As we get more into our time at college, the new ideas and knowledge that has surfaced around us inevitably make us have different opinions and ideas about what to do with our life. It's only natural to evolve this way but sometimes it's hard for our loved ones to accept the fact that maybe we don't want to go Pre-Med, Pre-Law, or go into Business. I think that parents worry so much on our financial security that it is only natural that sometimes our happiness is forgotten. I think its pretty damn stupid that at the young age of eighteen we are supposed to know what we want to do for the rest of our lives.
Once I got to college, I realized how many adults are working day and night on a job that they are miserable in. Even though they are probably really good at what they do, they get tired of the routine they find themselves in. I guess what I'm really trying to say is that I wish that youth were encouraged to pursue their options based on passion instead of monetary value. With passion, comes success and eventually wealth too. Parents are always telling us that as we grow up, "money doesn't buy you happiness." Yet, that seems to be forgotten when their children are choosing what they want to do for the rest of their lives.
I suppose this article is for all the parents that have kids in college. Around eighty percent of students in the United States change their major at least one. So if they do change your major, be supportive. It's okay to have high expectations for your kids, but be accepting. Sometimes it seems as if kids are stuck living their parents dream. Some students go into business in order to take over the family business one day or one goes Pre-Med because their parents are both doctors but maybe that isn't really what they want to do.
Stop and take a minute to appreciate with open arms the fact that your child is broadening their horizons and is slowly but surely find their own place in this world that is full of infinite opportunities. In the end, the only thing that matters most at the end of the day is love. I don't have much experience in this field but I grasp that it would be hard to love and appreciate the people around you when you aren't happy with your career.
In our society today, it is so much easier to focus on materialized possessions than those of sentimental value. It's not difficult to get distracted for even the slightest of time on the idea of how money can temporary bring happiness. However, that satisfaction has become the root of destruction in our relationships, societies, and ourselves.
"How beautifully blind are we to ignore the smallest things in us, for it's the smallest parts in us that give us the power to do the most brilliant of things." R.M. Drake
xoxo,
cgl
