Success Vs Failure: Dealing with the Turmoil of Senior Year
As I approach the halfway mark of my senior year at the University of Oregon, I begin comparing myself to others and their LinkedIn profiles. Scrolling on the home page, I give thumbs up to countless job offers, filled internship positions, and people constantly updating their portfolios. I feel jealous, and my body starts to fill with anxiety as I ask myself, "Am I doing enough?"
As a college senior, you’re conditioned to begin the job hunt. You’re taught to apply, apply, apply. Post-college life is right around the corner and you need to have a job lined up or a spot in graduate school. While, yes, some sort of direction should be explored, you also don’t need to have it all figured out. The idea of what is successful versus what could be considered a failure is all up for interpretation. One person’s success could be another person’s version of failure and vice versa.
What if I switched the perspective? What if instead of letting LinkedIn posts and other seniors’ achievements make me feel like I’m falling behind, I used them as fuel for my own growth? Using another person’s success as motivation for your growth can be a powerful tool for self-improvement. The success of others doesn’t have to be a reminder of where you aren’t but instead, it can be a view of what is possible. It can be a powerful way for you to also reach a level of success. As Theodore Roosevelt said, “Comparison is the thief of joy.” Instead of comparing your interpretations of success to others, use it as inspiration. When you compare your senior year to someone else’s highlight reel, you deprive yourself of the ability to appreciate your own progress and happiness.
Failure and success can go hand in hand. One person’s job success could be their downfall in their social circle. One senior’s excitement for graduation can be someone else’s fear. Senior year is full of ups and downs and , full of big life questions that you feel like you need to ask yourself. It is a balance between career hustle, social events, and independence. It’s a year where you’re finding yourself and also experiencing a lot of your last in college. Success looks different for every college senior– we should be celebrating both our journey and that of someone else.
The right balance between how much time you spend in your social circle and how much time you spend on academics and job applications can be tricky. One person may see making lifelong friends and focusing on those memories as a success but may feel failure when it comes to networking. On the opposite end, one person may spend all of their time networking and emerging themselves in the career hustle that they feel failure in their friendships.
As I sit and reflect on the different iterations of success versus failure for college seniors, I have realized it is more about personal choice. No matter if you choose the hustle or you choose to spend more time with friends, there will always be another aspect in your busy life that won’t get as much attention. There will always be something in your life that you may feel like you’re failing at. That is okay. College seniors often feel like they need to have their life figured out. They have this stereotypical image of a senior in their head; landing a dream job, perfectly balancing their lives, and joining extracurriculars. It’s just not realistic for everyone.
Your version of success may be someone else’s version of failure. Stop comparing your accomplishments to those of others; use them as inspiration. It is okay to not have your life fully figured out by the time you graduate college. Success isn’t a one-size-fits-all formula. It’s personal. It’s evolving. It’s yours to define.