Today I decided this would be the day to swallow my pride and find a magic conch so he can tell me what to do with my life. That’s right, I went to a career advisor.
Mind you, I’ve been really hesitant on asking others of their opinion on my life. Because it’s my life.
All my relatives suggest medicine, biology, then all these young folk say, “follow your passion! Don’t listen to your parents!” And well, they don’t have much credibility because, you know, they’re barely halfway through with their lives.
(Side note with bad syntax: Don’t ask friends for career advice. I once asked friends if I should take this Spanish class because I didn’t want to take it because the textbook was $240, and they told me to drop it and later I learned that I need it to graduate. I know that’s not career but come on.)
Anyways, the man was pretty nice. I spilled the beans and told him my emotionally taxing dilemma. But before, let’s back up. I’m an awful person and you guys probably know nothing about me besides my obsession for being healthy.
My parents are your typical:
type of parents. And they have every right to be for me because I’m actually (book) smart (common sense smarts is something else though). Great GPA, great time management skills, test scores good enough for Mercer (but not for Emory), and plus I was well-rounded and did almost everything in high school. Even though I was one of the top students in my school’s hair-graying medical program, I still don’t want to pursue looking at sick people all day. First of all, I sacrificed sleep and sanity getting those grades. Next, I don’t like touching people, and I do believe being a doctor is a very hands-on profession.
Now, my mom suggests that there are many careers in the medical field that pay well but aren’t touchy feely, like radiology and other nonsense I don’t care for! After getting into a heated argument listing reasons my mother should let me become an entertainer like I planned, she LITERALLY wrote down three medical careers for me on a slip of paper that had nothing to do with physical contact. After researching radiology, anesthesiology, and pharmacy, my mind barfed.
So now you know as much as my career advisor so far. I then told him how I’d thought about becoming a dietician, but how my mom discourarged me from it because dieticians walk around a lot (a huge turn off for me) and don’t make enough money. So back into the pool of undecidedness I went.
The talk made me realize that I didn’t even think much of majoring in the arts at first, and that’s because I don’t want to be majoring in my passion.The truth is, I realized, is that I don’t want to waste money transforming something I love into a class. I’m in an acapella group with a couple of music majors and just by the way they analyze music and voice, I know I don’t want to follow in their footsteps. Being graded on technique and solo performances and compositions is not what I want to spend money on. I might not have the “right” technique in singing, but I already do solos and I already compose music. Why pay to continue doing it?
So that’s voice, what about if I major in something else art related like piano, you might ask? Same thing: recitals, tests, grades, grades, grades. Music is supposed to be FUN! Fun things are only for a grade when you have a substitute teacher who doesn’t know what the heck they’re doing!
And on top of it, I’ve eaten with a music majors…all they talk about is music (okay yeah I know not all music majors are the same but let me rant).That’s not what I want to talk about for the majority of my life.
You see, I like being undecided. First of all, my classes are pretty easy (besides Spanish because it’s boring), and secondly, I get to speak with anyone I want. I mean of course any one from any major can enjoy the same, but I’m forced to be more open minded. I can hold a conversation with anyone because we’re not just gonna be lame and talk about school/work all day (unless they actually do want to talk about school. Then, I leave). I think that’s how I want my career to be: open, in a way. Open to interpretation. Yes, I want a steady income and stability, but I also want to invest in myself and use my talents to my advantage. I don’t think you can find that in any one degree. And I also don’t think that comes too easy when you’re a doctor. Especially when you don’t want to be a doctor, but still pursuing it. Ever had that rude doctor that cared not to fight for the life of your grandma? That would be me if she’s sneezing everywhere without covering her mouth. Can’t do germs. Or touching people.
To wrap things up, the career talk went okay. Mr. Conch Shell hooked me up with a fellow colleage pursuing dietetics and I’m about to look into food science. I am looking up diatetics and food science and our next appointment is next Tuesday. Yay for trying to discover myself.
Is anyone else also swimming in the pool of undecidedness? Do you have family members pushing their dreams on you? How do you cope? How are you discovering yourself?
Thanks for reading!
Blossom
GIRL…you sound just like me a couple of years ago. I literally changed my college major 5 times and ended up with a degree in Sociology which I didn’t even know existed before I went to college. I was just like you in that I didn’t want to major in my passion (writing), because why? I can enjoy (and learn the craft) of writing without paying for it. However, if you are paying for college with student loans you really should be more focused in what you want to do. Take it from me–I’m really upset at having to pay over 50K in student loans for a degree that didn’t give me the economic return that it could have if I played my cards right. TBH college IS NOT a place to discover what you want to do, you need to be focused because its just too darn expensive!
Anyways what I did was write down what was THE most important thing to me in life and did what got me closer to that goal. SO if you realize economic freedom is what’s important to you in life, pursue that relentlessly. If you discover that exploring your talents and just being happy is the #1 goal, go after it with a vengeance. This is what will make you happy! So many times we have the voices of our friends and parents in our heads that we ignore our own voice and at the end of the day, that’s the voice you need to listen to.
Hey Amanda, thanks for taking time out of you day to share a slice of your life with me. You’ve given me great insight that’s been added to the insight I gained a while after writing that post. My thoughts on the matter have definitely changed but I still don’t know what I’m doing here. However you do make a great point. I feel like sometimes my voice is lost under the thousands of voices telling me what to do. But I’ll figure it all out in due time.
Thank you once again for your valuable input. Munching on it slowly to take it all in!