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Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don’t. – Mary Schmich
As children we spend our days in defiant battles, fighting off man-eating sharks from our pirate ships and defending our forts against the Abominable Snowman who haunts us in our nightmares. We dream of becoming superheroes or astronauts, princesses or lead guitarists. We make costumes out of old clothes and rocket ships out of cardboard boxes. We are encouraged to dream, to believe and to aspire; forever told that we can be whatever we want to be when we grow up. The possibilities are endless and infinite.
As the years tick by, we are still assured the world is our oyster as we play and make friends through primary school and start to worry about our first SATS exams.
Careers advice and subject choices soon start to determine our career path and the direction we want to take. While some may start to realise they would like to become a vet or high-powered lawyer, others remain uncertain and confused. More creative options aren’t always catered for and academic paths tend to be favoured by parents and teachers alike.
We spend our childhood being told about the importance of ambition, confidence, determination and aspiration, but as we begin to grow up and make decisions, it seems as though the forks in the road and all those doors to our once attainable dreams slowly start to close. I remember my mum saying as I received my GCSE results that I was at that point in my life where all my doors were open in front of me, but with each momentous life occasion or decision I make, another door will inevitably close. More than a decade on from that day and I still ponder how many of my doors remain open.
While life may not always pan out the way we had expected – we don’t end up in space or on stage – it’s important to maintain a sense of ambition, even if we find ourselves in our perfect career, and not to feel despondent. There will always be open doors and new paths to cross throughout our lifetime, we just have to look for them, reach for them and stop believing that following your dreams is merely child’s play.
