Growing up, the majority of our hobbies and interests are the combination of things that we were introduced to by our parents. The sports we play, the clubs we joined, and the habits we have made are all a combination of the bits and pieces of our parents’ interests. For the most part, I am extremely thankful. My love and passion for softball all started when my mom put a bat in my hands when I was five years old. I was able to find my intense interest in medicine, and the courage to pursue it as a career from looking at slides of DNA at the kitchen table with my dad when I was in elementary school. I was lucky to have been able to enjoy the things my parents introduced to me at a young age, but I have seen some unfortunate situations with people in my life too, many times. This is just a little reminder to never lose sight of who you are, not who others may want you to be.
In today’s society, millennials are seen to be the people who experiment, who challenge the “set” social norms and break and create their own rules. With that becoming the daily standard of our society, our older relatives sometimes have a harder time grasping their minds around it and refuse to see the change that this generation is having on our daily lives. Women are getting involved in STEM careers. Men are marrying men and women are marrying women. Gender roles are drastically changing and the expectations for men and women are not set in stone anymore. While it is a truly amazing thing that we are making this breakthrough, the unfortunate part is that there are still people missing out on opportunities that feed their soul because of the opinions and judgments of other people. There are still people out there that will major in Education because their mother is a teacher and wants them to follow in her footsteps, when in reality, they want to study cosmetology. There is a boy out there who wants to ask another boy out but can’t, because he knows his father will threaten to make him move out of the house if he doesn’t bring home a girl for him and his mother to meet. There are so many people out there still living their lives to please others and missing out on the colors in life that would make them shine the brightest.
While I do love softball, studying medicine and becoming doctor is a dream of mine, I always wonder if I would have the same dreams if my parents didn’t introduce them to me at a young age. Would I have found them on my own, or am I so excited about them because I see the interest that my parents have for them? The older I get, the more I realize that this truly is my life. There will come a day where I am completely dependent on myself and I need to be happy with the decisions I have made to have gotten to where I end up. One of the most important life lessons I could have learned was from my Grandma. She told me to find that thing that sets a fire inside of me and to never let that flame die out, not for anyone. So always remember to be true to yourself, go after your dreams, and never live for anyone else. Making your parents and your family proud is important. But, when it comes down to making them proud by not being yourself, or making yourself proud by living out your dreams, always be true to yourself. Do what you love and love what it is that you do. Never forget to do it with passion or not at all.