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Adulthood and Purpose



Adulting. Sounds scary, doesn't it? It especially does when you’re a college student at the cusp of adulthood, about to enter the “real” world. A lot of us wonder who we are, whether this world has a place for us, or what our purpose in life is. Figuring out exactly who you are, labels and all, is difficult but expected the moment you turn 18. When you are about to try out the “adulting” thing for the first time, not knowing who you are is daunting. There's so much to figure out - your career, your purpose, your identity, and what your “true calling” is, the very reason you were placed on earth. Isn’t this idea of one true purpose in itself unrealistic? We read and watch those coming of age books and movies where towards the end the protagonist has figured themselves out or has learnt to make their peace without knowing, but then you leave that world of fiction and realise that the real world will never be that kind to you.


College is a period of milestones, from figuring out your degree, your major, to life after college, it is a period of ‘firsts’. After graduation, for the first time we find ourselves on a path without a plan. Up until then everything was decided. Progressing through 12 years of schooling and getting a degree was predetermined. But now what? There’s so many things we can do, so many worlds we can explore, so many things we can be. But which one is truly us? Will our future version end up hating us? Loving us? Empathising with us?  It constantly feels like we’re living in anticipation of the future. It’s such a romanticised idea, isn’t it? The future. Constantly thinking about this future makes the present so difficult and so contentious. 


You see people around you achieving things and having their lives planned out in front of them, and you are so happy for them but at the same time you keep thinking if you are the only one who feels like it or are the others just faking. In all of the confusion in our heads, happiness for others turns into self-loathing. It’s funny how much pressure we put on ourselves that we forget there are other parts of us. We end up forgetting how to be a good friend, a good partner, a good sibling, a good child. We put a lot of pressure on ourselves to figure out exactly what “it” is, but in that chase we leave everything behind.


Imagine living in a world without these pressures, where you could just be without having to put a name to what you are and what you want to be. This can only be hoped for, but at the end of day, hope is all we have. Purpose and hope, then, are intertwined. Having hope gives purpose which in turn makes being hopeful so much easier. So, eventually, things will get easier, better,  at least that's what we can

hope for.




~ Shreya Singh

Chief-Editor

AICUF 2023-24

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