Week 10 EOC: My Plans

As I grow closer to completing the Advertising program, I am beginning to obsess over a single question, what next? Long-term goals and far-off dreams are very simple to string together and talk about everyday but the tables start to turn when the time for action seems to come. This is when society starts compromising their dreams for safer realities and life seems to change their path. I find myself racking my brain for the right answer, scouring my surroundings for even the slightest hint as to what my next step should be. Yet, I always seem to go back to the same thought each time. My whole life I have been forced into a path of education. From a toddler to a young adult, the government mandated that I received a standardized form of training. Upon completing the public education system, I found myself right back on same path of conditioning. The socially constructed goal of a high school diploma seemingly morphed into a college degree as soon as my graduation cap was flung into the air. All of the hours spent studying, the mornings spent waking to an alarm clock, the virtually endless standardized tests and we never think to stop and ask why. Even years later, I can still here my mother say, "You need to get your bachelors degree so you can get a good job and make money." I never argued with her on the topic. Both of my parents received their degrees while raising a family and working to provide for us. They are in a much better financial position now directly because of it. So here I am, on the final stretch to the ultimate goal that society has dangled in front of my nose and I refuse to believe it is just to get me qualified to take some low-level corporate position. As children we start learning as soon as we are able to, we are put through a 12-year-long government mandated training camp in order to get ready to work and stimulate the economy. This is not why I am here. I am here to love, create, and inspire others. Sure, I may find myself working for a large advertising agency trying to get a promotion one day but that will not define me. I may find myself still mixing drinks in ten years and still, that will not define me. Maybe I will take this knowledge I have accumulated and open up my dream businesses and make more money than I ever could have hoped for. That still will not define me. Dreaming is a healthy outlet for our minds but it is important to remember the words of a very wise man known as Albus Dumbledore, "It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live." Society has taught us to hope for that dream job or dream salary but this is a common misconception. Our souls crave something a job and money can not reach. My past and all of the lessons that I have learned up to the present day have equipped me with the tools necessary to bring me to my wildest dreams and also to my lowest downfalls. As long as I stay true to myself, surrounded by loved ones and never stop inspiring, I will achieve goals that I can not even currently fathom. I will not deny, I do have a desired path towards my entrepreneurial and monetary success but I refuse to label that as my plans. As far as I am concerned, my only plan is to wake up every morning with a smile on my face and whatever gets me there, so be it.