Who knew that writer’s block would make me go so deep into the question of choices? As an opinion columnist, I have loads of freedom on topics to talk about, ranging from national politics to everyday life here at Boston College. You would think that with all this freedom it would be so easy for me to decide what to write about, right? Think again. I find this huge paradox of having so many choices in what I get to express as a writer and yet such a hard time finding what I actually want to write about. After days of thinking about what to write about, I had nothing. Zero ideas. Not even a sentence was written.
This has been the biggest writer’s block that I have ever had, and I found it immensely frustrating. It may seem like nothing at first glance, but to me, I could not understand why, if I had such a wide spectrum of possibilities, I was completely blank. After really meditating on this, I realized that this writer’s block that I was going through is very much analogous with what every college student becoming an adult faces: freedom within a massive spectrum of choices. While freedom in choosing what we want to do and when we want to do it for that matter is amazing, it can also be very overwhelming. I think that what scares a lot of people, especially in college, is having so many choices and yet not knowing what to do with them. We do not have our paths designed for us. Again, amazing and liberating— but terrifying.
This is very deep, I know, and I think some of you reading this might be a little bit puzzled as to how I got here. You probably are thinking that this may be a little far-fetched. Sometimes we all feel a little bit scared as to whether or not we will make the right decisions in the pool of possibilities that are made available to us. Yet, what I think can be encouraging is that despite having difficulty in figuring out what we want, we also have the freedom to step back and think thoroughly. This can go down from the simplest decisions of whether to go out or stay in and study, to whether you should study abroad, or even what you want to do upon graduation. It can seem like a lot, but it is something that we have to accept, that our lives are full of choices.
Similar to what I did, in the midst of not knowing what to write I was actually able to connect it to something much bigger, and in turn find the answer to what to write in my column. Perhaps what we need to do in those moments is take a step back and address your vulnerabilities, and they can give you your answers.
Featured Graphic by Liz Schwab/ Heights Editor
