Finding Yourself

I am no profound thinker, but recently deep thoughts have been twisting the realms of my consciousness. They swirl, twine, connect and finally establish themselves with startling clarity. What makes a teenager tick? Career choices! The prospects are scary because I am fully aware that they’ll completely impact the rest of my life. It is an easier matter to be swayed by the torrents of advices, suggestions which flow perennially from all sides. Being a spirited person, I looked for answers from within myself, and not without careful exploration of what I really want to be.

Many a myopic eye see only two glimmering opportunities before them which makes it foolish to consider anything else---Engineering or Medicine. Only a few observe that in between them, there are a multitude of other careers which can be just as rewarding and fulfilling. There might even be careers which intigrate the two. They see it as a vital promise for the good life.
“Oh come now,” some say to me, “I know you can wriggle through electrical engineering.”
My problem is that I don;t want to wriggle through anything. I aspire to choose a subject in which I am strong, talented and skilled---something for which my aptitudes and interests converge. Something which awakens the passion in me. Many who forcibly take up engineering or medicine don’t have skills to really master it. Or else it is simply the pressure or the follow-the-herd instinct. I am unwilling to cheat myself by forcing myself to like something like electrical engineering, when I know it’s not my cup of tea, and whine the rest of my life. Medicine holds an interest too, but is a little demanding. True, true, I am aware of how much I am deviating from the conventional pattern---some say there is a lot I’ll miss. But there’ll be a lot I’ll gain too. It’s just a matter of finding yourself.

I’ve chosen to deal with the biological sciences. Be it anything from biotechnology, biochemistry, genomics or biosystematics, I’ll embrace it. You see, I’ve nurtured a dream to see me here, that it would be cruel to orphan it. In eighteen days, I am off to the United States to study in a community college my father has chosen and then transfer to a university. I still look within for everything that’s needed from me when a new phase of my life opens up. I’ll be a short wait before I find an answer. Many more thoughts provoke my mind, like mild fear but I wish to put them to rest and wait to see where the winds of change will take me…..It’ll be a new path to tread and also an uncommon one. It’ll be a discovery....