“He dedicated 9 months to his previous self who aspired to overcome barriers, both internal and external, and experience different worlds. And guess what? Today, both of us are in Chicago!” said my bio in the Shorewood’s High School spring musical production Chicago. It is no doubt that 10 months ago, when I took a leap of faith to travel 7500 miles from Pakistan to the United States as an exchange student, I felt a confusingly urgent desire to find myself, know who I am, and discover what my purpose in the world is. After coming to the US and having scrambled to do as many extracurriculars as I possibly could, I have gained somewhat of an understanding of who I am and what might be the purpose behind my existence. Through those experiences, I have learnt a much more meaningful and deeper message about life. It is about how finding yourself does not mean defining yourself to one label. The curious act of searching the world, finding its meaning and your place within it demands us to transcend rigid labels and echo-chambers. 

I assure you that I am not trying to brag the list, but having done Model UN, Mock Trial, Copperdome, Global Navigators, FBLA, two theatre shows, two sports, and over a 100 volunteer hours, my identity is not being a drama kid, or a young journalist or a yearbook photographer or an athlete. In fact my identity and stature as a human being goes further than just one extracurricular. It is rather a composition of all the things that I do and believe in. 

Systematically, humans in the 21st century have been incentivised and forced to find a focus of work they do in their lives. But humans have historically held multiple interests and passions all at the same time. Abraham Lincoln, the American President with the highest approval ratings at the end of his term, admired Shakespeare’s works, while playing chess and wrestling in his youth. Alongside that, he developed his oratory and writing skills. Isaac Newton, as another example, wrote more on theology and early Church History than he did on science. 

One’s secondary interests don’t have to overshadow what major one would like to study or a profession that they’d pursue. But at a young age like us, when most of us are developing a sense of the world and finding our purpose and what we can contribute to this place, limiting yourself to one area completely prohibits you from gaining any exposure to a different world, thus being unable to see what a different reality could be like. 

In fact, delving into secondary interests brings much more clarity into one’s primary interests and cross-disciplinary comparison allows for an understanding of a unique truth that comes out as a mix of both of them. Doing Cross Country and chasing for my last breath in a 5k race taught me the importance of resilience and managing stress, the very skills I applied in my Northwestern Model UN committee that allowed me to win an award. Doing Chicago, which is essentially a commentary on the American justice system through artistry, taught me something about the politics and history of America that Civics Semester 1 could never. 

Although many people are not planning on studying abroad in high school, there will inevitably be times of change where someone’s sense of self is challenged and they are forced to think about what really makes them ‘them.’ The best advice I could give you is to try multiple things out. Listen to various perspectives, and don’t focus on one dimension of yourself. While being grounded in values and interests is highly essential, it is also important to dabble into different environments once in a while and witness a different truth. After all, all of the different places you go — and the experiences that come with them — play a role in not just developing our taste, but also our resilience and our understanding of what is morally right. 

This might not seem to be the easiest or most accessible risk to take during the age of social media, short attention spans, and adolescent social judgement, but that makes it all the more important. Social media has created bubbles where algorithms respond to our tastes and desires, refuelling them constantly, and polarization acts as a stop sign in lending an ear to the other side and trying new things. But as my experience says, despite being in America for the first time and trying so many things without having done them before, there is always something to learn from the other side, the other activity, the different things you’re passionate about yet socially ashamed to do. If you find yourself to be great at dancing, perhaps try a sport that requires flexibility. If you find yourself leaning heavily towards the left, perhaps listen to some intellectual conservatives and consider why others think differently and what humanises them. I was able to gain a clearer understanding of political science after studying American Society and Civics, and then comparing it to the Pakistani government. A label is disempowering when it becomes a limitation. Being bold, independent and committed to pursuing your highest self means engaging with the fluidity that is instilled in our bodies. Overcoming the shame of doing so is one’s responsibility.