When someone makes a decision, he is really diving into a strong current that will carry him to places he had never dreamed of when he first made the decision.” These words are from Paulo Coelho’s “The Alchemist,” and when thinking of the past four years, they seem almost an understatement. Over four years ago I made the decision to apply to Washington University early decision and it wasn’t until the summer before freshman year that I visited for the first time. At that point in my life, I put a very important decision, one that has defined who I am up to this point, to luck. I’d like to spend some time talking about the last four years and how the only thing I ever should have expected was, well, the unexpected.
Every year of college I felt like I was inundated with challenges, hard times, good times, and above all else I felt that I grew a lot. During these moments I met people I never expected to meet, developed connections with people who had recently been strangers, and had some people leave my life. Like the current mentioned by Coelho, my life took many turns, sometimes good, sometimes bad. But what I always tried to remember was that it was leading somewhere, and that fact was hard to conceptualize since I didn’t know where it would take me. After each year I left school confident that I had grown and that I was finally maturing and developing stable connections in my life – I mean, why expect your life to dramatically change from year to year?
And like clockwork, each time I went into a new school year I was expecting very little change. I think it’s normal to have such confidence-if we felt that life was always going to throw us a huge curveball we’d never feel stable, or even positive that we could handle the challenges that come at us every day. So each school year started the same, reconnecting with friends and trying to remember a new class schedule.
Somewhere in the tunnel vision of getting homework, reports, problem sets, etc. done I would slowly make decisions or actions that would point me in different directions, unknowingly leading me to change. Part of this change was developing new connections, meeting new people, and losing touch with friends I already had. Some of these people who came into my life were there only for a few moments – perhaps just to help me get through something, or vice-versa. Some people came in and have stayed, forming strong connections that persisted despite the academic workload, co-curricular obligations, and other stresses.
Seemingly by the end of the year I would look back and realize how far I had come, how many new people were in my life, how many had left, and all the memories of great moments and challenges that I had gone through with those people. Yet, just as quickly as I would realize the lesson I would start assuming the next year would be the same, only to be surprised once again.
At this point, you may be asking why I’ve traced through this whole story; or if you’ve given up already, it doesn’t matter since you’ll never read this and I could say something like “David Ader is awkward”. My point in sharing the thoughts are this: we, as seniors, are entering a new chapter, just like a school year, where we will be confident in ourselves and be hopeful that our existing connections will remain in place. While I wish I could say nothing will change, I encourage everyone to be open to the possibilities that life will bring, the connections with new people, and to find something in life that you are passionate about, and follow it through. I’m at the point where I want to start giving advice, or maybe utter some words which will stick with everyone for the rest of their lives, but I don’t think it’s my place nor am I eloquent enough to says something truly profound. But, it seems appropriate to say something borderline clich‚ and obviously applicable: be passionate, take chances, and expect the un-expected.
As I said above, you never know where the current will take you, but rest assured it will be a lifelong experience that you’ll enjoy and if you pay attention, maybe you’ll learn a lot about yourself along the way.