clueless!!!

CLUELESS!!!!
BY PRIYASHA CORRIE

I think one of the worst crossroads that a person can come across is the one where you have to choose a career. It sounds so simple-just choose a career and go for it!!! At least that’s what I thought until I realized there is so much that goes into making a career decision. The worst part of the story is that at that junction of the crossroad -I had no idea which track I had to tread. In other words ..I was totally CLUELESS!!!

I’ve had so many dreams ever since I was a kid. A police officer, a sportsperson, an astronaut, a doctor , a scientist, an engineer…(some of them sound really hilarious!) I don’t really remember all of them because my ambitions have changed as fast as a chameleon changing its colours! It’s funny when you end up choosing something that you never dreamt of taking up. That’s what happens to most of us. One of the amusing twists in life, you know!

One of the most important lessons I have learnt about making a career decision is to always aim for the best. If you’re not good enough to be the best, there’s probably something else in store for you where you can prove your worth. Why waste time in being a mediocre professional or a graduate? You may not reach your dream destination by aiming big and putting your heart and soul into your achieving goal but you sure will get what you deserve in the course of time. It’s hard to say how but the answers to those questions are some of the things that go way beyond our comprehension or control. I’ve started to sound so philosophical!!! But this is something that I truly believe.

My second realization is that it’s imperative to choose your career early because the more time you have, the more you discover yourself and your career, the more time you get to mould yourself with respect to your career. Now I may sound like those grown ups who just can’t stop giving those boring lectures about careers, working hard for it and so on. But at the end of the day you just can’t underestimate all that has been said because a career is something that you have to live with throughout your life. And you don’t want to end up with something that doesn’t leave you satisfied. For instance, at the outset of my 11th standard, I had decided to take up engineering after a lot of thought. I even joined coaching classes for the prestigious IIT institutions. But I could feel the pinch after a little while as I found it pretty hard to cope up with the studies. I just wasn’t happy studying the subjects where I couldn’t bring out my best. That’s when I realized I had to change for good to do something that I enjoyed. It was a tough decision and even though I wasted a lot of time in that imbroglio I did learn a lot about myself and have emerged out two times wiser.

I’m sure that there are many of you’ll who have to be classified as the ‘clueless’ group just as I had been (thank goodness I’m not anymore!). I know how hard it is to settle upon something but take my word-always follow your heart. You don’t have to believe and do what others want you to .You don’t have to shine academically to reach the top. You don’t need a college degree to be successful. That’s because the word impossible does not exist! But what you need is to believe in yourself and stay positive in this negative world. It’s your life and you have to live your dream not somebody else’s.

There was a very motivating advertisement I had come across some time back. I don’t exactly remember the exact wordings but it went something like this –“you cannot cross a great abyss by taking two small steps”. At some point or the other you have to take risks and you cannot escape that. No doubt, failures are always going to come your way. But the good news is that they are successes turned inside out. And what’s the fun in life if you are always successful in everything you do? To value the good times in life, you’ve got to go through the tough times.

Coming to think of it, wasn’t that bad being ‘clueless’. And so to the ‘clueless ‘ gang and the ones in line to join the bandwagon-it does pay to be clueless! You may ask why but it’s best when you discover the reasons yourself. It’s not hard to see the silver lining in the cloud. For just as failure is a stepping-stone to success, being clueless is the one of the steps towards making a good decision!