Know When to Fold ‘Em

I was one class away from the Cognitive Science minor at UCLA, so despite graduating two months ago exactly to the day, I had decided to re-enroll for the second summer session and try to get the minor (#masochism FTW). I then applied for financial aid but didn’t receive it, so I went to the Financial Aid office to see what I could do. The student there told me I needed eight units to be considered a full-time student, which would make me more likely to receive aid, so I signed up for another course. Unfortunately, I didn’t receive the aid, making me instantly $2,500 poorer, and was now immediately struggling for my sanity in pursuit of an extra line of achievement on a piece of paper. As someone who has spent a chunk of his life thinking another achievement notch would make me a more legitimate human being or something, letting go was very hard. However, I dropped the courses, deciding that I will audit one of them because I am intrinsically interested in the material. This allowed me to truly return to my original post-graduation goals (e.g., getting physically and mentally healthy, re-certifying as a PT, preparing for the GRE, etc.), and not chasing things merely out of self-induced guilt. I feel good knowing that I gave it a shot, and was kind enough to myself to know when it was time to let it go. The general point here is if what you are doing isn’t meaningful, isn’t in line with your values, isn’t making you feel whole, and is not actually even relevant to your goals, then it’s time to evaluate what you are doing and perhaps just move on.