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If I had to describe my college life — and given my love for mathematics — I’d say my 5 years of studying looked something like this:
In the beginning, you start on a slow, rather steady pace. You’re exploring your calculus and physics courses, as you start your knowledge trip. Moving on, your workload increases. Meaning, you start diving into your major courses, you write your first “Hello World” code in C++, and your hard work starts. However, that workload increase, translates onto the pressure and energy dedication to achieve your tasks, and make ends meet. At the end of your journey, you’ve reached a level of energy and dedication that accumulated over your previous college years. You’re basically a workaholic…with a college flavor! Eventually, you reach the final year, you finished all your finals, you make that sigh when submitting that last project…it’s the last project you’ll ever work on in college life (unless you go for graduate studies of course). After telling you all of this, you’ll wonder… Where is the catch? Simply put…It’s that you expect (as the top figure shows) for your energy to maintain that increase as you seek jobs or continue studying.
In reality, the energy curve looks technically like the following:
In other words, a significant drop in the energy level occurs the moment that last submission is sent, and all the requirements got fulfilled. See that white zig-zag area? This time period, this exact time period…is the Void after graduation, and it is a phase that — if well tackled — can help you restart your energy level onto the next phase of your life. Unfortunately, the majority of people don’t know how to properly maintain the mindset and the discipline to navigate such phase, and hence propel themselves to the next! 🚀
Moreover, I’ll further discuss from my point-of-view: why do we fall in the void? how could it harm us? and what could we do about it?
The Calm ‘after’ the Storm
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Throughout my humble lifespan, I’ve always observed programming very similarly to a puzzle game. When you’re in a puzzle game, you divide the grand task or objective, into smaller sub-tasks and so on. Furthermore, as you keep on solving, you get that small sense of satisfaction for your achievement, and move on to your next small task, until you complete the main objective.
What I wrote above is the puzzle definition in ‘puzzle game’. This leaves us with the gaming definition which further clarifies this picture.
Since the puzzle is a game, your end goal is to complete the game to win, right? What you don’t realize, is that as you’re playing such game, you are — metaphorically — leveling up and increasing in both energy and excitement. A sense of ‘hunger’ for the next puzzle or task is developing with you as you approach it. You’re a storm forming and a tornado shaping with every level-up.
I should probably note that I am referring to storms not from a destruction point of view, but rather as an accumulation of nature’s forces.
With that being said, comes the important final question: What happens when you complete the game? Well…you celebrate for a while, then you give the game that blank stare for some time. That blank stare...that cold-feeling “calm” after your storm…that is the Void you live in for a while.
It is worth noting, that unlike a puzzle game, the duration of the void isn’t a short stare, and rather can change depending on your situation, and whether you have at least assembled a clear plan or not.
The Void is the calm “before” your next storm, but it is also the calm “after” your previous storm. It’s a little bit of both.🌪
In our case as graduated students, It is more of the calm ‘after’ the storm. It is that sudden energy drop, after you have been in the eye of the storm turning, working, hustling, engaging, interacting, researching, struggling…and BOOM!…Instant Calm!
Think of it like you’ve teleported in the blink of an eye to the moon, and you’re in outer space’s instant calm and cold ambiance (yes, you have a helmet, don’t worry! 🧑🏻🚀). You don’t exactly understand where you’ve been before, and your instincts are not kicking in to initiate the next move. You’re frozen (both mentally and because of space’s weather _🥶)_!
Furthermore, this happens to most students. It happens moments when they are about to graduate. Some are not sure what to do next, others are waiting for the perfect time…and some are…well…wasting time and letting time fly 😕, until they get into the ‘mood’ into activating their next phase.
When does the Calm after the storm become a Crisis?
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At the end of every semester, I remember how much I was under pressure, and couldn’t wait for the semester to end. In other words, I was rushing towards the end of the semester. On one hand, I wanted to tick a semester from my journey. On the other hand, I was eager to relax after such pressure…I mean, who wouldn’t?!
