Yesterday as I'm writing this, I went to hang out at my friends' house, specifically to talk about our future.
Yes, this is what you'll talk about with me if you're friends with me IRL. Not really about fashion, boys, movies or anything like that. I'm a fool on those topics.
Anyways, I'm quite inspired to write about things that we did talk about on that day. Both of us are in our first year of studying in university. It can be said that our high school dreams had finally came true. But of course, life doesn't stop there.
Now it is time for us to build brand new dreams for our career and our future adult life.
What are things that we need to consider in doing so?
1. Do what we need (responsibility)
, then do what we want (dreams)
.
In this modern age, we identify ourselves as free beings, and and we can do whatever we want. Anyone or anything that seems to be blocking our freedom, will be instantly condemned and taken down.
But, can we?
Yes, if you settle on what you need first.
Imagine this simple scenario. You have a baby brother. One day he was ill. You were planning to go out on that day, and coincidentally so were your mother. So your mother told you to stay with your brother, and you had to cancel your plan.
Here's my question.
Was your mum blocking your freedom, and deserved to be condemned and taken down?
Of course not. You were just needed at that moment for something. As an older sister/brother, he is your responsibility, especially when your mother isn't around.
This simple example can be expanded to how you are responsible and what your roles are in your family, community, country and even the world.
Whatever you are planning for your future, do consider about your current (and even future) responsibilities. This might seem like a common sense that everyone knows. But in reality we can get carried away when we are planning for our dream future, blinding ourselves from our priorities. Then when our sight are back, we'll blame our own responsibilities for 'blocking our freedom'.
Prioritize your responsibilities over your dreams.
2. Do what you love, and love what you do.
So now, you have both responsibilities and dreams managed in your head. It is important for you to be committed to both.
Maybe you will have relatively little problems in committing to your dreams. But what about your responsibilities? You may prefer some of them and dislike some. And that will definitely affect how you do your work.
That is why I personally believe, just like how important it is to do what you love, it is equally important to love what you do.
Okay, maybe love is a strong word, for something that you might dread. But what I'm trying to say is, we should put some effort to form an attachment with our responsibilities, by looking at their positive sides and how they actually help and contribute in making our dreams a reality too.
Why do you think companies and employers hosts family days, monthly birthday parties, 'employee of the month' awards, and others? Well, of course they don't expect you to love the job. But they are actually trying their very best to build a conducive environment for employees to work. So at least they don't hate the job.
Do what you love, and try to get along with what you have to do.
Mmm. More accurate I guess.
3. As long as people need something, jobs will exist in this world.
I was a science student at my school, which means I was not really familiar with what it's like to take arts as a student. Until I enrolled into the university.
I get to meet with various people, taking various courses. Many of them, I don't know they exist, and I don't realize how important they are. Even my schoolmates that I thought taking generic courses, are involving themselves in fields that I have never thought before.
But they do exist, and they are important.
For example, theatre is something that in the past, I paid very little attention of. But my current university has a faculty focused on arts such as dancing, singing and (you guessed it) theatre. Occasionally in university events, they would perform. I realized then, theatre is actually really hard. You need to get your lines right, your positioning right, your expressions on point, and others. You only have one shot to do it, because it is unlike movies or dramas, where you can pick the best out of several takes.
I discovered the beauty of theatre, and arts a whole, and I am able to appreciate them more here in my university. They are doing a great job in touching people's heart, and delivering messages and information in ways no academicians could do. I now understand why people love, appreciate and demand art.
That's when I also realized, a job is not defined as just doing something to get money. When you are having a job, it means that you are producing an output for the society. So, as long as there are demands, there will be jobs. And I think we humans indeed are demandful creatures.
We constantly need things. Even if we already have enough, we will want other things too.
We humans need things and want things. Endlessly.
It is just your job to find what kind of career that fits you.
It is you finding your place to be productive in society.
I hope this will help you in thinking about your own job and future. I will be very happy if it helps, even in the slightest bit. Because, maybe this post seems like it's meant for young, fresh youths.
But actually, planning your own career and future, is just an effort of you planning to be a better person. Regardless of your age, I do believe that is important.
So yeah, that's how I spend my weekend, by talking about these things when hanging out with my friends, basically.
How do you spend yours?
Update July 2020: I've made my debut as an author, with my very first ever book talking about career-building in Malaysia. Click here!
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