Firstly, Iâm sorry you feel that wayâ thatâs a legitimate anxiety, and it sucks, and it can feel a) all consuming, and b) like something you have to solve right away, before you run out of time. But you always have time to change things, and start from scratch. You also get to decide what successful looks like for youâ and to decide it knowing that lots of life will be mundane. You will spend a lot of time waiting for the bus, and going on first dates that are also last dates, and interviewing for jobs you donât want. You will also spend a lot of time eating your favorite foods, and going to free events in the park, and painting your walls your favorite color.
For me, success looks like having quality outside-of-work timeâ I love my work, and am very lucky to feel that my work is meaningful to the world, but I will not burn out for work.
This year, success meant leaving a job I loved, because it was exhausting my body and sitting heavy on my heart. I moved twice, my rent is too much, my car got stolen, I left my jobâ and I am having a really good year. I adopted a dog, and moved into a place big enough to host my friends and cook dinners, and I found a really good donut shop, and I read some, and I visited family, and I puttered around a lot, and thatâs okay.
Successful might look like meaningful work, or well compensated work, or it might not look like work at allâ success might feel like caring less about your work so you can care about the things outside it. You have timeâ school can be truly whatever you want it to be, and this is a season of your life to try a lot of things you probably wonât do forever. Get a bad haircut, take a weird elective, go to as many free events as you can (once school ends everything is expensive), and remember that you might live until youâre 90, and at 90 success just means not breaking any bones.