This is one question that must be bugging many school leavers like me. When each one of us reach the crossroads of life after school life, we are handed a situation, sometimes a very difficult one, to choose our next path in our lives. And, most of the time, a ferocious battle takes place between our mind and soul.
It's always the same question. All of us have our own passion or interest that we want to pursue in life. The problem arises when we have to choose our career. We might be stuck or simply clueless on which path to choose-to follow our hearts or minds.
At times, our passion might just be the right catalyst (or that's how our parents perceive them) for the future. However, most of the time, what we love to do just isn't in favour of the big bucks life and consequently our parents' mind.
Each decision we make has it's own pros and cons. If we were to choose money, we might pursue a career that we might not like (or in some cases hate) but will be earning a hefty sum every month (or week). We might become rich in a short time and live a luxurious life, all at the expense of giving up what we truly love to do.
If we were to choose happiness or satisfaction, we will also be very happy to do something that we are truly passionate about. For example, most artists (like the middle income ones, not Picasso) live a very simple life as they make beautiful pieces of art daily to satisfy their lust for the paint brush. However, as I mentioned, they live a not-so luxurious life.
I've met many people who have chosen (or forced) to take different paths in their life, deviating far, far way from their true passion. For example, I've got a friend who really aspires to be a musician. I still remember him sharing with me his dreams of making it big in the music scene. Right now, disappointingly, he's planning to pursue medicine.
Another friend of mine-so much associated with the entertainment industry that I used to think that this guy would surely become some television celebrity-is now currently looking at options to do aeronautic engineering. I kinda felt pity for him that he had to follow orders and do something that would surely, undoubtedly bring him money but take away most of the happiness in him.
I'm facing a similar situation as well, but still not as worse as them. My ambition is to become an astrophysicist. However, due to the limited job opportunities (that's what my parents think even after Yahoo! announced that that job has the highest employment rate), my parents are trying to talk me out of it.
They tried to do the same thing for running but they've given up now as they've realised that my aspirations are not going to change. But, they aren't going to go down so lightly with my career. And, I don't think I'm going to let them interrupt me this time either.
To be honest, to know what path in life to choose, you have to look at what you actually want in life. Some people want money but everyone wants happiness. The truth is, life rarely gives you both in abundance. It's either you have a lot of either one or you have different percentages of them.
Some people think that a lot of money will lead to happiness. This sort of mentality is usually implanted naturally in the minds of materialistic people who love to shop for things. They need the money to satisfy their needs for electronic components just to flash them around in pride.
I'm not saying that that kind of mentality is wrong. Those people feel really happy when they go for luxurious holidays and get a chance to mix around with the upper class. For them, happiness is only felt when others look at them and praise them for their wealth. Their proud feeling makes them happy. Like it or not, if one of you actually have this kind of mentality, you'll disapprovingly agree with what I'm saying.
While that kind of people look for the happiness form the outside, people who chase after their passion actually look for happiness from the inside. They seek what they really want in life. They get the sense of satisfaction from doing their job. No matter how difficult the job is, that person will use all his might to complete the job as perfectly as possible.
Then comes the question of money. Trust me, a person who does what he loves will always find ways to survive. He/She will not necessarily meet the expectations of his/her parents but I'm sure they will find ways to cope with their challenging lives.
People who go after their passion live meaningful lives. They work hard and reap the benefits in the sense of a little money (on most occasions) and a whole lot of satisfaction. On the other hand, people who go after money will just never be satisfied because there's just a lot of opportunities out there for money that they can't stop craving for.
At times though, it is possible to do something you don't really like for a career and then still continue your passion as your hobby. This is a technique that some use to take their minds of their hectic lifestyle and spend time with things that they love to do. By doing this, a certain level of satisfaction can be achieved.
I'm sure that some of you strongly disagree with some of the things I said. But, it doesn't really bother me because different people just have different perceptions about life. Choose your path wisely, but just keep in mind about what I've mentioned in this blog post. I'll let your future do the explaining for me..............
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