#AtoZChallenge Lessons Learned At 30: "Future Plans Are A Fail"
When I was 5 I wanted to be a news show anchor - anybody who spoke on a mic! When I was in middle school I wanted to be a doctor because they looked pretty cool and I didn’t know any better. In high school I wanted to be a Gynecologist to be exact because suddenly I knew too much (haha!). Then came college and circumstances of real life beat some sense into me. “You cannot be a doctor! You have curfew everyday and the profession calls for night shifts! P.S. becoming a doctor takes 9 years in the US!” And so, at university I wanted to be a marketing executive and a writer/poet by night. An alter ego side of me wanted to be a rock musician. Towards the end of business school I wanted to be a licensed teacher at a secondary level school in the US. Today, I am a landlady! How'd that happen?
I realized that I put myself through a lot of strain, stress, trouble, unnecessary competition, personal struggle, and mental torture to be exact while pursuing each one of these future plans at various stages in my life. Why did I do so?
I was unaware that my life was not entirely mine to steer. I realized the limits to my wild dreams and I had to cut and trim them down. So, I feel that (in circumstances like mine) it is a waste of time to plan something, create waves (like that Dean advised me against), dream big and outrageous, and etc.
OMG, I feel like I could have written this. Except I haven't found what I'm looking for, like the U2 song. I want to be a writer, but I still need a day job and that's been on my mind for the past 30 years, but atleast I know I love to write!
ReplyDeleteI am hanging by the same thread. Regardless of what I do ... I know I love to write. At the end of the day that's what we need, right?
DeleteMy future plans mostly involve things I DON'T want to be :D
ReplyDeleteThe Multicolored Diary: WTF - Weird Things in Folktales
I had a whole list of those in my head once!
DeleteI am nearly 37 yrs and I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up!! I have never had a vocation. Understand completely where you are coming from. xx
ReplyDeleteI don't think that making plans and having dreams is a waste of time, at all. I sortve realize that there may be some cultural things that I don't understand, but I think it's good that you've challenged yourself.
ReplyDeleteI'm... old... and still wonder what I'll be when I grow up. If it's any consolation, my mother is 80 and she says she still doesn't have things all figured out. I think we all just keep figuring it out as we go along.
MsDarkstar
So true. I don't remember myself but everybody tells me I said I wanted to be a dentist when I wasn't even in school. Today, I'd be anything BUT a dentist.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to be an interior designer, magazine editor or whatever that cool job is called ... and then at one point I wanted to be everything Hilary Duff ever played in her movies.
Today, I'm your little sister, fellow land lady, kickass baker, an even more kickass-er cake decorator, and a dimpled smiler! None of which I planned! :)