Everyone, at some point in their lives, will feel lost and astray about their future and that inevitably comes with a side of melancholy. But this state of mind — this gloomy feeling — isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Since early grade school, I have always wanted to have a career in tech, mostly because my dad was so immersed in his job at Hewlett Packard (otherwise known as HP). At the time, I was still going through the typical system, while my parents encouraged me to also take up art and piano lessons. I quickly took a liking to art and music.
I was taught that you can have dreams, but dreams don’t make you money. So, with that in mind, I ventured down my academic path towards a degree with a steady job.
Fast forward to grade 12, having endured countless calculus and biochemistry classes, I found myself slowly gravitating more and more towards art and design after playing with my dad’s DSLR.
However, with pressure from my parents’ expectations of me — and honestly not knowing what else to do at the time — I decided to accept the offer to Wilfrid Laurier University’s Psychology BA program.
A year quickly passed by and I found myself in a familiar situation, stuck on a path that I knew I wouldn’t like the destination to.
At this point, I enrolled in courses in different fields of study, but nothing seemed to peak my interest as much as photography and design. I also knew it was nearly impossible to have a successful career in arts compared to one in psychology.
So I aimlessly continued onwards, slowly completing a pointless four-year degree, with not the slightest clue of where my life was heading. Now and again I would have panic attacks thinking about my future and even the slightest thought of it would drain away my sleep.
That was until one day when I ran into a photographer that also went to my high school, who also happened to be enrolled at Laurier. He invited me to come check out the student newspaper — The Cord.
After a quick meeting with the photo editors, I started out as a volunteer photographer, but I became more and more involved, playing around with video and design and three years later, I’m sitting here as the creative director.
Even though I seem to have taken a step into a more promising future, I’m still the same clueless and lost kid. The biggest difference is that I’ve learned to accept that it’s okay to be lost. The thought of bewilderedness doesn’t frighten me anymore.
I’m agnostic, so I don’t think there is anything beyond our control that’s guiding our lives into an inevitable direction, but sometimes you have to wander around before you can find the right path for you.
It may take a while and a few tries, but as long as you keep practicing what you do best, something good will come.