Dreams are incredible. From when you are a child to growing into an adolescent into an adult, everything you see and do influences how you grow up. Watching the people around you influences what you want to be and how that will become a reality. It's amazing to watch that progression and how that does or doesn't change. Especially when you're in college, you're faced with multiple positive and negative perspectives on your life. Sometimes it's, "What are you doing with your life?" or it's, "You know that doesn't make money right?" or it's, "Wow! You're so bold pursuing something that you are unsure will guarantee you a stable life." I call where I am now the college mid-life crisis stage and after sitting down and mapping out my thoughts, what I've realized is that my childhood dreams and college mid-life crisis dreams are not all that different.
When I was about four or five years old, I remember sitting at a salon watching my mother get her haircut. I remember smiling widely and excitedly saying, "When I grow up, I want to be a haircutter. I want to go snip-snip." I also remember telling the lady who so kindly cut my hair that I wanted her to "cut my hair long. I want it so so long."
When I was about 10-years-old, I remember watching HGTV - reruns of "Design on a Dime" playing. I remember smiling widely and excitedly saying, "When I grow up, I want to be an interior designer. I want to design everything." When I was about 12, it slightly changed. I used to watch too much 'Extreme Home Makeover' and my career changed from interior designing to interior designing on "EHM." If anyone asked me why, I'd immediately respond, "I just want to make people happy."
When I was about 15, I remember reading endlessly during the summers. I remember picking up one book and entering a new world and within the hour, I'd be entering a different one with another book in my hands. I remember writing stories on my half broken, hand me down laptop that are still to this day, nowhere to be found. For those of you who've known me a while, you'll probably vaguely remember my priceless 17-page long murder mystery, Murderer in the Mist. For those of you who don't, it's OK; I still don't understand what I even wrote for those 17 pages. But I do remember smiling widely and excitedly saying, "When I grow up, I want to be an author."
Now, I'm 19. I'm about to turn t20 in a few months and enter my third year of college. My dreams have shifted a lot from cutting hair and little from wanting to write for a living. What I've realized though, however, is how consistent my dreams of growing up have been in a distinct way. For example, none of the careers I wanted made lots of money. I was content with doing what interested me and perfecting that specific skill. To be fair, money wasn't a concept embedded in my brain then. Being young was a simple time where that didn't matter.
As I grew older and my future seemed to get closer and closer, the conversations that revolved around what I loved to do always interconnected with how much money would be involved. My family had always been divided in this ideology. For my father, doing what makes you happy is important. For my mom, making substantial money is far more valuable. For me, happiness has always trumped money. For my brother, it's the opposite.
However, I think it's important to distance yourself from those conversations you have with people when talking about careers and wanting to do what you love. It is important to have some sort of steady income-- I'm not denying that. Yet, I also think it's important to consider your passions and what you love to do. And more than anything, it's important to know that if you're walking towards a career path where you won't make that much money and/or money isn't a priority for you, you are not alone. I am with you.
