Get set.
Make a decision on what you are going to do with your life. Go!
That's how I felt at times when it came to choosing a major and a future career for myself. Since junior year of high school and with each passing school year at FAU, I feel like I'm in some sort of rush to make these decisions.
My parents don't make it any better. When they are talking to their friends, this is how the conversation goes:
Bragger: So this is your oldest daughter, what's her major? What is she going to do with her life?
Disappointed parent(s): ...we don't...well actually, she doesn't...she likes to write and read.
Me: Yes mom. I am very literate.
Then the friend would mention he or she has a son/daughter/niece/nephew/cat that is going to be graduating with honors and has jobs for as soon as the graduation ceremony is over.
[My parents love me just the way I am… My parents love me just the way I am… My parents love me just the way I am…]
When you're trying to decide your future life goals, keep in mind that whatever it is you decide, don't do it for your parents, family, and/or pets. Do it for yourself. In the end, you're the person living your life and not them. Besides, the people who care most about you like your family and friends, they ultimately want you to be happy.
Also not everyone immediately knows what they want to do with themselves, so you shouldn't feel rushed into finding your calling in life, it’s very normal to not know yet.
There are a lot of many different factors to consider when it comes to choosing a specific field to major in. Amongst those things is whether or not that particular career will offer financial rewards and create stability.
In other words, are you gonna BANK?
However, money shouldn't be your only motivation. This may sound cliché, but money doesn't buy permanent happiness. (Well...) (<- I'm kidding.) The point of higher learning is to take whatever it is that you have a passion for, are really good at or seriously take an interest in, and enhance your skills and/or knowledge. Even though I felt pressured, rushed and completely stressed, I didn't jump in and just grab whatever to fill a blank space just because everyone else had filled theirs. With all that being said, don't stress, take it a day at a time and everything will fall into place. Perhaps sometimes things just don't happen or are realized until they are supposed to.
Make a decision on what you are going to do with your life. Go!
That's how I felt at times when it came to choosing a major and a future career for myself. Since junior year of high school and with each passing school year at FAU, I feel like I'm in some sort of rush to make these decisions.
My parents don't make it any better. When they are talking to their friends, this is how the conversation goes:
Bragger: So this is your oldest daughter, what's her major? What is she going to do with her life?
Disappointed parent(s): ...we don't...well actually, she doesn't...she likes to write and read.
Me: Yes mom. I am very literate.
Then the friend would mention he or she has a son/daughter/niece/nephew/cat that is going to be graduating with honors and has jobs for as soon as the graduation ceremony is over.
[My parents love me just the way I am… My parents love me just the way I am… My parents love me just the way I am…]
When you're trying to decide your future life goals, keep in mind that whatever it is you decide, don't do it for your parents, family, and/or pets. Do it for yourself. In the end, you're the person living your life and not them. Besides, the people who care most about you like your family and friends, they ultimately want you to be happy.
Also not everyone immediately knows what they want to do with themselves, so you shouldn't feel rushed into finding your calling in life, it’s very normal to not know yet.
There are a lot of many different factors to consider when it comes to choosing a specific field to major in. Amongst those things is whether or not that particular career will offer financial rewards and create stability.
In other words, are you gonna BANK?
However, money shouldn't be your only motivation. This may sound cliché, but money doesn't buy permanent happiness. (Well...) (<- I'm kidding.) The point of higher learning is to take whatever it is that you have a passion for, are really good at or seriously take an interest in, and enhance your skills and/or knowledge. Even though I felt pressured, rushed and completely stressed, I didn't jump in and just grab whatever to fill a blank space just because everyone else had filled theirs. With all that being said, don't stress, take it a day at a time and everything will fall into place. Perhaps sometimes things just don't happen or are realized until they are supposed to.
5 comments:
I feel the same way my parents put a lot of pressure on me on what I should do with my life and all I want to do is be happy.
finally! i used to think my parents pushed me like that cause i was asian but honestly i learned that all parents are like this. what should i do to make them see? ps - youre so funny!
You have a vapid personality.
no i dont :(
I've loved how my folks have asked me from time to time what my major is because when they tell others it seems as if they have been waiting for me to change my mind:
Parent: Are you still __?
Me: Yes, yes I am. And I haven't changed it in the past four years...
Parent: Oh. Yeah, because so-so was asking and I said, 'Yeah, I think she's doing __ but I'm not sure...'
Nope, I chose a path and have decided to stick with it my entire collegiate career for lack of a better idea. As unsure as I still am about what my passion in life is, at least what I'm doing was an option I gave myself and not merely the ones that were presented to me by my folks.
But as much pressure as parents put on us, it's huge societal pressure as a whole. Guidance counselors, teachers, commercials, other students, companies that offer scholarships, the colleges themselves. Everyone was told to take the SATs or ACTs between their junior and senior year, started getting those letters in the mail from prospective schools who have already began to stalk you, technical schools and community colleges air commercials with young adults who express how huge life setbacks made them unable to go right out of high school (meaning if you don't go because you feel you're not ready for the responsibility and not for "valid" reasons- you're an ungrateful child destined for failure and hard times).
Everyone seems to expect that you're ready at that age- that something magical happens on your birthday. Age is but a number. Everyone matures at their own rate. True, push the experience on some and they will adapt beautifully, but it is my strong belief that as much as everyone else tried to prepare us, most are just not ready when those deadlines come. And as a result, we tend to screw up a lot in the first few years and feel like the failure they predicted we would be. It's like having your first mid-life crisis and I Can't Stand It. I hated going through it, I hate seeing others go through it, and I hate to think of my children going through it. When someone says they hate school, I think most hate that pressure to succeed on someone else's timeline by someone else's standards.
Here's hoping they listen to your advice as soon as possible and realize that although it is a great feeling to make others happy, they need to live life for themselves as well (if not first and foremost- but that's another delicate balance which is a whole 'nother discussion). Our folks should be proud of us regardless, they took that chance that we'd become a 'wild child' the moment they decided to bring us into the world anyways. :P
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