You’ve been working hard for a couple of months now, you’re attending classes, working on projects, solving homework and studying for tests and finals…You deserve a break, right?
Technically, In the first couple of days of this break, you’ll indulge in the privilege of waking up whenever you like, maybe you’ll arrange plans with your folks, or you’ll finally do that thing you didn’t have time for during the semester. But later on, you’ll eventually start getting a hint of boredom, and perhaps some emptiness…dare I say… a Void!
You see where I’m going with this?
You’ll get a subtle exposition into this state of calmness. However, you’ll eventually resist all its harm in preparation of the next semester, as you’ll get busy achieving your next set of goals for the semester.
Now while this pattern might work out for you through your semesters…What happens if you are at the last semester?
This brings me to the first case where the void becomes a crisis: When you have allowed the outside world to control you. Moreover, when you’re waiting for ‘the semester’ or ‘the job’ or ‘your friend’ as a condition to be capable of doing something with life. You have allowed yourself to be controlled by outside factors. Hence, life is happening to you, instead of you happening to life. You have indirectly agreed to your elimination from the equation of life, so you’re basically like the constant c in an integration (had to bring back math 🤓), meaning you’re there, but you’re just waiting to be given a value. Literally and metaphorically.
I’ll give you a moment to let that sink in.
The other case where the void becomes a crisis: When you have defined your next steps based on some ‘perfect’ expectation of what the next step’s success is. Meaning, while you might have the intention to utilize that free time in pursuit of your ideas, you’ll always aim at either the ‘complete’ or ‘perfect’ image of that idea, and you’ll end up feeling hand-tied for overwhelming yourself with the details, and forgetting to focus on the core of that idea.
It is undoubtable that the void amplifies all the negative feelings and so-called voices in your head, so you get under pressure because of overthinking, and you drown in either the endless swirl of hopelessness, or possibly dark places of your own fears.
Not to mention, that a feeling of emptiness is something to be generally avoided. No one likes to feel empty, or to sit empty for long periods of time. Sure, we love to have our own time, but it should be a matter of getting ‘quality’ empty time, not ‘quantity’. We’ll talk more in the next one.
The Antidote for the Void
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Remember the quote Master Oogway told Po in Kung Fu Panda?
It’s originally based on a quote by Eleanor Roosevelt, and it goes like this:
Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That’s why we call it ‘The Present’ .
This quote — to me — is the perfect Antidote for tackling the void and the emptiness you might be going through. It clearly establishes 3 things:
- All your experiences and storm-riding days of the past are to be taken as lessons, not to recall and regret, but to learn and evolve. So hush the voices in your head, and stop allowing the past days to haunt you and put you down. Utilize the void to remember the positives, and to heed the lessons of the past experience. Make it a time to reset the counter and start on a clean slate.
- You’ll never be ready — enough — for the future. You can plan as much as you like for your future, and aim at going wherever your heart loves. However, you’ll never guarantee the result, for reasons beyond your comprehension and factors beyond your control…as Oogway said...It’s a mystery!
- Finally, the gift of the present. The blessing of being in ‘the here’ and ‘now’. This is a concept a lot of people would either claim they well-grasped, or won’t find any significance in it. The fact that you’re living right now is a gift by itself. The fact that you were actually gifted another year, month, day, minute, second…You are being given precious time.
Moreover, Time is something you cannot make up for, and the fact that you’re not yet stumbling through the pebbles and corners of life yet, is a gift. Your time is the best resource you’re gifted right now, and nothing in this world can replace it.
I can also tell you that all the experiences from life, all the storms you just got off from and the storms you’re anticipating, they’re are all learning experiences that would help you onto the next phase.
The Calm ‘after’ the storm should become the Calm ‘before’ the storm.
You should seek that time to reflect on your inner self, and sustain a state of Zen (which is calm overloaded). With it, you’ll stare the next storm in the eye, and you’ll be ready to face it and ride it.
In Short, I’ll end this post with this:
Life happens in the storms you ride, and Voids are the gifts you get to ride your next storm.
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