The Future

We're asked from a young age what we want to be when we grow up. In second grade I did a whole presentation of how I wanted to be an archaeologist because I loved (and still do) history. I was so fascinated by ancient objects and mummies. I still am! But over the years the reality of the world has weighed down on me. You get to be very future oriented in high school. You have to do well to get into a good college. You need to succeed in college to get a high paying job. Then your job will make you happy because you worked your whole life to get to that moment. That's how it;s suppose to be right? That's what we teach our youth. Go to school so you can get a job and make money in order to provide for your family and live a happy life.

Sorry but that's complete and utter bullshit. How am I supposed to know what I want to do? What if I don't want to provide for anyone? What if I want to be a little selfish and live my life the way I want to before latching onto someone else and bringing more people in this world? YOU'RE ALLOWED TO BE INDEPENDENT AND GO AGAINST THE NORM. Honestly it bothers me so much when people don't know why they declared their major. Or when the answer is, "I'll make good money" or "It'll be easy to get a job". How about studying something you enjoy and fighting for a job you'll actually like doing.

My parents had two rules, more like suggestions, for my sister and I. My dad has always told us that he doesn't care what we do as long as we're happy doing it. And my mom always told us to have a job where we don't need someone else to support us. Great advice right?? Excellent advice. I was never told to dip my toe into a profession because it would be easy. It would lead me to a job and wealth. I was always told to find something I love, and become the best at it. So that's what I'm trying to do.

I'm in the process of finding what I love and I think I'm getting close. I'm in the right college but I'm on the search for the right major, and maybe even minor. What can I study that I'd enjoy? What can I study that will help me land a job that I am happy to go to everyday? Like I said, it's a process. We're narrowing it down and I'm trying different clubs to figure things out. Two things I know for sure are that I want to write and I want to make people laugh. That's all I ever have wanted to do. Well, I guess I wanted to dig and find artifacts when I was younger too but making people laugh was up there.

I called a friend the other day because I was thinking about my future. This was more in terms of my family future. I started questioning what I want and what's important to me. And the truth is, I don't know. I don't know if i want to get married, I don't know if I want to have kids, and I sure as hell don't know where I want to live. What I do know is if I ever were to get a dog I'd get a Husky but I'm not really an animal person so that's a long shot. I'm starting to learn that it's okay to not know those things. I'm turning 19 in a month and I have time. I have so much time to figure out who I am, what I want, and what I want to do.

I guess what I'm saying is that we should be okay that some people don't know what they want their future to hold and they don't want to start to think about it at such a young age. It's annoying to think about now and this is the time where I should be thinking about it. So maybe I will be an archaeologist and live in a tent in desert while my sister takes care of my feline companion while I'm on digs. Or maybe I'll be a stay at home mom at a ranch home in the mountains of Colorado. I don't know! No one knows! Unless you have a flux capacitor and wanna let me know!!
The bottom line is that I couldn't tell you what the future holds for me, and I am okay with that.