A Journey of Approximately Two Million Individual Steps

May 23, 20247 min read

Findings from a 2022 study show that an overwhelming majority of students believe they must prepare for their career years in advance, beginning in as early as middle or high school, to achieve success. However, although it’s true that more practice correlates with higher levels of expertise, one doesn’t need to have decided their life’s path by the age of thirteen just to be “successful.” Today, we explore how Maria Massucco’s journey, plagued with uncertainty, spanned a decade and led her all around the world before taking her home and giving her the career she searched for with Eason.

Maria had grown up in the Moravian Falls, by the foothills of Blue Ridge Mountains, in North Carolina. For Maria, the best part about North Carolina was its geography: “As you

move from east to west, you get the coastal region and the outer banks, the marshlands, the Piedmont foothills, and then the Appalachian mountains.” The town she lived in was fairly

small, and most people there were chicken farmers. Throughout her childhood, Maria’s family placed a huge emphasis on sports and stories, especially since her father was an English major and her mother was an avid reader. Hence, unsurprisingly, due to parental influence, most of Maria’s early childhood memories consisted of “being outside in the garden and with the animals, reading constantly, and playing sports.” Her interest in athletics were reflected in her dreams–as a child, Maria had wanted to become an Olympic-level athlete and often played with the boys at recess.

Looking back, Maria described her parents as having taken a balanced approach to life. “They’d let us go to sports practices, cook us a nice meal, go to bed early, and also wake up very early to finish work.” Maria also adds she followed this routine established by her parents for the rest of her life. “My parents were there to remind us, as their kids, that one bad grade wasn’t the end of the world so long as you were trying and doing your best,” she says.

Growing up, Maria spent a majority of her free time being outside and riding her horse. “I would constantly be outdoors. The place I grew up in was full of rivers, forests, woods, hiking trails, and farms. A lot of our time outside was unstructured and unsupervised.” Even as she started high school, how she’d spent her time largely hadn’t changed. “I drove around and continued to just be in nature, such as having picnics.”

Nevertheless, despite Maria staying largely the same, many around her changed. "In high school, fewer people wanted to spend time outside. They preferred going to malls or staying indoors. It made high school tough," she recalled. This internal struggle made Maria eager to leave her town behind. Fortunately, she didn't have to wait long. After being accepted into an arts high school with a boarding option, she quickly left, saying, "I didn't even look back."

By then, her dreams of becoming an Olympian had all but faded—all she wanted was to attend the UNC School of the Arts, a special high school for just juniors and seniors. However, once she arrived, new horizons and possibilities emerged. Presented with these opportunities, Maria began setting and chasing smaller goals. “At every step, after I’d achieved one little goal I’d set my heart on, even more opportunities would open up. I’d then get attached to the next goal,” she explains. “Ever since elementary school, my dreams stopped being focused on one gigantic goal. They became these small steps I started to obsess over.

With the horizon of opportunities open to her in high school, Maria's life became unplanned; she just went with the flow. However, this also led to problems. Sometimes, “this goal wouldn’t always be clear,” Maria says. The uncertainty of where her next step, her next passion, would take her became a major driving factor in her multifaceted life.

After graduating high school, Maria attended undergraduate studies at Northwestern. She had always loved music and planned to study opera, but also quickly fell in love with Italian literature. There, she found her calling and had decided studying literature would be

her next goal. Maria accordingly applied for a Master’s program (called the Erasmus Mundus) in Europe, where she would spend a semester at a different university for two years.

Unfortunately, problems arose for her as she started attending the classes. The Master’s program had actually made a mistake and wasn’t allowed to grant scholarships to non-Europeans. Maria, who depended on the scholarship to fund her living expenses, suddenly had nothing to support herself. “I had nothing in all these expensive cities. I was absolutely broke.” She tried her best to get through by working as an au pair in Italy, but couldn’t push through and dropped out. There, she applied to several doctorate programs to continue pursuing her passion for Italian literature. Maria was accepted into Stanford, and that was her next destination.

