Here is a piece written from one of the special people in our community. Hope has discovered something she wished to share with the people around us and hopefully this enlightens you too. Thank you for your time.
Hope- Now that it’s senior year, there’s a lot of pressure since we all have to figure out what college we’re going to and especially what area we’ll be studying. Many people will be jumbling ideas on what to study and many will want to pursue a major they enjoy. The problem is, during this process, we’ll encounter many individuals with negative, ignorant, and discouraging comments/opinions. These individuals may for some reason think these comments are helpful for us to come to a decision, but in reality, they’re really not.
Lately, I've noticed that when I tell people who ask what I'm majoring in college that I want to major in English, it's always a comment like "really, English?”, "well, it's a start," "oh that's uh new but I feel like you’ll end up changing your major" or even a sarcastic remark like "good luck finding a job after college”.
Why or how do people think that saying these things are in any way encouraging? Yes, I understand that they may think they’re “helping” or that they’re just giving an honest opinion, but that’s besides the point. We are young adults about to embark on a new chapter in our lives confidently since we’re going to study an area we’re interested in and the last thing we need to hear is, “you’re going to be poor the rest of your life.”
Nowadays, there’s this stigma about certain fields of work and people automatically assume you're not going to make any money unless you're a doctor, business person, engineer, etc. (There's absolutely nothing wrong with pursuing these fields as a career, it's a great career choice but it's not everyone's cup of tea). Yet, we're told to do whatever makes us happy and what we're passionate about. However, once we begin to follow through with that, we're shot down and told otherwise which is very hypocritical.
Some people just need to keep their comments to themselves and need to understand their comments aren't "helping.” They're just discouraging people who want to pursue their dream and what they’re passionate about!! In the end, as long as you have a degree in something, you're most likely going to find a job somewhere.
For me, I used to care about what people think and I used to take people's comments about my major to heart. People’s negative comments would make me incredibly discouraged to the point where I would be questioning and second guessing myself. However, after a lot of thinking and talks with people who support me, I’ve realized I'm going into English because it's what I ENJOY. I enjoy reading and writing and it's what I'm good at!! I’m not going into medicine or business when I'm not good at math or science because by doing so, I'm basically setting myself up for failure and to be miserable since it's not what I enjoy or see myself doing in the future!!
SO FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO PURSUE A CAREER THEY'RE PASSIONATE ABOUT, DO NOT LET ANYONE TELL YOU DIFFERENTLY ABOUT IT OR YOUR MAJOR. YOU DO WHATEVER THE HELL YOU WANT, IT’S YOUR LIFE AND YOU PURSUE WHAT YOU ENJOY MOST.
