Üsküdar Üniversitesi Founding Rector, Psychiatrist Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, met with Akhiska Turks residing in Turkey. In the program hosted by Üsküdar Üniversitesi and organized by the Youth Branch of the World Union of Akhiska Turks (DATÜB), Tarhan made important remarks under the title 'Right Profession Choice and Effective Career Planning'. Emphasizing the importance of benefiting from experienced individuals, Tarhan stated that the ideal approach is to learn from others' experiences.
The discussion held at Üsküdar Üniversitesi Nermin Tarhan Conference Hall saw intense interest from Akhiska Turks living in Turkey. NGO executives also attended the meeting, which was heavily attended by candidates who took the university entrance exam and were on the verge of making their choices.
“We will not forget the past, but we will look to the future”
Starting his speech by drawing attention to the 79th anniversary of the exile of the Akhiska Turks, Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan emphasized the need to learn from the past and the importance of a sense of responsibility. Tarhan said, “We will learn lessons from the past; they are our history. For example, the Japanese take their children to Nagasaki and Hiroshima even at primary school level and say, ‘Look, when we experienced World War II, we suffered such losses. There are realities of life; life is not just rosy; we experienced such realities.’ A sense of responsibility is instilled in young people with the feeling that we have a debt to our ancestors in the past. Especially today's youth are being raised to be self-centered due to the perspective brought by modernism regarding responsibility for the past. Popular culture imposes a philosophy of ‘live your life, break your chains, tear down walls, live as you please’. We need to complete these deficiencies in our education system. We will not forget the past, but we will look to the future. Therefore, your activity is as valuable as a diamond, and the presence of these young people here is important in this context. We would be happy if we could be useful to them in making the right choices.” he said.
Candidates need to benefit from experienced individuals…
Emphasizing that candidates must benefit from experienced individuals, Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan stated; “The preference period is one of the most confusing times for young people. There are two important decisions a person will make in life; one is career choice, and the other is spouse choice. Because perhaps forty years of a person's life will pass in line with this decision. How does one make the right decision here? One may not see everything oneself. A person has their own strengths and weaknesses… They have their own personal characteristics... Then there are the characteristics of the profession they want to pursue. That profession has its pros and cons. There are observations and experiences of those who practice that profession… A person needs to be able to establish a connection between their personal characteristics and the profession they wish to pursue. Therefore, benefiting from experienced individuals here is important. For this reason, in recent years, faculties of education have opened a branch of science called 'career choice specialization'. So, it's not a main branch of science, but it exists as a branch of science? There is a separate course on making the right career choice. When we look at the statistics, we see that 30-40% of students entering university want to change their department and field by retaking exams. In short, they are not satisfied with their choices or fields… This means that one third will retake the exam next year. If they choose a field they don't want, they enter through additional quotas, their score is not wasted, at least it's more advantageous because they don't lose a year, and so on. The best preference counselors and preference robots know this.” he said.
“The greatest capital is trust”
Tarhan, stating that the goal should be profitability in the medium-to-long term, not just the short term; “The most important truths of this era, the most important currency, is trust. The greatest capital is trust. To build trust, we need to be open, transparent, and honest. I mean, I think honesty has become a virtue in Turkey. In fact, everyone should possess it. These are all human characteristics. Being self-serving is profitable in the short term, but being virtuous is profitable in the medium to long term. We should aim for the medium-to-long term, not just short-term profitability. This is my most important advice to young people. A person with such a life philosophy sets their goals correctly. In life, we will have a goal pyramid, and you will have the motivation to move yourself. At the very top of the goal pyramid, there will be a person's pyramid of purpose and meaning, similar to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. At the top of life, there will be abstract goals, such as what kind of person I want to be when I reach the end of my life, what I want written on my tombstone, how I want to be remembered? If we have such an abstract goal, and if someone tries to lead us to a malevolent path saying, ‘Lie, slap this, do that,’ if you have an abstract goal like being a good person, you can automatically say no.” he stated.
“Traumas themselves are not a threat; our way of dealing with them is”
Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan spoke about how a person who does not fall into despair and pessimism turns trauma into an achievement. Tarhan; “Traumas themselves are not a threat. Our way of dealing with traumas is the threat. Because trauma is an inevitable part of life. No one’s life is a straight line. Thinking of a life without trauma is not realistic. It would be nice, but it’s not possible. The rules of creation are not like that. Every danger has two dimensions. There is a threat dimension and an opportunity dimension. Let's say people who, in a trauma, do not see the opportunity dimension but focus on the threat dimension; if they always think externally, saying ‘Why did this happen? I wish it hadn't? Why did they do this? This is injustice,’ and gain a habit of always blaming others, they exhaust themselves. But; they should think, ‘This trauma is a situation in my life that I could not prevent, was beyond my control, and I could not foresee. What should I do against this trauma? What is the instructive aspect of this trauma for me? What is the opportunity aspect?’ The most important thing for them to think this way is not to fall into despair and pessimism. A person who does not fall into despair and pessimism turns trauma into an achievement. We then call that a developing trauma. The person suffers hardship and pain, but then their own abilities develop further, and they advance. In other words, those traumas, as rivals, give them psychological resilience and ego strength. With those achievements, they become more resilient in life events.” he said.
“The ideal is to learn from the experiences of others”
Underlining that resilience training is one of the 21st-century skills for life success, Tarhan said; “Currently, one of the most important 21st-century skills for life success is what we call resilience training, or psychological robustness, which in our culture is known as patience. That is, being patient is not about withdrawing and waiting; that is passive patience. There is also active patience, patience in action. You set a goal. You are in active patience as you pursue the goal. While moving towards the goal, you embrace positive things and say no to negative things. In other words, you focus on your goal, not your pleasures, tastes, or desires. This patience is a meditative act. And in fact, this patience is not about slowing down or waiting; it is about adapting to the speed and rhythm of nature. Life is like riding a bicycle. If you know where to speed up and where to slow down, you will go without falling. If you pedal where you shouldn't, you fall; it's the same. This needs to be learned in life too. This is a skill. In life, we will constantly make mistakes and learn. Standard learning is trial-and-error, which most people do. You make a mistake, you learn a lesson, and you don't do it again. This is how an average person learns. The learning of a smart person is; you make a mistake, and without waiting to make another mistake, you learn from the mistakes of others. You read success stories, you listen to life stories. You learn from their experiences, and you make the right decisions without going through trial and error. You make fewer mistakes; the ideal is to learn from the experiences of others.” he said.
