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I'm a teenager stressing about my career
Hey, there. I'm a 15 year old freshman in high school and I'm looking for a bit of advice. These days, college is pushed into us so early. They had me picking potential colleges and calculating the cost of rooming and food and tuition along with how to do my finances and pay off student loans when I was in 8th grade (13). They had us pick potential jobs and also gave us the average annual incomes for those jobs. As you can imagine, that all stressed me out a lot seeing as I was still in middle school. College was, and still is, a foreign concept to me. Anyway, my stress about it has gotten worse since last week I was talking to my aunt about potential careers. I told her that Id really like to go to art school and be an illustrator or learn to do the animations for cartoons but that I'm also sort of interested in pharmaceuticals so I might just settle for being a pharmacist for more money. She said definitely go with pharmacist. I'm worried about hating myself for not going to art school just so I can have more money because I know that I'll be better off in a pharmacy. And yes, yes I've heard that I can do my art "on the side" or in "my free time" but God I want to go to art school but no one will support me because they think it's not a good job and then I'll be a broke 25 year old with an art degree.
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We do seem to rush our children these days through childhood or maybe I should say rob them of their childhood. Eight grade is way too soon to be thinking of college or a career. At that age many kids are still looking at being cops, firefighters and nurses; nothing wrong with any of these jobs.
My son is a Paramedic/Firefighter and makes great living; well above the median income for the state we live in. His girlfriend is a cop and my adopted daughter is a nurse. They all make good incomes. The fact is they all chose these careers while in college not in high school and definitely not in middle school with the exception of my son. He always wanted to be like me except he went one better and became a paramedic as well.
I will give you the advice I gave him and others. You can have all the money in the world and be miserable working at a job you dislike. If you have a job you love then you never work a day in your life but you have an income you can enjoy in whatever amount it is.
Now there is a solution to your problem. You can go to college and major in Pharmacy with a minor in art. It will be more work for you and a bit more expensive. There is another saying that fits what I am saying. "Nothing good comes without hard work."
"If you are willing to put the time and effort into a double program then as the saying goes, "you can have your cake and eat it to." By working and graduating with a double program you can put off making a final decision as to which career path you wish to follow.
Either career offers the opportunity to be a back up to the other or to offer part-time work. Pharmacies are always looking for part-time pharmacists to work nights and or weekends. Artists can always find freelance work as illustrators and other freelance work.
If you plan correctly you can have the world by the short hairs. Planning is what you should start now or in the next year looking for schools that offer you the ability to take both classes. They may not be the Ivy League schools or the big name schools. It does not matter if they are a smaller school. Actually it is better if they are a smaller school as they tend to be less expensive and have smaller class sizes. What matters is when you finish you have that diploma(s).
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For one being you're so young, finding out prices for college seems a bit silly but down the line it will come in handy. However you're young and have your whole life ahead of you. Your family just want ugly to have a happy and secure life. But with that meeting said as you get older you'll also realize that making decisions should be based off what makes you happy. Go to art school. I once heard if you love find a job you love doing , then you'll never work a day in your life. Meaning go to art school if art is in your heart draw,paint,sketch. People who are artists don't all make money but they aren't all broke. In fact artists make good money and especially in today's world you can be anything you want to be. What's the point in being a pharmacist and your heart isn't in dying that. You want a career not a job. A job is something you do because you have to. A career is something you do because you want to. I hope this helps. Who knows maybe one day your art will be in an exhibit.
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Well you gotta think of it like this. Do you want to go to art school and do what you want and be happy and take the risk, or be a pharmacist with the support and safety but unhappiness and not what you want. It's your life, and since you've been pushed so much before, then you should at least be able to pick this. You shouldn't let other people control you or anything like that. It's honesty up to you. Whether you have support or not, if you're doing what you love then it's worth it. Like Winston Churchill said, "if you're going through hell, keep going."
Hope this helps~
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