the road to peripeteia

Last week, a simple application status update changed the courses of our college paths. It did for me and all weekend I thought, It’s simple now. I know where I’m going to go and I can stop worrying about the other schools. I felt like I reached The moment where my future seemed clear. It seemed like the anagnorisis, or turning point, in life. This moment of clarity, like most in life, was short-lived. 

This weekend, I competed in a scholarship competition for a different college. I almost canceled it (in a fit of foolhardy presumptuousness) but decided I should still of course go through with it. As I went from one Zoom to another, I felt more of a draw to this school. The president seemed to have a true desire to get to know us. The current students were all friendly and earnest in their reasons for loving their experience so far. Soon, I got to the interview portion of the day and I realized I wasn’t stretching the truth when they asked, “why are you applying for this?”  

“Because I [think I] would love to go here.”

This is peripeteia: a sudden turn of events where suddenly, nothing is clear anymore. I feel like a main character in a coming of age movie or YA fiction book. But the conclusion in these perfectly wrapped up 300-page books is typically the character goes to his dream school despite all his friends going somewhere else or his parents’ expectations. I would love to just skip to the next chapter and forget all the inner conflict.