Hey Gen Y, “Are You Staying True To Your Passion?”

“You (simply) gotta be you,” –Gary Vaynerchuk (“Crush it!”)

This seems so obvious. When we were kids, the sky was the limit. You could be anything that you wanted to be. You would dream big and then you would tell your friends, family and anyone you knew all the big ambitions you had for “when you grew up.” Usually, everyone would smile and say how adorable you were.

Somewhere along the lines, we lost that passion and the sense of ambition with no boundaries for more “safe choices.” We start to follow what our parents and society dictate as a “conventional career path.” For most of us, that means graduating high school, going to college, picking a conventional major, graduating college, getting a job and then eventually getting married and starting a family.

For some people, that seems like their idea of a great life. If you are risk-averse and/or want to follow in a family member’s business legacy (i.e carrying on the family restaurant, etc.), then that’s great. By all means, do just that. You have found something that you like doing and you are also following the conventional path set by your family and society as a whole.

But for others, when pursuing that conventional career and life path, we lose a sense of our self. For instance, people who wanted to be a professional basketball player may wind up being a lawyer. They do it because that’s what expected of them, or that’s what their parents do. Or, it’s just the more responsible choice. They feel like that’s a way to make everyone around them proud.

I’ll be the first to admit, there’s nothing wrong with this path per se. It feels great hearing others tell you how great a job you are doing, and how proud of you they are. But, pleasing others can only take you so far if you aren’t following your own passion and exceeding your own expectations first. That’s generally when you know that you have strayed from your true passion(s).

After all, you are the only one, who knows what you want to do. You spend at least 40 hours a week working, so you might as well find a career path that suits you. Yes, you will probably have naysayers- and/or your parents may think you are crazy for choosing to major in journalism instead of law like they did (Personal experience here!), but eventually as you start exceeding your own expectations, they will begin to respect your decision. They may not love or even understand what you do for a living, but if they come to respect your decision then that’s all that truly matters in the grand scheme of things.

Yes, it may take years or even decades to figure out what you want to do , but you will eventually figure out your true DNA. Ultimately, you have to do what you were born to do, and hope that those closest to you can come to respect your decision.  That’s when you can reach your true maximum potential.