The {geeky} wife

We live in a world of career contradiction.

From a young age, Susie is told that she can do anything she wants when she grows up. She’s told that she should pick a career that she’s passionate about, because it will make working much easier. But as Susie reaches the end of high school, the tone changes. Her parents probably won’t say outright that her dreams are bad, but they’ll encourage her to study something else as a backup career. They say that she should find a nice, stable job and then she can pursue her dreams. So Susie takes the logical choice. In order to stay on her parents’ insurance, she has to take a full load of courses. She also starts working part-time because her parents want her to begin earning an income. Within a couple of semesters, Susie is burnt out and tired of college, so she stops taking any class that isn’t required. At the end of the four to five years in college, Susie hasn’t had any time to work on what she loves. So she gets the logical job that she was told to get, and accepts that this is life.

“Backup careers” are the death of dreams. There, I said it! I think that the educational system is broken, top to bottom. In grade and high school, we teach our children like cattle. If your child doesn’t learn well in that environment, the child is the one who is broken. (and often given medication) While college is slightly better because there is more choice – that too is broken. Let’s be honest. Our educational system is really only designed to plug you into one of a few “sensible” jobs. If you want to deviate, you will have to work a lot harder, because you will be going where the path is less visible. We encourage our children to pursue their dreams, but we’re not often equipped to handle those dreams.

While I don’t know of a way to bring about large scale changes – honestly, I’m not even sure where those could begin – I do know that each one of us is in control of what we do. If you are prepared to really work for it, there is a way out there for your dream career to happen. It’s not too late, you are not a robot, life is not a factory. You have the choice.

Many people will get to the middle of their lives and realize that for years, they’ve been working a job they hate, doing things simply because it was “expected” of them. Then the mid-life crisis hits, because you’ve worked half your life for … what? This doesn’t have to be you. You have the choice. Choose to live your life, pursue your dreams and live up to your potential.

You can do it.

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