Have ever wondered what you’re going to do when you grow up. We have so many choices that it’s mind blowing. What do you want to do when you grow up? This is a question that has been daunting me almost my entire life; however, it is not daunting me in a bad way, but it is a constant reminder of what is to come and what I have to look forward to. My parents have always told me I could do whatever I want as long as I truly love it. My mom always tells me, “If you love what you do, then you will be successful at it.” I’ve thought about this a lot. If this is true, then why do so many people have measly day jobs that they hate? Why spend your whole adult life working for someone you hate, in a place you hate, and just generally wishing you were doing something else? What answers this pressing question is one thing: Money.

Money is to blame for people feeling unfulfilled about their work. A lot of people go into a certain profession for the sole purpose of making money. That is completely wrong, at least in my eyes. If you take away the money, you should still love your job. Not to say money is not important, but happiness and a sense of fulfillment are more important.

It is not in my sole nature just to chase money and only money. This is not human for me, I may like money and some of the things that come with it, but it’s not all I care about. If I look back on my life now and I think of my fondest memories, they all consists of moments with friends and family. They do not consist of just buying something or spending money. This shows me what really matters. The experiences I have throughout my life and the people I meet. Even though I’ve always loved cars and clothing my whole life, I don’t think these materialistic things are the sole keys to happiness. However, when you share these things with other people then they can become something else. What is important are the people and the relationships you create with them. That is where the most amazing memories are made. This shows me that I should chase amazing experiences instead of money.

Now let’s say I have found something I truly love, yet it doesn’t pay. What should I do? I don’t want to loose some of my dreams. I don’t want that to go away. Now this is the point where I get confused. I want to do something that makes me happy, yet I still want to do something where I can make money. I do not know how to do this. This is a daunting subject because isn’t this what everybody wants? And if everybody wants it and very few people have it that means it is very hard to achieve. I think it is so hard to achieve because there is a lot of work involved. There is definitely something else involved but I don’t know what it is. Hopefully time will tell me. 

I’ve always wanted to be an investment banker because I’ve found stocks to be very interesting and I thought it would be a really fun job. The paycheck isn’t bad either considering right out of college you are making six figures. This also makes the job of being an investment banker even more appealing. Not to be shallow, but money is pretty important. Not to say it is the most important thing in the world, but money can be power, security, and maybe even some of my dreams. This makes me question the fact that I have always wanted to be an investment banker because I might have been blinded by the paycheck. Now that I just take away the paycheck I am rethinking it. Once you take away the paycheck it’s just a bunch numbers, long nights, missed social opportunities, and stress. I do not believe that is truly what I want in this life. As far as I know right now I want be old and look back on what I’ve done, the people I’ve met, the places been and I want to be happy with everything. This is what I know for sure, but there is still so much I don’t know.

Don’t let me fool you into thinking I know everything, the truth is I don’t. Because I’m just a kid. I am only 15 years old, too young to really decide what I really want to do when I get older. This does not mean I can’t think about what my future brings. I really believe we should all think about this. This is something that daunts me so much because I don’t want to make the wrong choice in this life. Or maybe there are no “choices” but just actions we take and then we just have to make the best of them. Whatever it is, all I know is I want to be happy.