“What do you want to be when you grow up?” I hate that question.
I don’t know, maybe it’s because I have no clue what I want to do. I have hobbies, yes, but nothing that screams to me “career.” I like helping my friends understand things easily. So teacher. Easy right? Done? Nope. Not even close. I love acting. So much that it hurts to even think I might have to give it up. So, I’m not going to. Acting fills me with passion I never knew I had. I feel strongly about different hobbies, yes, but I have never felt as passionate about anything as I do acting.
My parents have taken me to many Broadway shows and seeing these talented people really helped me resonate with what I wanted to do with my life. Seeing them on that stage, I want to jump out of my seat and join them. Being on stage fills me with such confidence that makes me the person I am today; I would not be here without the stage. All problems leave the moment I step on the stage. People don’t understand how calming it is to me. Not my friends, my siblings, my parents. But it is not an easy life to be an actor, and the last thing I want to do is struggle to live because there are so many things I want to do in life. And, I need to have money to be able to pursue my passions as well as different hobbies.
Now I’m a senior going to college and I’m supposed to have it figured out? Adults tell us not to worry about it but we have to. College is only four years and then we need a job to survive in this crazy world. We can’t live our lives anymore with doubt. But, then we do. Life is complicated in ways that no one ever explains to you. First high school, then college, then make a living. Do you have a dream? Are you ready to leave everything behind to maybe not even make it? No one tells us how stressful it is. We are told that we need to have everything figured out, but we also don’t. Life isn’t run in a straight line. No one has their life completely planned out because it’s impossible to do so. Life will throw us in a million different places if we just pick up our heads to see that.
Life is hard and choosing what to do for the rest of our lives is never easy. However, I find relief in the idea that most people on earth found their jobs starting something they never knew they wanted to do.
I still hate the question “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Yet, I know that while I may stress out about it a lot, life will lead me where I need to go.