Stephen Culligan
Staff Writer
“Are you sure?”
A crucial juncture has been reached in our lives. For three years the line of the path has been enveloped by a smoky fog so that we could neither see in front of us nor remember too succinctly what came before. Our minds have been moulded, our bodies changed, and our personalities shaped since we first bundled in through that earned arch in search of something that we didn’t yet have.
College gave us the chance to play a life-game of Stars in their Eyes. The sliding doors of the arts block allowed us to say “these next few years, Matthew, I’m going to be….” and we finished the sentence with all the new things we could manage to attach ourselves to. The real end of that sentence, for most of us, was “not what I have been for as long as I can remember.”
Constellations appeared invitingly before us, pleading for us to join and shine together in the form of something unique, yet strikingly familiar. And shine we all did. In the way that came natural; like awkward, horny and confused students in a rush to get absolutely no where.
That is exactly the position that we are now standing still in. No where is not a place to be embarrassed of, nor should we be ecstatic that it is where we are. It’s the starting point. It means that the last three years have lead to this one big one where we decide, now that the trail behind and in front of us has revealed itself, where it is we want to go. And it is this “want” that I plead with everyone to become a little bit more sure of.
“I want to work for this company, or this organisation, or postpone my decision for at least another year.” Before you make that statement and continue on the path that you consider your destiny, please ask yourself one simple question;
“Are you sure?”
The answer will not be yes and it will not be no. It is more likely to be “I don’t know”. And so this simple sentence becomes the big unknown that we must find a solution to before we should move.
The answer can be found, not by trying to peak at what’s in front, but by turning backwards and leering down that trail that you blazed to get here. As a business student, I have been hounded with the notion that we must always look forward and search for what is missing and fill that gap. I challenge you now to forget that misplaced notion. Instead, find that gap within you and fill it with everything that has come before today.
Those people in the suits giving out the free pens and reassuring smiles are there to lead you down the route from which they came. Like the father that leads Hansel and his sister through the woods, their job is guide you for their own best interests, not for yours. They convince you that it’s a desirable route because other people are looking at it too. They impose deadlines and abstractedly question you until you’re convinced of the legitimacy of their promises.
If you think that you are one of these convinced people, please ask yourself this one simple question;
“Are you sure?”
Or is this the self importantly complicated economic notion of “bounded rationality” in action? Have you let the limitations of the information available, the finite amount of time and the cognitive restrictions of your mind force you to this conclusion? If so, keep searching, expand your knowledge and think harder.
The careers fair landed in Trinity a few weeks ago. Between a wall of pens and a pyramid of mugs there stalled a trainee accountant who had looked back too late. He had made it onto that path that he had believed others had coveted so greatly. What did he have to share with us? “I’d rather shoot myself in the face than be an accountant.”
He was sure. It was too late.
You have studied and prepared for most of your life, just to make this first big decision. Never again will a decision so strikingly have a prelude of 20 plus years of your life. Remember your past, remember your talents, your skills, your passion, your friends, your family, and everything else that has brought you to this juncture. These are all the things that have made you who you are, and they should be the things that continue to do so. Your next step should be complimentary to all of them. They will fill the gap inside that will prepare you to answer the question;
“Are you sure?”
If you now stand staring at the brightening dawn of 4th year blinded and confused by what is about to set, remember that you are a talented person with the most amount of potential you will ever possess in your life. The decision lies in your capable hands as to what to do next. Make the right one. Make sure that you have done all you can to answer the question;
“Are you sure?”
