The Winner takes it All

Sri City : We have all wanted to be that kid, that student who does it all. An all-rounder balances the ideal grades, one sport they excel at, one art-form to serenade you with and an impressive list of extra-curriculars, of course with social work and after all that, time for a happening social life. An all-rounder is the epitome of balance, passion, and effective time management.The desire to be an all-rounder has had a firm hold on me for the entirety of my school life, and it follows me to university with revived interest. Appearing well-rounded feels like walking on a tight-rope, it all can be undone with a small misstep. Both demanding precision, exuberant amounts of balance and leaving little to no room for error. 

.Universities basing admission on holistic achievement as well as academic excellency, provides further evidence of this expectation to be well-rounded.  According to an article by Pause for Perspective,“If a child has an interest in other areas like sports, music, art, etc.they are expected to excel there as well. This disregards the wholesome development of a student as an individual with interests”.  This reiterates the expectation of excellence that is instilled within each student. Students equate most of their value on achievement and versatility. In fact, this need to achieve has coined itself a term called achievement anxiety, as defined by Orchestrate Health, “Achievement anxiety goes beyond the usual stresses of daily life, and is often triggered by the unrelenting demand to achieve success and avoid failure”. The need for achievement has become such an extrinsic motivator nulling the joy chasing pursuit previously given and settling within our minds as an anxiety-inducing force.

I think about this a lot, the cost at which someone is an all-rounder. I wonder how they do it, how they walk this tightrope.To a certain extent, the expectation of being an all-rounder pushes us as students to reach our full potential. It propels passion and ambition and encourages enquiring, excellency and evidence of the very same. However, I question how draining it must feel like you are holding onto everything by a thread. Meeting this expectation demands it all and I question whether in the pursuit of appearing well-rounded, is it worth losing a part of ourselves. I get it though, why we must try to do it all, build that impressive CV/ resume. It is significant to our growth as individuals in this particular era of time, where competition is at its peak. This brings about another question: Do the pursuits we chase arise from passion or act as holding space in our resumes?

It saddens me to believe that we no longer do things out of mere passion and excitement. We do them because we need another bullet point on the list. Under this expectation of coming across as well-rounded, we do not have space to do things that make us whole humans. These expectations  placed by our societal nurture seeps into our internalised expectation of ourselves.There is no space to do things out of the fun of it, you must always find a way to optimize your interests. It almost feels like pursuits are only worth having if they convert to certificates and laurels. If they are not meritocratic in nature, they are deemed null and void. At the perimeter of adulthood, our minds and functioning are so constructed to survive this competitive environment, we forget to utilize the fact that our youth only comes across once. Rather than trying to do everything, this is the age to do things that make us feel everything.

This is a reflection of the environment and the capacity of this weight. Personally, I never got really far on the tightrope; I commend those who do. Being an all-rounder feels like a mystifying, magical act and by the end of  the act, there is nothing left for the magician themselves. There is no room to sit through a movie or paint simply because it is enjoyable. There is no time nor is there bandwidth for it. To do it all, you must give it your all. I question the cost of giving it all, if there is nothing left for the soul. It's important to question the tightrope, or how far you are on it. Our lives do not need to feel like one extended performance. I believe no CV will be worth that feeling. The aim shouldn’t be to do it all but do what we want, with our whole heart and being.