Why It Matters
Let Me Tell You a Story
A story of two students
Mark
New York City
Elise
Midwest
Early Influence
Raised in the fast-paced rhythm of New York City. Surrounded by ambition. College was always assumed but never clearly defined. He felt pressure to be exceptional, even if he didn’t know what that meant.
Grew up in a quiet Midwestern suburb. Tight-knit community. Expectations were more traditional. College meant stability, not passion. She wanted to do something meaningful but didn’t know how to figure out what that was.
Senior Year of High School
Accepted to a top-tier university. Friends were competing over rankings and resumes. He started questioning if college was even worth it, but didn’t want to disappoint anyone.
Also got into a top-tier university; thanks to a scholarship and a few loans. Felt proud, but quietly wondered if she was in over her head. Wondered if the cost to her and her family would be worth the sacrifices they would have to make.
Freshman Year
Excitement quickly turned into anxiety. Everyone else seemed to have a plan. Mark didn’t. He stayed quiet and tried to “figure it out,” but mostly felt lost.
Struggled with the pace. Her classes were harder than expected. Her confidence took a hit. She didn’t feel comfortable reaching out, didn’t want to be seen as unprepared.
Sophomore Year
Changed majors. Again. Still no idea what he wanted to do. He started to feel like something was wrong with him. Everyone else looked like they were figuring it out. He didn’t know where to turn for help and felt ashamed for even needing it. He stopped going out. His sleep got weird. Everything felt heavy, but he thought it was just because he wasn’t trying hard enough.
Started doubting her major. Her first internship was a mismatch. She felt like she was wasting time but changing course felt risky. Her grades dipped. She started skipping meals. No one really noticed, not even her. And she was terrified her scholarship might be taken away if things slipped any further.
Junior Year
Internship in marketing. Looked great on paper. But every day felt like a mismatch. He started drinking more, not heavily, but often. Pushed through, pretending everything was fine. The anxiety was constant, but invisible. He started thinking maybe he wasn’t built for this path, but didn’t know what else was out there.
Studied abroad. Finally felt inspired, but came back feeling behind. Her anxiety spiked. She couldn’t sleep. Her chest tightened any time someone asked, “What’s next after graduation?” That summer, she returned home more confused than ever about what came next. But she kept smiling, because that’s what people expected.
Senior Year
Grades were solid. He’d found momentum. One professor had taken an interest in him, pushed him, challenged him, and believed in him. For the first time, he felt like he had a direction. His plans were set, and he believed college had done its job. He was ready for the real world, or so he thought. What was waiting around the corner, no one had prepared him for.
She got multiple job offers. It felt good like proof that the late nights, the constant pressure, and the self-doubt had all meant something. People respected her. She’d earned this with blood, sweat, and tears. But beneath the surface, she still didn’t feel clear. Just tired. This looked like the finish line, but it was really the start of a journey she’d have to walk alone.
After Graduation
He moved back home. The job he lined up fell through. He took something unrelated to his degree just to get by. It was supposed to be temporary. Quietly, he started to question everything. He didn’t talk about it, not even to friends. It felt like everyone else was moving forward. And he didn’t know how to explain why he wasn’t.
She started work. On paper, it was a great job. But almost immediately, she felt out of place. The expectations. The culture. The pressure to prove herself all over again. It hit her harder than she expected. This wasn’t what she’d worked so hard for. But she told herself to push through. Everyone else seemed fine. Maybe it was just her.
10 Years Later
Mark built a career. Pivoted twice. Eventually, he started his own thing, but not before years of trial and error, false starts, and figuring it all out alone. There were times he looked successful on the outside and completely lost on the inside. No one had ever shown him how to build a life, just how to chase one.
Elise changed fields. Started over twice. There were moments of hope, followed by burnout, followed by reinvention. She weathered a breakup, outgrew friendships, and spent years trying to make her life feel like her own. She got here. But it took everything she had, and no one saw that part.
20 Years Later
Mark’s career is stable. He leads a small company, mentors when he can, and volunteers with young adults. He’s a father now. Watching his own child navigate school brings everything back. He thinks about how long it took him to figure things out. How much silence he carried. Sharing his story has become one of the most fulfilling parts of his life — but he still wishes there had been a clearer way to reach someone when it actually mattered.
Elise is thriving in her career and raising two kids. Balancing motherhood and meaningful work is hard but worth it. Over time, she’s started noticing the younger women at her firm. Interns. New hires. Smart and driven but quietly struggling, as she did back then. She sees pieces of herself in them in their uncertainty, their self-doubt. She offers support when she can, and something unexpected happens: a quiet sense of fulfillment washes over her. For the first time, it feels like everything she went through wasn’t just for her. It meant something. It could mean something to someone else.
30 Years Later – Class Reunion
They Meet
Mark wasn’t sure what he’d find walking back onto campus after all these years. The buildings looked the same, but he didn’t. His son was just applying to college, and it brought up the same anxiety he felt back then. How much uncertainty he went through. How much of his journey had been trial and error, and how long it took to find a direction. As he stood near the edge of the reception, watching as classmates reconnected like no time had passed, those feelings quietly returned.
Elise almost didn’t come to the reunion. Life is busy. Between work, raising two kids, and everything else, taking a weekend to revisit the past felt like a luxury. But something pulled her back. Maybe curiosity, maybe a quiet ache to reconnect with a part of herself she’d left behind.
At the reception, she stood at one of the high tables, watching classmates laugh and catch up. But she felt somehow outside of it all, as if the person she had been back then didn’t quite fit anymore. That’s when, by surprise, a man walked up to the table and set down his glass. He looked around with the same sense of quiet distance. He looked, in some way, like he didn’t quite belong either. So she smiled and said,
“Hi, I’m Elise.”
Within minutes, they were finishing each other’s thoughts. Comparing stories. Realizing how much they’d both carried alone. Their lives unfolded like mirrors. Same doubts. Same detours. Same quiet wish: What if?
They laughed. They paused.
Then Mark said,
“Can you imagine what life would’ve been like if we had known even half of this back then?”
Elise nodded, her eyes glassy.
“I wish there was a way I could help someone like me back then…. someone like us.”
They looked at each other.
And in that moment, they both realized:
I… am… you.
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