A “Fan of Possibilities”

Have you ever felt lost when deciding your major? Well…so have I.

BY GABRIEL MATIAS CASTILHO

“All I want is for you to be happy in whatever you choose to do in your life,” my father said in his native Portuguese as I shared with him my first ideas for my undergraduate major. It was a reassuring phrase to hear from someone so important in my life, but I felt more lost than before. Most of my friends started university with much more certainty than I due to parental expectations or just a clear idea for the future, whereas I just had a “fan of possibilities” (a Brazilian idiom that represents an open range of opportunities). Recursively, the anguish of late night reflections bled into the next day, my mind whirling with anxiety and the consequent procrastination left me paralyzed. We all have our own journeys, but endless speed bumps were not what I expected. The amount of possibilities of futures presented by the university is extremely overwhelming. For example, CLA professors do not get tired of telling you their major provides you with a wide range of professions and paths to choose. The emphasis on having a wide repertoire of classes from different majors, as represented by the Liberal Arts requirements, encourages students to discover their own path while acquiring new abilities. In fact, during most classes, you feel like everyone around you is looking at this storefront, happily selecting their own path. Does nobody understand how consequential this choice is or is it just me? How can I possibly reconcile all of my interests into one single academic choice? Father, I do not know if what I did was right, but I hope that one day I can look back at my choices made in university and feel happy with those decisions.