I’m still in the making of that success story of mine. 23 here aswell, started studying physics at 17 at university because my teacher was incredible and I loved astronomy. Well, I wasn’t really good at maths or willing to study for it. Changed to engineering 2 semesters in, because I told myself it had „less or different maths“. But I was just making excuses and was postponing the inevitable - that is thinking about what to do in life. I was drowning the ever-increasing knowledge I’d have to confront it someday with video games. 4 years forward things were still bad. I don’t even wanna tell you how many exams I managed successfully, but it atleast it wasn’t zero.

And then I finally did what had been recommended to me years prior: making a list of courses that interest me and listing advantages and disadvantages, ranking them. And do you know what I found out? I don’t give a f about physics or engineering. I could still love astronomy as a hobby, learn some interesting facts and knowledge and brag about it even without being a physicist. I ranked History top of my list of courses. Politics second and Sociology third (since playing Stellaris I really respect that scientific field). I had always loved politics in school and I loved arguing even more. I’m also a sharp one when it comes to arguing and I can find a way out in every debate. I didn’t want to study history because I didn’t feel like job opportunities were looking good. But the problem was that the school grades required for politics were too high compared to mine.

One day then, I visited my mum and was scrolling through universities offering politics with my Laptop on my lap. She looks over my shoulder, points at an entry, saying it looked good. I waved it off, changed to the next page of listings. Then I thought to myself ‚What if that’s the one? Should I really take chances because I am too lazy to go back one page?‘ and went back and I looked it up. I’ll spare you from the details of my - may I say elaborately planned and luckily succeeding - plan to enroll, but I made it. Now I have successfully completed my exams for the past semesters as is standard for that course, and with good grades at that. I am even studying for it. And I love it. Politics & Economics is my new course and I couldn’t be happier. It was the perfect match, and still is.

So long story short: be sure to check whether your interests align with your skills. If you’re bad at maths, don’t go into engineering, even if you think it’s interesting. Do something that interests you and for which you have a talent. And leave pure interests for hobbies besides your main profession in life. It may sound weird, but being good at something (apart from only being interested in it) is a great motivation for studying for it. Ask people for their opinion, their help in this matter. I still remember meeting that one girl from back in high school years later and told her about my thoughts of maybe switching to politics, and she instantly said, without the slightest doubt that of course I belong in politics! That helped me establish my plans, really changing my life for the better. Realign your current situation according to interests and talent as soon as you can and don’t dawdle. Things don’t get better by ignoring them, and life and depression will swallow you whole when ignored for too long. I was deep down in that dark hole before I found my passion. And you can find it in the weirdest of places! I for example never thought about economics before, seeing it as a mere necessity (in my particular case, what with the plan to enroll I mentioned) to study politics and now I almost love it even more than politics! There is no shame in changing course, and you only stand to gain from it. It really comes down to being honest with yourself, recognizing a goal as impossible if it is and jumping ship. I really don’t mean to be discouraging here, you’re the only one who can know if it is.