The Identity Trap: Why Your Major Isn’t Your Destiny

Meet Aarav.

He’s a 21-year-old med student from Delhi: sharp, disciplined, and completely submerged in the world of anatomy diagrams and late-night case studies. But here's the thing: while everyone else scrolls through reels to unwind, Aarav spends hours secretly watching graphic design tutorials. He dreams of designing clean user interfaces, editing cinematic videos, and maybe even freelancing during his college breaks. But every time he reaches for that next YouTube tutorial or opens Figma, a voice whispers “You’re a doctor, not a designer.”

And just like that, he shuts the laptop.

This is the identity trap. The invisible cage society wraps around us the moment we choose a stream: arts, science, commerce, law, whatever. You're told you're only allowed to be one thing. If you're an arts student, you can't touch code. If you’re in commerce, you better not be caught doodling character designs. If you're doing MBBS, forget about video editing, business, or building a startup on the side.

But let’s pause and ask something real:
Who made these rules? And why are we still following them?

The truth is, these are imaginary walls we’ve built around our potential. They don’t come from our ability; they come from fear, tradition, and old systems trying to simplify a world that’s no longer that simple.

Because here’s what’s real:

Your brain doesn’t care what stream you're in. It doesn’t go, “Oh no, you took arts. Guess I won’t let you understand JavaScript.” Every time you try something new, your brain grows. You create new neural connections, your perspective widens, and suddenly, life becomes more interconnected. You start seeing how storytelling helps in business, how design principles help in medicine, how programming teaches structure to your thinking.

Aarav isn’t just a med student anymore. He’s a med student who’s learning to build health apps with UI/UX design. He’s designing infographics that simplify medical concepts for rural India. He’s starting to see that knowledge isn't in silos, it’s a web. And every new skill is a thread.

The trap isn’t just about identity. It’s about what we think we’re allowed to do.

Many people limit themselves, not because they lack talent, but because they believe, deep down, that it’s not for them. They believe their stream defines them. That because they took commerce, they can’t understand machine learning. That because they didn’t study tech, they can't build a startup. That because they’re not from a “creative background,” they can’t pick up a camera and shoot.

But let’s be honest, some of the best designers didn’t go to design school. Some of the most successful entrepreneurs started with no business background. You don’t need permission to explore. You just need curiosity, courage, and a plan.

So how do you break out of the trap?

Start small. Find something that excites you: graphic design, web development, video editing, public speaking, digital marketing and set a weekend challenge. Build one thing. One poster. One landing page. One Instagram reel. It doesn’t have to be perfect. It just has to exist.

Then, go find the tribe. Join Discord communities, attend cross-functional college events, follow creators who are also walking the middle path. Surround yourself with people who blur boundaries instead of enforcing them.

The more exposure you get, the more your identity stretches. You begin to see yourself not as a this or that but as a maker, a builder, a learner.

And suddenly, new paths appear. You realize you can do MBBS and run a health-based startup. You can study law and become a viral educator online. You can be a coder who writes poetry. You can be anything as long as you don’t let old labels dictate your future.

Aarav did it. He now runs a design page on the side, collaborates with health influencers to simplify patient education, and earns part-time doing what he once thought he "wasn't allowed" to do.

You can literally learn anything you want right now, for free.

The internet is filled with unlimited resources. Entire skillsets, complete career paths, high-paying freelancing skills, and tools of the future are being shared by people every day. You can watch, read, interact, build, and practice all without paying a single rupee.

You can learn storytelling, web development, product design, video editing, marketing, trading, branding, psychology, fitness, and a hundred other things. You can start slow, 30 minutes a day. One tutorial. One idea. One curiosity followed.

You don’t need a course.
You don’t need permission.
You just need to start.

Every time you do, your identity expands. You stop being “just” a med student or an engineering student or a B.A. graduate. You become someone who learns, adapts, and reinvents. Someone who sees the world not in streams, but in possibilities.

And the best part? The more you learn outside your niche, the more your core field improves. A doctor with a design mindset builds better health-tech. A lawyer who understands content reaches more people. A coder who studies storytelling creates better products. Everything you learn connects and compounds.

So don’t wait for the perfect time.

Explore while you can.
Because you’ve got just one life.

Learn everything that calls you.
Chase every curiosity.
And become everything you were meant to be.

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Was there a moment that hit home, or an idea that lit a spark?

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