How Covid-19 Prevented Me From Making the Biggest Mistake of My Life

Back in March this year, before the COVID forced us into a lockdown. I had decided to drop out. I left my internal college exams and went on a solo trip to Rishikesh with the money I earned from my online business.

After the trip, I went home for a festival. And from next week, I was due to start an internship at a reputable startup.

But then the lockdown was announced, the college was shut, my internship was cancelled, and I was stuck at home.

Now, after months have passed and the lockdown is slowly starting to open, I am grateful every day that I didn’t succumb to self-help gurus and drop out. Here is the reason why

During the lockdown, I realized that I was dropping out without a proper plan for my future. I had no idea what I was going to do after dropping out. I was just eager to drop out because I thought college education is a waste of time, and I should hustle and build a business.

I know Zuckerberg, Gates, and Jobs dropped out of college and are very successful business people today. But they dropped out when their idea started getting some attraction, and they knew what they would do in the future. Also, it was just their path, and you don’t necessarily need that path. It would be best if you made your own path.

I also realized that now is not the time for me to hustle and go hard. I realized that I want to study and live abroad and get a different exposure. If I have to start a business and become rich, I can do that five years later, when I would have completed my studies.

But If I had dropped out in March, then I would have deprived myself of the opportunity to even apply for masters and learn something new.
By dropping out, I would have saved myself from expensive college fees and not so useful education. But I would have also deprived myself of exposure, new friends, and new places.

The time for the hustle and hard work will come, by going to college to you are not escaping hard work, you are just delaying it so you can live the best years of your life in a more relaxed way. By relaxing, I am not saying that you should waste your college years just by partying and doing nothing. No, by relaxed, I mean, don’t burden yourself with the future and concentrate on learning, discover yourself, and, at the same time, enjoy because these golden years are never coming back.

But if you hate college and education and instead want to do something you like, then it’s fine to drop out and do what you love and follow on your passion but don’t succumb to pressure by self-help gurus and decide to drop out. Do your own thinking.

Also, if you can’t afford your education and you are taking an expensive education loan to fund your studies, then also it might not be worth it. That’s why I am only going to study abroad if I attain a scholarship. But if money is not a problem, then you should definitely give it a chance.

I learned that I am young, and I should allow myself to make mistakes. If in the future, going to college turns out to be a wrong choice, I will learn from it. But at least then, I would not have regret that I deprived myself of something.

So, in the end, do whatever you feel like; if you really think dropping out is worth it, and you have a definite plan on what you would do next, then you might go ahead and see yourself become the next Gates or Jobs. But if you just want to drop out because you read it somewhere or some self-help guru told you. Don’t do that. Give yourself time and figure out what’s best for you and then decide.