We have all been asked the question:
What do you want to do when you grow up?
They begin asking us the question when we are young and ambitious; I remember answering the question when I was six saying that I wanted to be an artist. Now that I am 20 years old I can say that that dream is long gone since I can barely draw a stick figure. As kids though we like the question because all we want to do is grow up. We strive to be just like adult figures in our lives because they seem to have made something of themselves. The difference is, we always dream bigger than parents, grandparents, teachers, neighbors, etc. We want to be astronauts, the President of the United States, veterinarians and like me, an artist. We want these well respected glamorous jobs to be our future.
Sadly reality hits us when we reach college because they ask the question again, but now they expect us to answer seriously. They want us to be more realistic with our goals with promising futures. Which is all a big trick if you ask me. They tell you be whatever you want because you don’t want to be miserable for the rest of your life, but then when you say what actually might interest you, they are so quick to tell you,"oh no, there are no jobs there and when there are no jobs there is no money."
So what started off as that question of hope and dreams has now turned into a question of doubt and depression.
My freshmen year of college I was asked to write an essay about where I saw myself in ten years. I decided to take a more creative (yet honest) approach to the assignment saying that I had no idea where I wanted to be, and why should I know. The next week when I got the assignment back I had failed, and my professor made me rewrite the essay. He said that I totally misunderstood the assignment, I think he just misunderstood me. Since I didn't want to fail my class, I ended up rewriting the essay to his standards but basically lying through the whole thing.
I still stand by my original essay; I do believe I shouldn’t know what I want to do with my life. Heck there are people who are 40 years old still trying to figure it out, so why should I and everyone else my age, be so pressured into knowing right now? I believe students should come into college undeclared, so they explore different interests and see what best suits them. We aren’t aware of all the job possibilities out there, so why should we be so close minded into focusing on just one job? People hop around in the job field experimenting new responsibilities and learning what they truly like to do. I doubt if you asked a college professor what they have done in their life that they will answer with just one job, or even answer with the job that they wanted to be when they were your age.
Don’t let people scare you with the future. If you want to be an artist, go do it! How can someone who has never been one tell you that you shouldn’t? They can’t. By learning more in classes, getting experiences in internships, and networking yourself among people in particular fields, the right job will eventually come find you, and it will probably be way better than whatever you could've just settled on.
There doesn’t have to be pressure to know what you want to be, as long and you are open minded and determined you will be fine.
How am I expected to know what I want to be in a couple years? I don't even know what I want for breakfast tomorrow!
