. We have a couple years to enjoy pure fun until we are put into preschool and then the never-ending domino effect of planning begins. As children, we constantly wish to grow up faster and be like those “cool older kids.” Once teenage-dom hits, we yearn to become adults so we can be free and independent. In high school, we immediately start planning for college. In college, we study and cram for grad school. See the pattern? There’s so much looking ahead. But amidst all our planning, we forgot one important thing: now.

In our hurried attempts to keep moving forward, sometimes we end up losing sight of why we’re moving forward in the first place. The most relevant case for us right now (especially those seniors out there) is to get into college. What’s the point of college anyway? It’s is a place to discover one’s passion and hone one’s skills to perfect them into useable tools for a potential career in the future. Most of us need higher education because simply put, we are too young and inexperienced at the moment to know what we want to be doing for the rest of our lives, or at least, we aren’t quite prepared yet to be the surgeons and astronauts of tomorrow. College is not a goal; it’s a means. But far too often I’m noticing that people are treating it like the former instead of the latter. So question: are people going to college for the right reasons? Do they want to go because they genuinely want to better their education and/or make a difference in the world…or simply because that’s what they’ve been planning for all their lives?

It doesn’t matter what you do or how much planning you put into something if you don’t end up where you want to be. People change, and so do dreams. There’s no point in working so hard towards a new goal only to realize that once you’re there, it’s not what you wanted to begin with. By that time, you won’t even have enough happy memories to take a trip down memory lane. No one knows where they’re going to be in 10, 20 years. The only thing I can say I’m sure of is what’s happening right at this very moment. So I say, relish the present—go on road trips, take cooking lessons, perform in a play, do things “just because”. You’ll only ever have one present.

When I was in elementary school, I used to dream about what my life would be like as an adult. I would construct fantasy homes in my head, fantasizing about the day I would one day have a car and a job and a family of my own. After all that dreaming, I yearned for the day I would be considered an adult. From as young an age as eight, I was already planning for the rest of my life. Naturally, planning is necessary, for without it, we wouldn’t have a future—at least, not a very organized one. But as I grew older, I began to notice how much <of a> routine my life is. I spend so much time setting myself <on> right track that I sometimes forget what I’m doing it all for. In fact, there are things I wanted way back then that I no longer wish for as I’ve grown older. It took me a long time to figure out that over-planning may wind up useless, and even ruin the present.

From the moment we are born, our parents set us on the track to success. We have a couple years to enjoy pure fun until we are put into preschool and then the never-ending domino effect of planning begins. As children, we constantly wish to grow up faster and be like those “cool older kids.” <”cool older kids”.> Once teenage-dom hits, we yearn to become adults so we can be free and independent. In high school, we immediately start planning for college. In college, we study and cram for grad school. See the pattern? There’s so much looking ahead. But amidst all our planning, we forgot one important thing: now.

In our hurried attempts to keep moving forward, sometimes <,> we end up losing sight of why we’re moving forward in the first place. The most relevant case for us right now (especially those seniors out there) is to get into college. What’s the point of college anyway? It’s <It> is a place to discover one’s passion and hone one’s skills to perfect them into useable tools for a potential career in the future. Most of us need higher education because simply put, we are too young and inexperienced at the moment to know what we want to be doing for the rest of our lives, or at least, we aren’t quite prepared yet to be the surgeons and astronauts of tomorrow. College is not a goal; it’s a means. But far too often I’m noticing that people are treating it like the former instead of the latter. So question: are people going to college for the right reasons? Do they want to go because they genuinely want to better their education and/or make a difference in the world…or simply because that’s what they’ve been planning for all their lives?

It doesn’t matter what you do or how much planning you put into something if you don’t end up where you want to be. People change, and so do dreams. There’s no point in working so hard towards a new goal only to realize that once you’re there, it’s not what you wanted to begin with. By that time, you won’t even have enough happy memories to take a trip down memory lane. No one knows where they’re going to be in 10, 20 years. The only thing I can say I’m sure of is what’s happening right at this very moment. So I say, relish the present—go on road trips, take cooking lessons, perform in a play, do things “just because”. You’ll only ever have one present.

When I was in elementary school, I used to dream about what my life would be like as an adult. I would construct fantasy homes in my head, fantasizing about the day I would one day have a car and a job and a family of my own. After all that dreaming, I yearned for the day I would be considered an adult. From as young an age as eight, I was already planning for the rest of my life. Naturally, planning is necessary, for without it, we wouldn’t have a future—at least, not a very organized one. But as I grew older, I began to notice how much of a routine my life is. I spend so much time setting myself on the right track that I sometimes forget what I’m doing it all for. In fact, there are things I wanted way back then that I no longer wish for as I’ve grown older. It took me a long time to figure out that over-planning may wind up useless, and even ruin the present.

From the moment we are born, our parents set us on the track to success. We have a couple years to enjoy pure fun until we are put into preschool and then the never-ending domino effect of planning begins. As children, we constantly wish to grow up faster and be like those "cool older kids”. Once teenage-dom hits, we yearn to become adults so we can be free and independent. In high school, we immediately start planning for college. In college, we study and cram for grad school. See the pattern? There’s so much looking ahead. But amidst all our planning, we forgot one important thing: now.

In our hurried attempts to keep moving forward, sometimes, we end up losing sight of why we’re moving forward in the first place. The most relevant case for us right now (especially those seniors out there) is to get into college. What’s the point of college anyway? It is a place to discover one’s passion and hone one’s skills to perfect them into useable tools for a potential career in the future. Most of us need higher education because simply put, we are too young and inexperienced at the moment to know what we want to be doing for the rest of our lives, or at least, we aren’t quite prepared yet to be the surgeons and astronauts of tomorrow. College is not a goal; it’s a means. But far too often I’m noticing that people are treating it like the former instead of the latter. So question: are people going to college for the right reasons? Do they want to go because they genuinely want to better their education and/or make a difference in the world…or simply because that’s what they’ve been planning for all their lives?

It doesn’t matter what you do or how much planning you put into something if you don’t end up where you want to be. People change, and so do dreams. There’s no point in working so hard towards a new goal only to realize that once you’re there, it’s not what you wanted to begin with. By that time, you won’t even have enough happy memories to take a trip down memory lane. No one knows where they’re going to be in 10, 20 years. The only thing I can say I’m sure of is what’s happening right at this very moment. So I say, relish the present—go on road trips, take cooking lessons, perform in a play, do things “just because”. You’ll only ever have one present.