There is an order and rhythm to this world, this much I know, and it does little good fighting what is to be. If you know me, you’ll know that I am terrible at accepting this, this being my fate. I fight and worry, over-think and complicate things that are out of my control. When I work for something, I want some guarantee that my time and effort will result in tangible positive results, but this is not always bound to happen.

Sometimes, to guide you down the path you’re supposed to take, defeat happens. You strive for something and don’t get it. The interviewer calls and says no. You get that thin envelope from your top-choice college. Whatever it is, defeat hurts. I still haven’t quite accepted that defeat simply means that fate, or God, is only giving me a gentle push in the right direction.   

I am so lucky and blessed to find my path revealing itself to me. Finally in college I have found a career about which I am genuinely passionate, and after a tiring recruiting season, I have been lucky enough to sign an offer with an amazing consulting firm. Every rejection phone call or letter has led me to the happiness of this moment, and for once, I should be at peace. The tough decisions have, like receding tides, subsided for the moment, and I have the free time to enjoy my days.  

However, there is no real end to striving. Now that I have solidified my summer plans, I have set my sights on other goals and entered the same cycle of stress. Finally, after refreshing my phone to check for news about my latest goal for the third time today, I sat down in one of Anderson’s study rooms. I had no cases to run or homework to scribble down, but I couldn’t relax. I took a deep breath. Melanie, you’ve done all you can. Try not to worry about things that are out of your control. If it is meant to be, it will be.

If it is meant to be, it will be. 

Friends, I cannot tell you how much I struggle with accepting this simple law of the universe. As much as I strive to have patience and let my path unfold, I constantly question and fight with fate. But while it is not easy to stop worrying — for those of you still caught in the throes of recruiting or job-searching, I’m sure you know what I mean — it is worthwhile. 

Think of all the hours wasted worrying over the future, of the minutes spent wallowing in what could have been. Think of how much more productive we could be, of the studying that could get done and the joy that could be shared, if we stopped trying to control the future.  

I certainly am going to try to let the future be.