Why going uphill takes you further

The aim in taking on a challenge is not just to surmount it, but to learn what one is capable of. Doing this in youth lets one acquire skills that can be vital in the storms to come

- Charles Assisi

"Choose what is harder. Youth is a time to prove you have it in you." The advice was offered by a lecturer at a Chennai-based college to my older teen, after we arrived at a stalemate on what course she ought to pursue in college.

She is enamoured by an option that I think isn't worth investing three years of one's life in. I have suggested that it could serve as a side hustle, or an elective.

That is how we ended up on a conference call with a professional teacher. After he had made his stance clear, he went on to explain it. The pursuit of the easy, when one is young, keeps one from exploring and understanding one's boundaries, he said.