Upon arriving, Maria was so broke she had to borrow money from her classmates just to buy basic essentials, such as towels. “I was so embarrassed I had gone through all these years of education, yet had no money in my bank account and forty thousand dollars in student loans. I was so ashamed that I had nothing, I didn’t even ask my parents for help,” she admits. Thankfully, Maria was able to slowly get back on her feet, as the doctoral program paid her to teach. It was here that Maria had made another realization: she didn’t want to remain in academia and instead, wished to teach high schoolers. She once again followed this realization and applied for a teaching position in high schools around California; Maria is now an English teacher at Sacred Heart Prep.

Though it may be strange to switch from academia to teaching high schoolers, in a circuitous manner, Maria's aspirations had remarkably come full circle, returning to the same pastimes she cherished in her childhood. "Teaching English," she reflected, "bears a striking resemblance to my fondness for singing. It demands both craftsmanship and honing of skills, all while retaining the capacity for engagement." Maria finds gratification in the unique challenge of instructing high school students. "Teaching at the collegiate level entailed an audience of voluntary participants. Conversely, at the high school level, students lack such agency. A teacher must remain cognizant of this reality, meticulously tailoring their curriculum accordingly." By navigating her choices thoughtfully, Maria found herself drawn back to the very passions that ignited her initial enthusiasm.

Maria also highlights the importance of making time for other hobbies. “I loved the arts and the humanities. I knew it wasn’t going to be much of an affluent future, and I was okay with it. It paid off in a different way. There’s a huge amount of satisfaction at the human level.” Maria also still lives by this ideology today. Despite being a teacher, Maria finds time for the other non-English/humanities pastimes she had. Now, she does rock climbing, surfing, mountain biking, trail running, and more.

When asked to give general comments and advice towards high schoolers, Maria said one of the most important lessons she ended up learning was to not feel guilty. “A lot of times, as a high schooler, what you want to do versus what those around you expect will clash,” Maria explains. “In the end, you’ll need to decide what you wish to do, both for menial and big decisions. However, the worst thing you can do is feel guilty about the fact that you have to make a choice.” After all, Maria says, you’ll never be able to make everyone happy. In fact, Maria says some of her most memorable moments were times when she went against societal expectations. “I hardly remember any day out of all four years of high school. However, what I did remember were the times I chose my own path. I learned the guitar while my parents wanted me to study. I hung out with friends I wasn’t supposed to. And I didn’t feel guilty for doing so.”

Maria expands this sentiment onto dreams, too. “If you find yourself hammering on one goal or only doing things because you believe it’ll lead to a certain kind of future…you’re kidding yourself. There’s no way to predict how the cards are going to fall. So if you’re making all these sacrifices just because you think you know how it’ll turn out, you’ll have to be very careful with the future you choose.” This approach is how Maria finds balance: she listens to the voices around her, but also decides her own future when necessary. “Of course, have dreams,” Maria says, but adds, “Make sure your everyday is where you find happiness, instead of some imaginary future.”

Moreover, Maria offered advice on managing worry to high school students. "You can't ever completely stop worrying," Maria remarks. "But it's important to recognize that worry comes in waves—one should not allow it to consume them disproportionately." While seeking assistance is advisable in the face of genuine threats, such as concerning situations, Maria stresses the futility of fretting over matters beyond one's control, such as the unpredictable nature of college applications. "Excessive worry," she adds, "is akin to guilt—it serves little purpose."

Lastly, when asked what she believes a high schooler should spend their time doing, Maria answered with two activities. The first, in her words, was simply reading and discussing what you read with others. The second was to merely spend time playing games (both outdoors and physical board games). “If we did those activities, we’d be a lot healthier and more socially understanding. People simply need to read more.”

When caught up in this world, it’s easy to start fretting about the future. It’s easy to create a rigid plan for your future. What may actually be hard, for some, is to go with the flow and let your passions and fate lead life. After all, a journey isn’t a clear-cut path of a thousand miles one plans ahead of time–it’s two million, give or take, individual steps of uncertainty that wind, backtrack, and stagnate until you finally stumble upon your destination.