Can We Please Stop Asking Kids What They Want to Be at Every Event? (My Roller-coaster Ride of 'Future Careers')


Hello there! So, I’m one of those kids who gets frequently asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up? My little honey cookie sugar biscoff cutie pook!” A message to all adults who ask this question: stop.

Don't re-awaken the trauma of not having found my passion yet. I get you’re curious about my future plans, I don’t blame you though, so am I. We are in the same boat. I just don’t have a life jacket.


The Chocolate-Induced Era 🍫

In the early years of my life, I wanted to be a teacher, inspired by that one Ma’am Sarah who gave chocolates for spelling “cat” correctly. But, when I reached Primary School, I realized teaching (yelling) at a bunch of spoiled little brats wasn’t worth the bare-minimum wage. 

The Doctor Phase (Version 1.0) 🩺

At home, my parents brain-washed me into thinking that doctoring was the BEST profession. “You can help people!” is what they said, except I want to help myself first. Gradually, I made up my mind; I want to become a doctor. That lasted until I found out the pain Med Students face. Spend 9 years of my life cramming from books thicker than my own problems? Yeah, no thanks. 


Three Careers in Three Days

Then, I saw my aunt putting on make-up. “I want to become a make-up artist!” This “passion” lasted for exactly three days. After that, I saw my uncle, who’s in the army. He seemed happy, and satisfied. That’s when I wanted to join the army! That desire faded away quickly too. Then, I heard the name “software-engineer” somewhere, and thought it sounded cool. BOOM, that’s what I wanted to be next. At school, I’d do the most dramatic hairflip, and say, “I’m SOOOO passionate about software-engineering.” When, in reality, I didn’t even know what it meant.

The Psychology Phase 🧠

Finally, in middle school, I got serious about my future. I discovered I’m really interested in emotions, and understanding human behavior. I wanted to be a psychologist. Until, I discovered the scope it had in my country. I didn’t want to forsake psychology, so I decided to be a psychology teacher! Yay, back to the drawing board… 

The Social Savior Syndrome 🌍

The love for psychology quickly turned into an ambition for sociology. Basically, I went from analyzing people to trying to fix all of them. Apparently, I wanted to “save society”. But, I didn't realize I needed to save my own sanity first. I told everyone I wanted to be a social worker for a very long time, until I lost interest in pursuing a welfare-based profession. In which I probably won’t be able to earn money, and make profit. 

Where I Am Now 🍽️

Now, currently my biggest concern is to figure out what to have for dinner, not what I want to be when I “grow up”. My parents, once again, are pressuring me to pursue medicine. And honestly, I’m completely brainwashed, because I’m thinking it’s not a bad idea. On a serious note, though: I’ve decided to avoid the “future” topic. I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it— and probably set it on fire if someone asks me what's next.


As for the adults, who give me sloppy kisses on the cheek, and ask me what I want to be when I grow-up. PLEASE STOP. If I get asked what my future plans are one more time, I’m going to start shedding poisonous tears that’ll kill half the nosy adult population. Let me live my childhood without turning it into a career counseling session.


Thank you for your patience, that’s all from my side.


– Hoor Fatima

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dear Teachers, Give Us Our Lunch, Not Your Life Story

Image
A tragic tale students know too well.    This title is probably the most universally familiar topic among students. Doesn't matter if you’re a topper, or an average student. Every person has gone through this tragedy, where they have to give up five prestigious minutes of lunch break. Usually, it's the teacher explaining homework from 2070, or just summing up the lesson—which honestly seems legal, considering how often it happens. I mean, the teacher’s just trying to cover the stuff we are learning. But the only situation that gets on my nerves is when the teacher keeps us waiting, because she’s telling one of her old tales. Like, I'm sorry you didn't get into Med School—life's tough, but girl, this isn't therapy. We just want to have a bite of food to put up with another 3 hours of blabbering teachers. It’s even worse when the teacher isn’t even telling us some educational, or motivational story, she’s rambling about her dog’s death. Like... sweetie, you want ...
Read more

Over Thinking: The Hobby I Never Asked For

Image
   Over Thinking: The Hobby I Never Asked For By Hoor Fatima Listen up folks, Gen Z and Gen Alpha, we've all got that one prestigious, addictive "hobby" we never signed up for: overthinking .  My best hypothesis is that it’s high in nicotine, that’s probably why it’s so addictive. But, on a serious note, we are the chosen ones, the "Over-thinkers." Who else would meticulously plan every detail of a birthday bash or re-analyze that one millisecond eye contact from five years ago? Only us. Now, let's cut to the chase, the reality of being an over thinker is nowhere near fun . I don't suppose sobbing in your pillow for thirty-minutes straight just because you thought someone was waving at you, but they were waving at someone behind you, is fun. Being an over-thinker is like a scientist scrutinizing everything about their experiment. We just have this habit of re-thinking, and over thinking the most basic, harmless interactions. Why? Mostly because we'r...
Read more

Washroom Wars: A Tale of Two Toilets

Today was my first day back at school, and I have to say, the washrooms are still a disaster. I mean, we pay thousands of rupees in fees, but our washrooms are like a bad joke. Have you seen the state of our girls' washrooms? It's like they're trying to make us cry... or maybe that's just the smell talking. So, our girls' washrooms have these pathetic doors. The locks don't work, and you can't even close the door properly. It's like a game of chance. Will you get the one with the broken lock? Will you get the one with the door that's stuck? Honestly, what is the school staff even thinking? “Hey, let's just leave it broken and hope no one peeks in!” Like, who thought this was a good idea? "Let's not fix the doors, let's just hope the girls can figure it out!" And then there's the water situation. It's like a mythical creature – we've heard of it, but we've never seen it. Is water in the washroom? No, it's a le...
Read more