Careers are for grown ups

How many times have we been through career day?

How many hours spent talking with friends, family, teachers and counselors regarding our career paths?

Recently, a friend set off to lecture high school students on the importance of going to college in order to establish a career.

Well, what if I don’t want a career?

I was one of those students who never worried too much about what I wanted. After taking a multiple-choice exam in high school, the counselor determined I could go ahead and study anything I wanted.

At the time, my heart was set on going to art school. However, I was told not to waste my potential and intellect since that would lead to nowhere and all artists starved.

I honestly left that office more confused than when I arrived.

Most of my friends applied to the university next door and I promptly joined the College of Sciences upon receiving a scholarship. I was good in science and I had a dislike for business and finances. At the time it seemed like the hardest subject and I was up for the challenge.

What happened to my dreams of becoming an artist?

Well, chemistry is like baking and I still did art on the side but now it was a mere hobby. No one ever said artists were happy living life.

Graduation came and I found myself taking the next step to just get out and perhaps avoid life. Take it from me; graduate school is the sure way to avoid life. Especially when you go to school for free and even get a stipend for working on your dissertation research in a biomedical lab.

How many others like me are out there?

How many are finishing school because they feel they owe it to someone?

At times, I felt like I would never hit the end of those 5 years required to complete my doctoral degree. I’m now at the end of the line and even though relief is few months away, I still can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel.

It seems that train is coming quickly and I’m left to figure out what’s next and how to afford to do what I want. I’ve slowly learned to stop thinking and just ride the wind. Everything I need will be provided.

There should be no goal, just to live life to its fullest and experience reality as is.

“A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving” ~ Lao Tzu

Which leads us to ask: “What are your passions?” Do I need a career to get through life and feel accomplished at the end of each day?

What makes you excited and want get up in the morning/afternoon/night (depending on your schedule as some of us are night owls) and face the day?

Instead of asking people “what do you want to be when your grow up?” or “what career would you like to have?” we should ask “What do you want to accomplish in life?”