Something I’ve found myself questioning a lot more recently is the whole idea of growing up. I’m expected to enjoy my youth by trying reckless things, while also being expected to act like an adult who says not to do those things. We get told our whole lives to not feel pressured into deciding what we want to do, yet ironically that entire time we’ve been asked the question: “What do you want to be when you grow up?”
As children, the answer to this question was simple. At that age we believed we could be anything in the world, an astronaut, a veterinarian, a doctor, or something ridiculous like a fairy. As we grow older, we find ourselves changing our answers various times. Now as a junior in high school, I don’t know what I want to do with my life. I want to pursue a career in writing, but is that really realistic? If I am not successful in writing, who’s to say I’ll be able to afford a living, especially if I were to have pets and children? If I do have children, I don’t want to shove a phone in their face the moment they can walk and talk.
Children today are cussing, wanting designer clothes, trying so desperately to grow up faster. They don’t even want toys for gifts, instead they want expensive Ugg boots, Stanley cups, Lululemon, Kendra Scott, which aren’t all that expensive but when they’re all added together that’s a good chunk of money. I find it funny looking back, thinking, back in my day I played with Pokemon cards, Barbie dolls, Legos, the infamous stick as a wand, while imagining my life as a princess. How I spent months during recess pretending to be Elsa from Frozen, using magical ice powers to create a grand castle. I don’t want to raise children if they are going to be enclosed in technology with no sense of responsibility and respect.
Gen Alpha is appearing to be a mess, I now see why Millennials are so disappointed in Gen Z. It’s a changing world, I get it, it’s been changing since the beginning of time. I just wish we had a better grasp on growing up. I wish we didn’t have to worry about the future over little things. I want a world where I could find what I want to spend the rest of my life doing something I love, truly enjoy, and not have to worry about the amount things cost. I want a world where kids can still be kids, and not claiming and racing to be “mature”.
By the time you enter high school, the pressure is there. You have people saying you have your whole life ahead of you to figure out what you want to do with your life, while also having others saying to hurry up and decide on something. It becomes a constant battle. The amount of times I get confused to be somebody older, each time they ask me what I want to become, the answer is already the same: I don’t know. It’s an endless cycle of ups and downs. An endless cycle of what if’s that are as powerful as the word “why”. What if I don’t succeed? What if I’m not good enough? What if?
