Juventud bajo mandato

Graduation is often presented as a moment of progress, as if it automatically brings clarity about the future. However, there is a far less visible experience that is rarely discussed: the sense of emptiness that emerges when the path that follows was not truly chosen by oneself.

There is a profound difference between studying something that arises from genuine interest and doing so because someone else made the decision. When the choice is not one’s own, the academic process can become a kind of mechanical routine. One attends, complies, moves forward, yet a persistent discomfort remains, difficult to ignore.

This is not simply a matter of dissatisfaction or lack of motivation. It is a more complex feeling, tied to the perception of investing time, energy, and expectations into a direction that does not feel authentic. Everything may appear functional on the surface, while internally a sense of disconnection persists.

What is striking is how common this situation actually is. Families, social pressures, and prevailing notions of stability or success often exert decisive influence over choices that are, in theory, deeply personal. Under such pressures, a decision ceases to be an individual construction and becomes an adaptation.

The outcome is frequently silent. There is not always open conflict or explicit rejection. More often, what emerges is a form of emptiness that is difficult to articulate: a mixture of apathy, doubt, and a persistent sense of misalignment.

Even so, this discomfort is rarely recognized as legitimate. It is often interpreted as indecision, ingratitude, or immaturity. The assumption prevails that adjustment is sufficient, that meaning will eventually appear.

Yet adaptation does not always resolve disconnection.

Choosing a life project shaped by external expectations introduces a constant tension between what one does and what one feels. It is not a visible or easily quantifiable problem, but it is profoundly real for those who experience it.

Perhaps the pending conversation is not only about what to study, but about who truly makes these decisions and what happens when the answer is less straightforward than it seems.