Throughout our childhood, if we are lucky enough, money and work are not something that worries us much, or at least, it is not on our top priorities list. As we grow up and our personalities develop, we discover activities that allow us to express ourselves and our identity. This, in turn, helps us discover who we are and what we like to do.
Music, art, writing, theater, sports… we played in the school band, spent afternoons drawing or painting, and begged our parents to sign us up for the city’s football academy. We grow up loving these things, become good at them, and dedicate so much of our time to them that they define a part of who we are, and not doing them anymore sounds ridiculous.
Doesn’t it sound perfect? Spending your adult life doing that thing that made your younger self feel alive, that you are passionate about. Unfortunately, a lot of us wake up from this dream as the age of eighteen approaches. Suddenly, the questions “What are you going to study?”,and “What do you want to do?” are raised at family dinners and at school, and you need to decide what you plan on doing with the rest of your life. The problem is when the answer to these questions is not the same. “What are you going to study?” “Business”, “What do you want to do?” “Paint.” But, if you say you want to study art, you will probably get told that it is not a profitable career with limited job opportunities, and you should instead study something that will earn money and make a good living.
Now, let’s be realistic; money is indispensable, we need to earn money to live a quality life, and that is not going to change. Does that mean we should give up on what we like to do or settle for a career that does not make us happy simply because it offers us a decent salary? I know plenty of people who chose to study careers such as Business Administration and Data Analytics, but when asked what they want to do once they graduate, I’m met with a blank stare and a nervous laugh. I am sure that they will find a good job and earn good money, but they feel unmotivated and bored.
So, what is the solution here? A career we love or a career that makes money? Unfortunately, I do not have an answer to this question, but I do have some advice:
- Do not settle. We have approximately forty years of work ahead of us. If you are going to dedicate yourself to something for forty years, make sure it makes you happy and look forward to it every morning. Earning a good salary is important, but what price are you putting on your happiness?
- Keep going. If there is something that you are passionate about, do not leave it behind. Abandon the idea that your passions are just hobbies. Just as you spend four years studying and dedicating your career to something you do not love, imagine how it will feel to put that energy into something you do love.
- Be better than our elders. Our parents and grandparents are wise and can give us lots of great advice, but times change. When a child tells you he wants to be a football player, do not laugh, encourage him to keep training. When your friend says she wants to write a book, tell her you will read her first draft. Make them feel like their dream is not a dream, but a goal. Act the same way you would towards someone who tells you they want to work at a law firm, start a business, or become a surgeon.
Everybody has aspirations, passions, and dreams. Why is it that when these dreams do not easily make a profit, we forget about them? My point here is not to quit your good salary job if you need the money, or drop out of university immediately to pursue something that your ten-year-old self dreamed about. My point is to encourage you to take a look at your life goals and your future, to ask yourself what you see yourself doing every day, and to decide whether it aligns with what you are studying now. Also, who says you have to work on something related to your field of study? We all know plenty of politicians have not studied politics, and here they are, running countries. You can make plenty of money doing something you love, and turn your dream into a reality.
