Since I was a toddler, I’ve been told that I can grow up and become whatever I want to be. I was brought up to believe that as long as I work hard and dedicate myself, I can become anything from a construction worker to the president. Now that I’m older, in high school, and starting to really think about my future, I am becoming more and more aware everyday that this is not really the case at all.
Throughout my childhood, my answer to the question “what do you want to be when you grow up?” has changed many times. My first career choice was zookeeper. The next was astronaut. And then puppy trainer, and then baker, and then firewoman, and eventually lawyer. As you can see, the choices have become more and more “realistic” (as my dad called them) as the years have passed.
What do I want to be now that I’m finally starting to approach the choice for real? I’m thinking about being a doctor. If you had asked me in my aspiring zookeeper phase whether or not I would have even considered being a doctor, I would have thrown a few dozen plastic zebras at you. I hated hospitals and doctors; the idea of being one would have completely repulsed me.
What I didn’t know then that I do now, is that being a doctor is an extremely “realistic” job. Doctors make better money than zookeepers. Being a doctor will impress people more than being a zookeeper. There’s a lot more job security in medicine than in zookeeping. As a four year old, aspiring zoo keeper, these reasons might not have impressed me very much, but as a high school student thinking about what to major in college, these reasons are having a greater and greater influence on my decision.
The belief I held throughout a majority of my childhood is a lie, and the inconvenient truth is that you really can’t be anything you want to be when you grow up. People are restricted (whether it be monetarily, socially, etc) into certain kinds of jobs. How many zookeepers do you know? Exactly.
People have tons of factors to consider before they can even start to think about what career path they might want to embark on. Will I make enough money to support a comfortable lifestyle or a family? Will my job choice affect how other people view me? Am I talented enough? Am I smart enough? Can I get this degree? Can I pay for this education? It seems enough to drive anyone crazy, but somehow most people manage to make a choice one way or the other. The problem is that more and more people are choosing to do things based on these criteria rather than what they are really passionate about.
What bothers me about this is that, if people really aren’t able to become what they truly want to become, how many people right at this very moment are in careers that they aren’t really passionate about? Chances are there are a lot of people who didn’t end up following what they were truly interested in. I bet that there are a lot of potential dancers and musicians who gave up on their dreams because there wasn’t enough job security. I bet there are a lot of artists who decided to do something else because they didn’t think they were talented enough. I bet there are a lot of former athletes who never got a chance pursue a professional career because they didn’t make the team. There are way too many reasons why people can’t truly become what they want to be, but that’s just a truth of life.
Right now, I am one of the lucky few, because I am thinking about a career that I am passionate about that will also satisfy all of the other influences I am under. Being a doctor would let me live a comfortable life, and because I am passionate about medicine and helping people, it would also be a satisfying career to me. If I had still truly wanted to become a zookeeper though, I would have a much more difficult time figuring out how to manage that passion in terms of a career choice.
Although the truth is tragic, somehow most people do find a career somehow, and they find ways to follow their passion regardless of their career choice. I’m sure that the potential dancers of the world still dance in their free time, even if they are an accountant in real life. As do the artists create art even if they also create toothbrushes for their job. And no one’s stopping the businessman/former athlete from playing pickup games with his friends. In a way, I can see how this would lead to a fulfilling life even if your career choice isn’t exactly what you want it to be. In fact, the “right job” (in a practical sense) might actually be what allows you the means to follow your real passion, for example a lawyer could be making money in law so that she can travel around the world.
The truth of the matter is that you can’t really be whatever you want to be. There are all kinds of restrictions that people are under that have an unreasonable amount of influence of their career path. This means that there are undoubtedly many people who were never able to follow their true passion as their career. The saving grace of this reality is that there are other ways to follow your passion without making it your career, and that it is still very possible to lead a happy, satisfying life.
Katy,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing this. As I've grown older, it's become harder and harder for me to face this inconvenient truth. The reason is because ever since I was a child, I've always wanted to be a celebrity stylist. However, as I've matured, I've realized that the likelihood of me becoming the next Rachel Zoe is quite slim. What I find so interesting is that the questions society asks us about our future drastically change as we mature. When we're little, people ask us what we want to be. But as we grow, people ask us what we want to do. There's a major difference between these two questions, and I think that is the root of this issue. Hopefully, most people (myself included) will be able to find the middle path between what we want to be and what we want to do.
Dear Katy,
ReplyDeleteI can relate to absurd childhood job ideas. So far, I’ve gone through astronaut, pop singer, and Broadway actress phases: and I’m currently dreaming a political reporter dream. This might still be crazy, but I don’t think it’s totally unrealistic in a world of constant online articles about everything going on in Washington. After reading your article, it got me thinking about what kind of factors I need to consider before committing to a school or a program, based only off personal interest.
I’ve been thinking about Columbia or Georgetown for college, because they both have strong writing and political science programs, both are also very expensive. They are also both really fantastic, and therefore selective, schools. I don’t think I could say with certainty at this moment in my high school career, that I would get into either of them. I’ve never even been published in the school newspaper, yet along a prestigious newspaper or magazine. It’s all a little far-fetched, but somehow I can’t seem to give up this one idea.
Katy, you say that most people find a career somehow, and can balance out unpleasant jobs with other activities on the side, but I wonder if these people are truly satisfied by this? What would the world look like if we all had our dream jobs? Would it be the same, better, or worse? Or would it have melded to our interest, adapted to what we enjoy?
This blog is also a perspective from a teenager – should such young thinkers be limited to these restrictive ideas so early? I find it quite sad to learn that accepted truths turn out to be false – Santa Claus for one. Can we afford to keep those going off to college naïve and hopeful, or should everyone have this realization, and try to life realistically?
I wonder how many seniors know what they want to do with their lives. My guess would be very few, This uncertainty, while scary, leaves me with a hope that even if it’s improbably and impractical, the undecided will be the once to live their dreams.
Happy doctor-ing!
Charlie