What do you want to do when you grow up?
What do you want to do when you graduate?
When are you going to start looking for a job?
When are you going to move out?
It occurs to me that, society expects nearly every one of us to know exactly what we’re doing , exactly where we’re going, or what want for our future.
Why is it so important to know? Why are we so driven to know?
Is it okay if we don’t know what we want out of life? Or what our career is going to be?
Somehow, if we aren’t working towards something, we are aimless, purposeless, unmotivated people. And we are judged for it. We judge each other for it. Sometimes we don’t know we are judging, or what exactly we are judging.
Why are we in a hurry to know? I started thinking about this question, and the answer easily came to me.
Fear.
The fear of time makes us impatient. The fear of judgement makes us decide in haste. The fear of poverty makes us work for money. The fear of dying before we do something “worthwhile” in our lives drive us to do something…anything…
Why don’t you know what you want out of life?
Our society is driven by fear. Most of us are living in fear, and we disguise fear with rules, norms, expectations, benefits, purpose.
I don’t know what’s so bad about not knowing where you’re going. Does it make you aimless and therefore worthless? Why are we so eager to move on?
Why is life so linear?
You are born. You’re a kid. You go to school. You go to university or college. You graduate. You look for a job. You work hard and expect you’ll get somewhere in life. You find someone and you settle. You get married. You have kids. You take care of your kids. You work. Your kids grow up and go through the same things as you. You work. You get old. Your kids become adults. You work. You get older. You work. You retire. You sit back and enjoy life. You die.
Why are we caught in this loop? Why are our lives so systematic, so controlling, so rigid, so uncreative?
Of course, it’s not about what you’ve got, it’s what you do with what you’ve got.
But why?
Is there another path?
Can I suddenly decide to be a diver at 12 so I pick up my diving suit and go dive? Can I not go through school until I am 50? Can I not suddenly decide to be a chef and go study someplace in Europe? Can I go race a car? bunjie-jumping for life? Simply because I want to?
But our society doesn’t work like that, doesn’t it? We’ll never be free from it. You need to conform. You need to follow the rules. You need to follow the pattern. You need to work for what you want. You need to work hard because it’s the right thing to do (I’m not saying it’s not). You need to work hard to get to where you want to be, you need to work hard to get money so you can survive, and you just need to work. Why don’t you work?
Why does our reality manifest so slowly in this world? Why is the world like that?
Don’t we all want freedom? Don’t we all deserve freedom? What’s controlling us?
Or more importantly, why are we being controlled?
Why?
