You always see parents’ faces light up like a Christmas tree when they hear their kid telling them he/she decided to study to become a doctor or an engineer or a lawyer. Even with complete strangers, they’re automatically put on a pedestal for choosing one of those “profitable” careers. If it happens that you are indeed personally passionate about one of these careers, not out of pressure from your parents and irrespective of society’s norms, then kudos to you. If, on the other hand, you have chosen the more creative pathway and would like to become a painter or a singer or even a professional equestrian – basically any career that is not considered “profitable” or “worthy” in our society – you’re automatically seen as taking the easy way out and throwing your career down the drain.
Now, I know we live in the 21st century, and that mentality is way overdue, but unfortunately most of our parents’ and grandparents’ generation still thinks that way. You will be bombarded with things like “painting is not a future; that’s just a hobby you do on the side” or “you need to get a “proper” degree in order to get a proper job – people who make it as musicians are one in a million; I doubt you’ll become one of those people.”
I’ll tell you this from now; you don’t need this kind of negativity in your life. Those who believe in you and your talent, whatever it may be, should be encouraging you to pursue it as a career even if it means giving up everything else.
Now, not everyone figures out his or her passion at a young age. When I say passion, I mean that one thing that makes your heart race; that you can spend endless hours on and it doesn’t feel like you’re doing “work” because you enjoy it so much. I believe that everyone is born with this one thing. If you have already figured it out, then chapeau to you! Consider yourself one of the lucky ones – it takes some people a lifetime. They waste their lives away, going everyday to a job they despise, sitting in a dusty cubicle crunching numbers away on a screen, and why?
One word answer: money.
Unfortunately, this is the kind of world we live in now. People are willing to sacrifice their happiness and wellbeing for the sake of money.
Well, to these people I say this: One day you will wake up when you’re 80 years old, look back and realize that you wasted your life away doing something that made you miserable when you could’ve gone after your passion. Trust me; if you believe in your talent enough and give it all you’ve got, you could master it and eventually the money will also come. You will find people who are interested in what you do and are willing to pay for it.
We seriously need to stop pressuring our kids into pursuing careers such as law and medicine, just because they guarantee money. They should figure out what they want to do independently, and we should fully support their choices. It’s just plain stupid to pursue a career in something you don’t like and waste your life away and teach your children to follow the same path, because they will also teach their children to do the same and so on. It’s a vicious cycle of unhappiness and wasted talents.
So you should ask yourself now, are you happy with your job or with what you’re studying? Are you passionate about it? Is it what you desire? Does it make you itch?
If you have not figured out your passion yet, you should be investing all your time and effort into figuring out what it is, because trust me, once you’ve found it, you will never have to “work” a day in your life. Forget about the money and pursue your passion. You CAN become a painter, a writer, a singer. you CAN become whatever you want to be; you just need to believe in yourself and give it your all. It’s better to have lived a short life doing the things you love, than to live a long life being miserable and doing something you hate.
