We are always taught a way to live life - go to school, get a degree, get a stable job to live a stable life. There is so much structure in this way of life, and I learned from very inspirational guest speakers in class, that by no means, is a structured life the only option.
Alex and Ryan have their own advertising agency, Creatives In a Van, that they created all on their own in a van! Alex said, that when she worked in an agency, she hated taking orders from people and how her best creative work is done without an authority telling her "it's not good enough" (for good or no reason at all).
After hearing her say that, I really thought about what living a life you want entails.
Most of the time, people seem to know the answer to the question, "What do you want to do with your life?". They usually respond with what their future career will be, where they plan on going, and some plan to show people that they have their life together.
Well, what if I said it is totally okay to say "I don't know"? How different do you think your outlook on life would be if you knew you didn't have to live a structured life?
The guest speakers really showed me that some of the best lives are led unstructured and that if you have passion, drive, and you continue to be yourself, you will be successful. Of course, you might have to work for free and money might be tight, but I bet that's a lot better than dreading every morning of your life you have to go to work.
Personally, I have no idea where I want to go when I'm older. As an advertising student, I am influenced by others around me to push to find great agency internships or to strive to work in an agency one day. But there's always that part of me that thinks, Well what if I want to go my own way and not take orders from people?". I think people don't recognize that life path does exist- it should be encouraged as just as good enough as anything else.
Overall, I believe it is entirely okay to not follow everyone else - because you're not living to make others happy, you are living to make yourself happy. So if your boss makes you feel bad each and every day, then maybe you need to start re-evaluating how you want to live your life.
My biggest fear is not being happy and waking up and dreading the rest of the day. Life should not be lived like that. I guarantee if you're your own boss, instead of waking up with only nervous energy, you might wake up with nervous excitement.
I'm not saying a traditional job won't give you that nervous excitement, it really just depends on where you are and how you enjoy your work. But I'm saying that I learned it is entirely okay to not know the next step because that is freedom and that is something to live for.
David Bowie: "It's terribly dangerous for an artist to fulfill other peoples' expectations. They produce their worst work when they do that."
