Ok. So I need to get this off my chest before it floats off into oblivion.
College. I have not attended it nor will I ever until there is something that my heart is so dead set on, the only way to get to that position is through college. I get a lot of judging eyes especially from older folk when I say I have not attended and the same thing always wants to come out when I am asked the question "why?".
No one knows what they want to do for the REST of their lives at the age of 16/17 ((except maybe a very smalllllll amount of people)). I felt it to be pointless to go to school only to switch my major a million times because I kept changing my mind on what to do just because everyone else around me was going? I decided to get a job and work to save money instead. I didn't have the luxury of parents who paid for me to have a full ride so I'd have to work through college to pay for it myself. I could not receive any special scholarships as I did not have any sufficient "super" skills that met the eyes of the government aid, sponsers, etc. I am a white, female so any ethnic endorsements were out of the question. So? Instead of going into school to get myself into thousands of dollars of debt to obtain a degree for a job I didn't really want to do but would be forced into it to pay everything off, I decided to take a couple years off, take adult life head on, and get an early start to being alive.
Through this course of action I have discovered photography! A HUGE passion that I have for it too. And that passion has led me to get my own camera, teach myself how to use it, observe other photographers and their techniques through the glorious thing we call Internet, and develop my own skills. I have started my own business that I have been running on the side. Worked a few odd jobs here and there to pay the necessary bills of living independently. Have a car that I bought brand new that is now nearly paid off ((yess!!!!)) and will be able to have the luxury here soon to be my own individual, travel, and get to know myself without being a slave to anything. Not to mention I got married to the most amazing man alive.
So, the point being is, are you living life based on what YOU truly want? Or what your parents want? What society expects out of you? What your friends are doing? You need to make yourself sit down and really ask yourself this question. By all means, if you are happy being a slave to something you are not passionate about, then go for it! But don't get yourself into something unless you are 100% for it! Think about all consequences before you take action and know when its time to just take a leap and build your wings on the way down when you come to a fork in the road.
There is never a wrong decision if there was a lesson to be learned. Nothing to regret. Nothing to hold you back but yourself. Everything you have been through to this point in time determines what you are now. Be proud of that! And make the conscious decision to ask why. Always.
And never, never ever ever EVER be afraid to do things a little differently.
-Brooke
7 comments:
I agree with this, 100%. Although I did and still do attend university, it was my OWN choice to study and it is my OWN choice not to turn the degree I'm gonna get into a job... it's just a childhood dream that I fulfilled...
As for working instead of studying / or in my case, continuing my studies or studying something else, I agree with what you said.
Like, I'm perfectly happy with the job I've got now. Been doing it for 4 months, which is longer than I've ever worked at one place. Whenever I didn't like a boss, too many of my co-workers, or didn't agree with what the company stood for, I quit and just found myself a new job. And I don't regret those decisions, because like you said, there is never a wrong decision if there was a lesson to be learned.
I hate it when other people my age complain about not finding a job. I'm always like, HEY! You don't even have to search for a job to find one. Just apply and you'll be invited for a job interview.
I just visited my mum yesterday and she said something like, that working as a barista or bartender is no job that I could be working for the rest of my life. That's just wrong. You need to live in the here and now, not in the future.
Like you, my friends and family (except for my grandparents) question my choices. My friends are studying and will do so for many more years, collecting degrees along the way. Bachelor, Masters, etc. Yet some of them have never worked in a real job, not even one day. They're still relying on financial support. I could live off of my parents, but I don't want to. I would feel as if my life wasn't my own, as if the things I buy weren't my own, as if they things I did were paid for by somebody else.
So... kudos to us! :-)
See you are doing things right! You get it. I will never understand why a lot of people go to college just to go. To rely on others to pay for it, and when they cant, they get in debt just because they don't see working as an option? Almost like it's below them.
Whenever your heart is set on something, you take any measure to get there ya know? (until it compromises your moral standards of course lol). I'm happy you understand :) But I've always known such things about you :D
Exactly... many people spend five, some even ten years paying off their debt...
Awww... the way you said that, it sounds so cute :-)
by the way, check out my blog posts from the second half of February and some posted in March --- awesome photographs of Hamburg! :-)
I do need to play catch up! I haven't been online as much lately. Been helping out my sister as much as possible.
How far along is Holly?
She's almost 13 weeks now!
Post a Comment