"What do you want to be when you grow up?!"

That was the budding question we all got asked when we were just a few years old. Still to this day as a "young adult," I use the quotation marks because although I'm almost 20, I still feel like I'm a baby in this world; we still get asked versions of that exact question.

When we were young our answers encompassed jobs such as a rock star, cowboy, and in my case, a ballerina. You would never hear a child answer with "Whatever is going to get me through life with a fair amount of money." We wanted to be what we loved to do at that time. We wanted to do what made us happy, and that's all we knew. We had no idea that certain careers would make us more money than others, and frankly we didn't care at that age because we were all too busy experiencing life. And I know I'm starting to sound a little bit like Anna Kendrick from the graduation speech in "Twilight," but really, who the hell knows?!

Fast forward to the end of high school and people were still asking us about what we wanted to be when we grew up except this time it was phrased "What are you thinking about college and your future?" Our answers were now different. Looking back I would say that a majority, for myself, was the fact that everyone was choosing a similar career path. We all would say we wanted to invest our time in marketing or business, which somewhat go hand in hand, or something health related because these were the things our parents were doing and they sounded somewhat "adult."

Now don't get me wrong there's nothing wrong with those types of careers, so don't all of the sudden feel that I'm saying we all need to be love-sharing hippies and get out of our corporate suites and ties because that is not what I'm trying to get at here.

As we all know too well, especially after last Friday's events, that time is precious. We don't know how long we have on this planet. I know, I know, it sounds extremely cliche and maybe it is, but the point that I'm trying to make here is this: Are you really happy with what you're doing right now? Are you happy with the path that you're taking and where it's leading you? Because it is so important to be happy with what you are doing in life.

I can honestly look at what I'm doing and say that I am happy. I found the love of my life at the ripe old age of five and I've been pursuing it ever since. If you're about to tell me that it's going to be difficult and that I probably won't have much of future from it, you're not the first one. But the reason that I choose to pursue this is because it makes me genuinely happy. I know that I will get to wake up every day and do something I love. And who knows? Maybe being the CEO of a million dollar company is what you love to do, but so often we do things because they are going to get us by. Is that really how you want to live your life? We shouldn't be complacent in our careers; we should choose something that truly makes us excited to get up in the morning or night if that's what your job calls for. Life is short, and once again it is too short to be anything but great, so pick something that you know you're going love. Whether that be a doctor, lawyer, an artist, or what have you, just make it apparent that you love what you do.

So, when they ask what is my aspiration in life? I'll reply, to be happy.