Why the Stages of Life Are So Important

There is a strange phenomenon that happens to teens and young adults, particularly if they pursue higher education and attend college or university.  There is an expectation that they should generally know what they want to do with the rest of their lives.  The schooling system forces them to choose what area of study they want to pursue and in some countries it can be quite difficult to change streams.  In many countries, children must choose whether they want to pursue the arts or science when they are still young teens!  Once they advance through high school it is almost impossible to change discipline.

So Much Pressure on Children

This only gets more refined as they approach graduation, with further study choices being made every year.  When they attend college or university, they are expected to know the area of study they want to pursue, and, by the end of the program, have chosen a specific subject as their major.

Now in university it is possible to completely change programs and pursue something different, but this brings up a major flaw in the thinking of many people regarding the educational system and the life choices of young people.

The Fallacy

When a path of study is chosen, most people feel pressured to complete it because of the sunk cost fallacy; the idea that they have spent so long studying that subject that to change would mean that the time and cost already spent on them was wasted so they might as well finish.  They have already invested so much time and energy that would somehow be lost! 

As absurd as this seems, we do this very often in our lives.  We keep driving a car and spending money to repair it because we have spent so much on repairs already and we do not want to think that we wasted that money.  We stay at a job because we have worked there for so long that we do not want to think that we wasted years of service.

There are two major realities occurring here.  Firstly, the idea that time invested is more important than the result.  In the case of students, many of them take longer than the typical four years to complete a degree, take a “gap year” between high school and university to work or travel or work for a few years and then go back to school when they are more ready.

So, if someone completes two or even three years out of a four-year degree and decides that they completely want to change subject areas, the time it takes should not matter.  Neither should the time they have already spent on the other subject.  The time is going to pass either way so they should pursue their passion and not worry about what they have done in the past.

Seasons are Normal

Secondly, there are seasons in our lives that are healthy and normal.  We would not expect a ten-year-old child to work full-time.  In that season of their lives, they usually go to school, play with their friends and live with their families.

By the same token, twenty-year-olds are often in the season of school, work, travel and having fun.  All of these pursuits can be part-time or full-time.  It is the variability of this season that makes it so exciting.  It is also what exposes the absurdity of expecting this group to have their entire lives figured out including what they are going to do with the rest of their lives.  This is a season of change, growth, learning and choosing.

Happiness Matters More Than Time

Taking an extreme example, if a twenty-year-old stumbles along for ten years before they know what they want to do, they will still ONLY be thirty years old with a probable lifespan of another 55-60 years!  In other words, another TWO lifetimes more.

When you look at it that way, maybe cutting young people a break and letting them pursue their passions is not as unreasonable or foolish as it would first appear.  They will have plenty of time to be “responsible adults” so why not encourage them to try different things in the hopes of finding something or things that they truly love to do?