Visions for the future should be dynamic

For all those who are beginning to tune out from the presidential election after weeks of disappointment, maybe this is a good time to bring up something a bit more closer to home — something a bit more personally relevant.

As students, we’ve probably all been hit with that question, “What’s your goal or vision in life?” Whether it’s from mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, sober friend, not-sober friend, interviewee or stranger, we’ve also probably had plenty of moments when the answer was a sheepish “I don’t know” or, for the lucky ones, a fluent explanation of a planned career path.

Both are great answers. If you’re in the “I don’t know” crowd, join the club, we have jackets. If you’re in the other group — well, good for you. But a recent statistic from the National Center for Education cited that 80 percent of students in the United States end up changing their major at least once and that on average, students change their major at least three times over the course of their college career. So what does this mean, other than that students are in a phase of discovering themselves? Although the idea “students change their majors often” isn’t causative to “students don’t know what vision is,” the statistic does kindle some thought for entertaining a possible connection between the two. Especially as more and more people respond to the question, “What is your vision and purpose in life?” with the name of a career, perhaps we’ve forgotten what it means to possess a vision. In fact, when “what to major in,” “what to study” and “what career to choose” become the only significant factors that define “vision,” it may drift us even further from going back to the basic meaning of a life purpose.

As the day to day tasks of life demand constant attention, we often forget what the difference between career and vision is. But think for a moment: At what point did a career become the same thing as one’s life purpose? A career is an occupation. Vision differs from a goal in both function and effect. To slightly modify an original quote by C.S. Lewis: Vision is unnecessary, like philosophy or art. It has no survival value; rather it’s one of those things that give value to survival. Without vision, the pursuit of happiness becomes a purely utilitarian exercise — one that devolves into a theatrical bragging competition of life-trophies while engaged in bitter brinkmanship.

As we pursue our “happiness,” we must remember to include all the things that give happiness true meaning. When someone asks you what your vision is, it should be more than just a career goal. Purpose in life fuels the drive for success but seeking after success in and of itself will prove to be empty.

In the end, the reason we often prioritize having a vision is to make sure we have purpose, because when we have a purpose to live, it gives capacity for happiness. The original Latin root for “passion” is pati-, meaning “to suffer”. It makes sense. As many of us go about establishing goals and pursuing dreams, our passions are things for which we’re willing to suffer. As we decide on careers and major life choices, it’s time to remember the end of all our means: passion, success and vision.