Grow Through Life

I recently graduated college and finally attained a diploma that took years of hard work and countless sleepless nights. While I'm proud of this accomplishment, I can't help but question the institution of education. From Pre-K to the fourth year of college, a person spends 18 years in school. Take into consideration that most students take more than four years to complete the coursework and these days, graduate school is almost necessary in order to compete in the workplace, increasing the number of years we spend in school.



Don't get me wrong, I believe that constant education is necessary throughout one's life. It's important to nourish our brains and imperative to think beyond the horizon. However, the aspect I'm questioning is how school tends to consume our lives. How we're forced to learn about the things that don't interest us when we can utilize that time learning about the things that matter to us. How grades are more crucial than the actual act of learning.

We have this idea that we'll start living later. We'll start living after high school, after college, after we find our first real world job, after we find a better job, after we get that promotion, so on and so forth. That's when life will really start. That's when we can start doing what we want. We spend at least 18 years of life just waiting.

But what are we waiting for? Are we waiting to spend more time in the classroom or more hours at work? Why is it that we have to find a way to fit in the activities we enjoy and the people we love into our busy schedules that consist of meetings and deadlines. Isn't that what life is about? The people we meet and the relationships we foster. That's what really matters. Shouldn't we focus on stimulating our passions and cultivating our talents instead?

Life can't begin tomorrow, because quite honestly, tomorrow might be just a little too late. Life is the moment you're living at this very moment. It's the song you're listening to on Pandora and the emotions that it is evoking. It's the cappuccino you're sipping. It's the person keeping you company. This is it, it's up to you to make it worthwhile.