The Eternal Pressure To Fit In And The Unending Career Debacle

When I was in school, fast approaching my 10^th standard boards, the discussion about choosing the right stream in college had already seeped into everyday conversations at home. I would hear stories about my cousins, seniors and friends of friends competing to get a seat in the best college as the competition was insane. I knew the names of almost every engineering and medical college in the city because that’s what everyone was talking about. All the stories I had heard about career and competition narrowed down to two streams, engineering and medicine. Naturally, I was not aware of any other stream that could be considered for a career. Even if I did, I was hardly aware of its scope, so I assumed it was imperative that my ambition be to become either an engineer or a doctor.

But atypical as I am, I did not particularly have an interest in either of the fields. Nevertheless, I chose ‘Science’ in junior college because I did not know what I wanted to do. My sister was studying engineering at the time and I thought the same was expected of me. Engineering was a flourishing field at that time; I had heard stories of people earning handsome salaries after engineering and making great careers for themselves. Apart from engineering, the only field that commanded a significant amount of respect was medicine. So, I believed I would ultimately have to make a choice from among these although none of it really interested me.

But choosing a stream I wasn’t really interested in came at a price. I’d always been a bright student at school but my performance sank in college. The situation was so difficult that I flunked in one of the subjects during my first year of junior college. And when I was in 12^th, the deciding point in one’s career (or so it was then), I was left confused and wondering. I knew for a fact that engineering or medicine was not my calling. But if not that, what?

It was around this time that I discovered my interest in journalism. Something about it appealed to me. The power it held, the glamour of being on TV and most importantly, the capability to make a difference. I had always been an introvert all my life, so the thought of holding that kind of power and command appealed to me. I wanted to be bold and fearless and I wanted to make a difference to the world. After all, I’d learned at school that media is the fourth pillar of democracy.

But switching from science to arts was expectedly not easy. Arts as a stream has always been looked down upon (at least in India) and I stand by this claim even today. I remember hearing people say arts was for the unintelligent lot and I had grown up believing it. So, when I first discovered my interest in journalism, I was uncertain and confused. Although I believed that I would do well in this field, the fear of not fitting in bothered me. Expectedly enough, my parents were not quite happy about this decision and although they did not forbid me from choosing what I wanted to do, I felt I had disappointed them. While all our relatives and neighbours would boast of their children being future engineers and doctors, I knew my parents somewhere felt a sense of dejection announcing that their bright-at-studies daughter was pursuing arts. With great effort, I finally decided to give the unknown a shot and took a plunge into the field of media.

The world of media amused me, to say the least. Right from the first semester, my outlook and personality began undergoing a gradual change. Drifting away from introversion, I finally began opening up to people and gaining confidence. And I knew my decision was right when I topped right in the first semester. Studying felt effortless and I was more than happy doing it. It was this field that tickled my curiosity and awakened my love for stories. Media studies taught me that there are stories all around us and that we need the right perspective to identify and see them. To date, this is one of the most remarkable things I have learned in life.

The three years of degree college passed in a blink. I loved what I was studying and for the first time in my life, I felt like I wanted more. It was here that I learnt the difference between studying and learning and I enjoyed every bit of what I was doing. All this while, however, the people around me remained concerned about my future. After all, I was not an engineer, doctor or a CA! Most people wouldn’t even recognise my course (BMM) as the field was relatively newer and would ask questions that made my parents feel uncertain.

I would be lying if I said the questions didn’t bother me. But I had finally found something I loved and I knew I had to fight for it. The reason I write this today is because I have known and seen several young students who struggle to pick something they love. I’m certain we all know at least one person who side-lined their dreams and went along with the normal only to fit in. It is high time for our society to recognise lesser-known streams as productive career choices and it is up to us people to support the dreams of individuals who wish to explore the unexplored. Although a lot of youngsters have been venturing into diverse fields these days, the stigma around them still remains, at least to a certain extent. It is high time we normalise NOT FITTING IN.

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