THE SKY'S THE LIMIT--AND OTHER LIES FROM MY CHILDHOOD

Note to readers: read this first paragraph in your head to the tone of one of those commercials that claims you may be "entitled to" something if you had x, y, or z happen to you.

As a child, were you often told things like, "you can be anything you want when you grow up" or "you can do anything you set your mind to?" Did your grandma constantly overwhelm you with love and tell you just how *special* you are? Were you in any way mislead by your parents to believe that you really were one of a kind? If so, you may be entitled to--wait, wait, wait.

This is just what they want. They want us to admit that we are "entitled." Everyone in our generation clearly believes that the world owes them something and that they should be handed free money while they galavant around Europe, yearning to "find themselves" post graduation.

Or at least that's how certain people have described my generation to me.

Now, I'm not off to start a war with my elders. I agree with you--you may be wiser and more experienced than me. But I wish that I would stop hearing people refer to my entire generation as lazy and entitled narcissists.

I reject this notion that technology and social media has made everyone Google-crazed robots who only care about how many likes they got on their latest selfie.

The fact of the matter is social media is here to stay, and we will always have these fancy devices that know way too much about us and track our every move--literally. But I believe that we can use these things to our advantage. 

When we were little, many of us were repeatedly told that we could do or be anything that we wanted. We were given basic ideas at a young age: teacher, doctor, lawyer, police officer. But as we got older, new professions and ways of earning a living started emerging. We started to see ways of living that previous generations never considered.

Now, we can choose from a myriad of paths to go down. You don't have to be a salesman or a dentist. You can be a food blogger, social media strategist, founder/developer of a new popular app, YouTube star, Uber/Lyft driver, and the list goes on and on.

The thing is not everyone accepts these new professions as serious means of making a living. Suddenly, all the 'dream big's become 'think realistically's. Some might not see these unconventional career paths as legitimate.

I'm here to argue that technology has afforded us with new opportunities, so why wouldn't we take advantage of them to their fullest extent? A few years ago, naysayers claimed that all these social media strategist-type jobs were going to be short lived because they never believed in the power of these little apps on our phones.  Now, social media is one of the top priorities of companies when deciding how to market their brand in a digital age. Many taxi companies are literally going out of business because of these ride-sharing services powered by our smartphones. And some YouTube stars are now earning millions of dollars from ad services.

So, maybe it wasn't a complete lie. Maybe the sky is the limit, and the lie was that these people might not have believed it when they were saying it to us. 

When I was little, I secretly wanted to be an actress. I knew I couldn't be anything because what I really wanted was to be Hannah Montana--can you blame me? She was an eleven-year-old secret Popstar who doubled as a regular kid at school. But I digress... I wanted to be an actress, but I told everyone for years and years that I wanted to be a doctor. Because even as a little kid, I fed into the baloney that the only way I would be successful in life was if I chose one of the five career options they offer to elementary school kids. 

Maybe your Grandma was right and you are the next Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg of your generation. Maybe you really are one of a kind. But on the off chance that you are just like the rest of us--hopelessly trying to be anything but mediocre--don't despair. You have two choices: you can work a little harder to prove to your friends and family that your life choices are valid and meaningful or you can accept that despite no matter how much something means to you, some people might not always get it.

Hoping to find success or land a job after spending thousands of dollars on education, doesn't make you entitled. It makes you reasonable. You want a return on an investment. It doesn't mean that you are expecting a job to be handed to you. But it means that after years of hard work, whatever you end up doing with your life--whether you become a world renowned scientist or a vegan mommy blogger--you want to know that what you are doing matters because, once upon a time, when you were told that the sky was the limit, you believed them. 

Now is that such a crime?

TLDR: You can be anything you want to be--as you long as you really believe that.

HOW TO ACTIVELY PURSUE YOUR PASSIONS

The other day I heard someone talking about how they don't like calling pursuing your passions "dreaming", because dreaming is for sleeping, and you should be active in going after what you want. You have to chase after what you want and put in a lot of hard work.

I agree with that to a point. I believe that reaching your goals involves actively making decisions that will get your closer to what you are working towards. However, I think the concept of dreaming is beautiful. Everyone should have something that gets them so excited that it keeps them up at night thinking about sometimes. Everyone should have that one thing that makes them excited for the rest of their life, because they cannot wait for what the world has in store for them.

I have no idea what I will actually end up doing in the future. I don't know where I am going to live after college or what my first job will be--or what the one after that will be. Yet, I feel something burning inside of me every day that knows I should be excited for whatever my future turns out to be. I am certainly not wishing away the present, because I am thrilled to be where I am in my life right now, but I am not afraid of the future either.

 

1. Establish your goals.

Having a dream is one thing, but if you want your dream to become a reality, you need tangible goals that will help you get there.

2. Envision the steps to achieving your goals.

Take some time to think about steps that you can take right now to achieve your final goals. Are there skills that you can be refining? Are there people you can talk to that can give you advice? It is never too early to start working towards your dreams.

3. Set deadlines.

I don't know about you, but if I don't have a deadline I tend to put things off. There needs to be something to keep you in line and make sure that you are actually putting the work in. When you have deadlines, you are more likely to keep yourself on track and actually accomplish something. For instance, maybe you want to improve your Photoshop skills. Make a goal of how often you want to have projects done by or a number of tutorials you want to have completed by a certain date. 

4. Take time to refocus.

Sometimes you need to step back and look at the reasons you chose to go after whatever it is you are passionate about. Why do you have these dreams? What is pushing you further? What is it that fire burning within you that tells you this is all worth it? You need to remind yourself of why you have those dreams.

5. Don't let yourself get stuck.

This one kind of relates to number 4. If you took the time to refocus and you realized that you couldn't figure out why you had these dreams, maybe you need to reconsider what you are working towards. For years I wanted to be a doctor. I tried to teach myself medical terms in my spare time. I narrowed down my specialty by the time I was 12 and stuck with it for years. But then one day, I realized that it wasn't actually my dream. Maybe it had been at one point, or maybe it was just easy to stick with it because I had been saying it was my dream for so many years. Either way, I realized it's okay to change your mind. Don't feel anchored down by one idea. Be open to other possibilities, because there are so many things you can do with your life that you might not even know about now.

6. Accept failures, and move on.

One of the best talks that I have ever attended taught me that you should move onto the next thing before you find out how the last thing turned out. So maybe you're a writer, and you want to be published. Part of the gig is facing rejection letters sometimes. Instead of getting stuck on whether or not your work will get accepted, start working on your next project. That way you are not letting your successes or failures dictate your path. You are moving forward, regardless of how one thing turns out. There will always be other opportunities, so make sure you are open to finding them.

7. Finally, invest in yourself.

You have to your biggest fan. If you want other people to believe in you, you have to believe in yourself first. Your confidence and your passion will be your greatest assets, and they will be invaluable in achieving your goals. Treat yourself well. Don't push yourself too hard, and always remember that your dreams matter.

Dreaming might be something that we do when we're sleeping, but I think it's one of the most amazing things that our mind can do. When I am daydreaming, I don't scold myself, because I know how important it is to my creativity. My imagination is one of my greatest strengths, and I don't ever want to deny it. If you take anything away from this, please remember: never stop dreaming.

You may say I'm a dreamer. But I'm not the only one. -John Lennon