While we were still in school, there could be plenty of challenges — but never the kind that started with “what should I do next?” The next step was always obvious: do your homework, pass your exams, move up a grade. Everything was clear and laid out. The end of school was a bittersweet moment — we were getting older, we were moving forward. But even then, there were no life-altering decisions, unless you count choosing a university.
Later in life, we’ll realize that where we studied didn’t matter nearly as much as how we studied — and even that wasn’t the main thing. But we’ll only understand this much later. For now, we enter university and spend another 4–6 years living “within the system.” The path is already paved — we just have to move our legs, do the homework, befriend the professors, pass our exams. We move from year to year until one day we stand face-to-face with the university president who hands us our diploma, shakes our hand, congratulates us, and wishes us some vague form of success.
A graduate. A young specialist. Heart wide open.
But now what?
Where do I go?
Which direction should I take?
Why has the path ended?
The most system-oriented among us will go on to grad school, or a second, even a third degree, an MBA, professional development courses — anything familiar, structured, with a clear route to follow step by step, toward some Important Goal. After which, once again… uncertainty.
Who am I? Why am I alive? What are my strengths? What job should I do? Do I want to work for a company? Which one?
Or maybe I should start my own business? But how? I know nothing about business, I have no idea how it works. Start my own thing? What would that even be? And how would I begin?
How do I want to earn a living?
Who do I want to be?
Who do I want to become?
When? Why?
What do I do now?
How do I live my life?…