Exhausted by Comparisons

First of all - be kind to yourself. You seem to be kind to others, and you deserve it no less than anyone else.

Second - you’re doing great. They’re doing more, but they’re also not dragging the heavy weight of social anxiety around with them everywhere.

There are literally hundreds of great colleges which will love to have a straight-A student. There are great colleges for which student with straight As and good test scores are auto-admits. These colleges don’t look for students who were presidents of clubs or whatever.

Your college possibilities are pretty numerous. There is U Nebraska, an excellent college which only considers academics, there is Arizona State, there is U New Mexico, U Illinois Chicago, and many more. Most will give you good merit scholarships on top of your admission.

None of these colleges care even the slightest bit what your classmates are doing.

I know so many people who did very well in life or are doing very well in life who also had absolutely no idea what they wanted to do when they were your age. Many only started their existing career path after they finished their undergraduate degree.

The ones who supposedly know what they want to do are a small, but very vocal, minority. Unfortunately, most organizations, social media, high schools, and colleges, tend to amplify the voices of these ones. People who publicize stories of success tend to avoid those stories which start “until I was 25, I really had no idea what I wanted to do”.

Our society has decided, for some reason, that wanting to do something from a very young age is a virtue and a requirement for success. It is neither of those.

There is almost no career for which someone has to start getting ready in a focussed manner in high school. Not even medicine. That is why most colleges don’t expect students to declare their major before the end of their sophomore year.

So don’t worry that you have no real idea what you want to do in life - that is true the the vast majority of people your age, including vast majority of those who will have fulfilling lives.

However - your primary job now is to take care of yourself. You are well set up to attend a great college, so don’t worry about that.

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