Zoom!

That's the sound of my life speeding by...

It's still quite incredible to believe that it's 2012 already, or that my age is hitting a double digit figure that starts with 2. Already.

(Insert ginormous sigh here) Even though I secretly want to stay young forever like Peter Pan, some part of me still wants to grow up. Therefore I shall embrace this journey of aging with joy and some comfort.

But have you realised, that as we grow older, choices seem harder to make?

I know, most of us will say that the first 12 or 13 years of our lives have been dictated - it is typical (I won't say essential) to follow the path of Pri --> Sec --> JC / Poly, and then what comes afterwards is just more of a personal endeavour. If this is what our society deems as a necessary path, so be it. I won't start arguing about "No, some people drop out of high school and still make millions" or "Studies are not everything in life", because this is not GP and I do not have to present both sides of the argument and I don't intend to do so because this is not about whether you study well or not. I'm way past that.

I have been through the process of selecting schools for 3 times already. (Let's not count Primary school since that one is probably done by our parents.) First time was Secondary school, then JC, and then Uni. Somehow I feel that as I progress with my education, choosing schools gets increasingly tedious. I don't understand why though. It's as if the less options you have the harder it is. From 3 digit options for Secondary schools, to 2 digit options for JC, to single digit options for Uni - it doesn't make sense that it gets harder. Isn't it more choices = more possibilities = more confusion = harder to choose? I don't know. Logical flaw maybe.

But actually I do realise why it is in fact harder to choose from less options. So far I think I've found 2 reasons why (so this IS GP):

1) As we grow older, our perspective matures. Our way of thinking develops and generates sophistication and complexity. It's not that simple anymore. I have so many things to consider - Is the school of good reputation? Does it offer the subject I want to study at the best possible level out of all the schools? Does it have a good culture? Will I survive? Take Uni for example. It's just 3 local universities. Why is it so damn hard to decide? Back when I was choosing my JC, I faced the same dilemma - "Which school is best for me?" And further back when I was choosing my Secondary school, "Is this a good school?".

2) We soon realise, time is running out and that we cannot afford to screw up anymore. It's a Uni education, for crying out loud. It's the last stage of your education. Are you gonna make a joke out of it and make the wrong choice? And then it strikes us - all along, our entire lives, all we wanted was to do well and get to a good school (you fill in your own definition of good), and we started working towards it since the day we were allowed to take control of our own future. Good Uni means I need to get into a good JC. Good JC means I need to get into a good Secondary school. Good Secondary school means I need to ace my PSLE. If I screw up my PSLE, I still have Secondary school to catch up. Don't worry. If I don't do that well in Secondary school, I still have 2 years in JC to fight it out. And then we hit last stage. "Last stage one last life no more lifeline once chance I'm not gonna squander it away," you think. Would it be disappointing if you completed a game all the way to the last stage only to know that you are going to lose? All that effort for nothing?

You CANNOT screw this up.