Juan David's Newsletter - February 27, 2022

College: a place to figure out what you want to do for the rest of your life.

Hi there,

I was thinking about what to write as I’m on the bus on the way back to my room and I could write about The UIUC Talkshow, what Benjamin Franklin thought about friends’ jealousy, or even how Ernest Hemingway internalized death.

But then I realized I thought I’d rather write about the unnecessary stress and lack of perspective of today’s teenagers with college admissions.

The purpose of life is your work. Everything else is meant to help you figure out what you want to do for the rest of your life. From what gets you excited to simply what you enjoy doing for the sake of it.

But heck! Are there distractions? “What do my family and friends think?” “Will I get paid high enough?” etc.

And what about what YOU want to do? This is the most important question one should be attempting to answer.

Most people don’t figure out what they love doing. Instead, they don’t know what they want to do so they drink and drink or watch and watch. Why? They don’t know how to use the most beautiful beauty of the universe: life.

Figuring out what you love doing is possible and it’s exciting because of the infinite ways to explore from using the internet to share your work to creating new things using computers.

Figuring out what you love doing is hard. I don’t think I know my answer but I’m unafraid of new things and follow my intuition to whatever seems interesting to me. For instance, I enjoy writing, creating media like videos, coding, science, selling, and being around smart, and interesting people.

I don’t know how any of that translates into anything but doing what you want is fun so I do those things. However, I keep dancing around the question and soon enough, I’ll look back the answer will be as simple as adding 1+1.

Where does college fit in here? College was a way people used to help people figure out what they wanted with their life, at least the Liberal Arts.

Today, college is anything but that. From a four-year vacation to a miserable place where busyness rules.

You’ve been made to think and only look at the rankings by some news company. But what do they know about what YOU want to do with your life? Or whether the place to choose to spend four years of life is the right for you? Absolutely nothing. Most students’ goal is to get into higher-ranking colleges. I don’t blame them, I did the same without even realizing it.

If you’re in high school or in college, what you must be thinking about is figuring out what you want to do with the rest of your life, especially what excites you. How do I want MY future to be?

Many things are changing, and colleges ia one of them. It sucks we have to go through the uncertain times of what college is. In the past, college was for sure worth it. Now, it’s unclear. In the future, there is a high chance of not being worth it or even existing.

As much as it sucks, you have to realize that wherever you end up going to school, you have one purpose. That purpose needs to be in your mind while you follow your gut about the things that seem interesting to you. Sure, they may look dumb and people around may think it’s stupid but be brave enough to pursue and follow your intuition because your intuition knows, and knows a lot.

Do what you want. Do what’s interesting and exciting. Do what you’re thinking right now.

That’s what I would call a life worth living.

Take care,

Juan David Campolargo