Being the offspring of a successful person means one thing: privilege. Life is a weird jumble of who you know and what you do. You won the freaking lottery because you’ve known people from the womb. Sometimes it’s overwhelming, sometimes you read tragic news articles and relate too personally to them. The higher your are the harder the fall. You didn’t even have to work to get where you are, hell sometimes it seems the only way is down.

1. The Expectations

When you are younger you don’t really understand what the big deal about you mum or dad was. They’re old, they’re lame, you are far superior when it comes to coolness... right? People are always doting on you saying that you are going to be great, that you are going to do great things, that the world is your oyster. As you get older you realize, no. You were anything but special, people just assumed you would be because your parents are. Whether they built an empire out of nothing or succeeded in a commercial industry, you just can’t seem to find your place in their adult world. As a kid it seemed so easy, find something you’re good at and do it and the money, fame, and/or power will just come. Everyone expects that to happen for you too, and their comments haunt you as you always feel that you can’t live up to anyone's expectations. You find yourself a) blocking out anyone's opinions of you and becoming a stone hard wall or b) collapsing under the crippling weight that you feel you have to hold and falling into a rut of depression. I guess there is also a c) which is finding a balance and continuing your life, maybe that means dropping all ties to your successful relative and trying to make it on your own as your own person. If you can do that props to you.

2. The Uneven Playing Field

Things were easier when you were younger, you didn’t know you were cheating the system. People with money, fame, or power have influence. Period. No argument. It’s all about who you know. Maybe you got into an exclusive preschool because your mum knew someone whose interior designers sister owned it. But as you get older, you reach a crossroads: continuing to take the easy way and never feel like you earned anything you have, or go somewhere you deserve. Colleges are good examples of this. Maybe the President of Columbia University was your dad’s best man and you could go for the small fee of $50,526 a year or you could go to Evergreen State College with a full ride that you earned on your own accord. You could go somewhere and live up to your potentially greatest potential (or crash and burn in an environment you are not ready for), or be with people similar to you that don’t really know what they want to do with their lives either. (No beef with Evergreen State College, the only reason I use you as an example was because my friend Sarah wouldn’t shut up about you during my first college fair).

3. Dealing with it

In high school you have faced the truth, rumours spread fast if you’re the son or daughter of anyone noteworthy. Sometimes you just have to deal with fake friends who only want to meet your A-list dad or just want to date you to brag to their friends. And that sucks. People started to befriend you for ‘who you know’ when you were far too young to understand why. When people acquainted with the industry your parent has succeeded in find out who you are (and more importantly who you are the spawn of) well let’s just say you have grown accustomed to the gock. There is nothing to do but smile as everyone stares at you like they’re expecting you to grow a third arm miraculously.

4. You get away with things

Being the child of someone successful means they are always working on how successful they are, which you know is great and all because they are a successful human and damn proud of themselves, but that means they aren’t really there all the time. So you can get away with things. You test the limits and watch as the authority figures in your life look down at you with a sense of pity. Don’t pity me, stop me. You can become a freight train of bad habits if too many people just turn a blind eye. You’re smart and if you get on the wrong ship you will be able to masterfully steer this ship in the worst wrong direction possible.

Read any of Carrie Fisher’s books, it's a painful reminder that as a child of privilege you are very likely to dive into a depressed mess always comparing yourself to your beauty queen mother. Maybe you stay away from drugs or maybe you find solace in the mind altering experience and believe with your entire mind and soul that you are different, you won't use this as a crutch, you can function fully under the influence, live in denial. Just remember, sometimes being the child of someone successful explains your behavior but it never excuses it.

5. Adulthood

When you’re the child of a successful parent you have two options come adulthood, 1. pursue a career in the same field as said parent or 2. do the exact opposite. Either way, it sucks. If you pursue a career in the same field as your parent than you are always compared to them, you never know if you’re doing a good job or if people are keeping you around because of your parent. If you do the exact opposite you don’t get treated the way you had your entire life, the real world is a refreshing hard slap (punch) in the face. You’ve worked hard your entire life. You have tons of hobbies, hours of community service logged (and more not logged), you have done everything you can to prepare for this career, except you’ve never started at the bottom. In the end, you are just a normal hard working person either standing on the shoulders of giants or standing at the feet of them. Your entire life you were told you too could be a giant, but even if you’re a star your parents are an impossible gas giant. They forged a path for you to lead your best life, they wanted to give you the leg up you needed. These are big shoes to fill and you can do it, or you can make your own shoes. The choice is still yours no matter how much self-doubt you have.