Tuesday, December 23, 2008

On not fretting

Sherry advises

And here's what I've noticed. Facebook is really becoming
ubiquitous. I feel like I need to understand it and watch it because I
want to understand its role in professional networking as that emerges, so I can
advise students with relevance. But every day people from high school or
college connect to me, and I am experiencing some strange sensations as I
revisit my relationship with these people from my past. Not all of my time
in college was fantastic. I was depressed, irresponsible, and
self-destructive my senior year. By the time I left college I was
convinced I was dumb, because I wasn't studying anything I cared about, and my
strengths didn't seem to be recognized or admired by anyone.
I was unkind
and self-absorbed in law school. There were some great moments, some
strong and true connections, some deep memories, some life lessons, but there
was also very little confidence, a lot of doubt and envy and shame, a sense that
who I really was inside was uncool and unambitious and unworthy according to the
rules of the world. I think that's part of why I feel so driven here, to
connect to college students and support and encourage them as they explore what
they want out of life.

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