What do you want to be when you grow up? This has to be one of the most common questions that is asked when we were younger. You would probably hear responses like president, doctor, teacher, astronaut, my mommy, my daddy, a police officer.The list could probably go on and on forever.Every year that you were asked this question your responses would change.When you were asked in kindergarten, your answers reflected whatever the coolest thing was at the time for you.When you were asked at about the age of 10, your answer more than likely reflected around who ever your role model was and whatever it is that they do. At about the age of 16, the question what do you want to be when you grow up starts slowly becoming a reality because in a couple years you will be on your way to achieving that.Now, if you decided not to take the college route, which there is absolutely nothing wrong with that; however, the question of what you want to be when you grow up becomes a faster reality than we think. If you decided that college route, by the time you have applied for college and are attending a school you either have no idea what you want to do or are going into a major that either sounds interesting or is something that your parents wanted you to go into.
As a senior this year allow me to enlighten all of the readers on one aspect of life that never seems to go away.The question still remains, what do you want to be when you grow up? One thing that I realized is that a question that was so innocent and simple when we were younger has now become one of the most difficult questions that have ever been asked.For some of us we know what we want to be when we grow up.For example, I personally want to get my Ph.D. in Social psychology and work in academia.Which is great because I can confidently answer the question of what do you want to be when you grow up.Here is the problem now…how do we get to be the person we want to be when we grow up?
You get to that point and time in your life and realize that you have absolutely no idea how to get to the place you need to be. Trying to figure out how to achieve all your goals is a chore.The cost of pursuing something that is supposed to make you happy in the long run is exhausting.Think of all those late night hours spent on learning something that you will probably never use in your life again.Remember all those tests that you thought you did so well on and then got it back and just thought, “Well shit…”How about the times that you bought all these books for a class, told yourself you would read them and only opened the first page.Do you remember the time you forgot you had a paper due in less than 24 hours and you had to bust it out as fast as you could to attempt to get a passing score? But wait…there’s more.
Now just stop and think of all the successful moments you’ve had.All the passing scores. All the fun moments that you will more than likely cherish forever, or the ones that you don’t quite remember.Do the pros outweigh the cons? Probably.But the problem is, why do these things have to be so stressful just to have a little happiness?Why does happiness have to cost a boat load of money? Why is your happiness measured in a passing or failing test score?All these questions come down to three very important questions.
1)What do you want to be when you grow up?
2)What are you willing to compromise to succeed at your goals?
3)Is it worth it?
I’ll let you decide how these questions should be answered in order to be on the right path.At the end of the day, you are the one that decides your fate.The goals that you have been working on since day one get to become a reality. The process that you take in order to get to the place that you want to go is your journey. If you still do not know what you want to be when you grow up, that’s okay, don’t fret. Keep searching, find your passions, and discover where your happiness lies.Your growing up path does not have to reflect an occupation, rather whatever you choose to be. The adventure is yours, but I truly believe that regardless of your age one question will always be asked.
What do you want to be when you grow up?
