Student Blog: What TICK, TICK... BOOM! Means to Me

With college graduation a mere 3 months away, I've never felt more panicked in my life. There's this overwhelming feeling of what do I do, what's next, where do I go from here, that college graduates often face.

Recently what has helped me, and sort of self-soothed me has been tick, tick... BOOM!

But let me backup and introduce myself.

Hi! I'm Makalah, and I am a college senior, entering my final semester of undergrad, and I am terrified. First of COVID, but then also this alarming feeling of trying to figure out what to do with my life while also having no idea which direction to go in.

Over winter break I spent a great deal of time researching jobs, researching grad school, and still, no idea *insert crying gif meme*. I feel like time is running out, and I need to find something quick or my life is going to be pointless. But it wasn't until watching tick, tick... BOOM! I realized that everything's going to be ok, and I just needed to take a breath.

tick, tick... BOOM, one of the many movie musicals that dropped in 2021, has become one of my favorite movies. Prior to the film, I knew of the musical and I knew about its playwriter, Jonathan Larson, being a major RENT fan. But I didn't know too much about the actual plot.

tick, tick... BOOM! tells the story of Jonathan Larson as he struggled and worked his way through writing his first musical. He had this feeling like he was running out of time, working ridiculously hard, to ultimately produce great art, although he was never able to see it.

Jonathan was taken far too soon, and his art will continue to show his legacy.

Watching this movie we see Jonathan bust his butt trying to accomplish his dreams. He worked really hard, put in so much effort and energy, to not "succeed" the first time with Superbia.

From then on he had a few choices. Give up and change career paths, or dig in and pick up a pencil and start working on the next project.

It's really easy when things aren't going your way, after you've tried over and over again to just quit and find something new. But it takes a different level of determination to stick it out, dig in, and work ten times harder to accomplish goal and watch your dreams come true.

For me, tick, tick... BOOM! provided some clarity. It reminded me that it is ok to not have everything figured out. As long as I'm doing something that's important to me, and I'm doing my best, that's all that I can hope for.