After high school.. Afraid of being judged.

[Leighd1144]

I'm in the tenth grade, or starting it. Basically, my whole family consists of people who never made anything of their life, job wise. They never really had careers. They all want me to be something important- like a social worker or a counselor or something. Which I would enjoy. BUT, the thing I really want to do, is... Beauty school. Sigh. I've always been good with hair and make-up, I cut my own hair (except for the back which I can't see). I do my brother and sister's cuts, too. My aunt, who is a beautician, always says that I do as good a job as her. Like my sister cut her hair- she's 3- and I fixed it. My mom took her to my aunt after I fixed it, and my aunt says, 'There isn't much to do, she did a great job hon.' She sent my mom off without touching it. And Wendy (the kid) had it all messed up. I love doing it. Not because it's easy but because it's.... Natural. For me. I've always kind of been artsy. I guess. I would like to eventually open my own shop. But like I said, the family... I dunno..

[Kate*]

You aren't the only one to ever face this problem. I think you should do what you love, Especially something like counseling. As a counselor-in-training, if your heart isn't really all the way into it, you won't enjoy it and it will show. People are going to have opinions, but they aren't going to live your life. The important thing with a career is that you enjoy what you're doing.

[Awakening]

Hey there,

I think this is a really common issue for people to face. There are a lot of times in life that you will be faced with deciding between what you really want and what other people want you to do. But the most important thing is not to meet other people's expectations for you; it's to be happy with yourself and with your life. If going to beauty school is something that would make you happy then you should absolutely pursue it.

Sometimes our family members invent plans for us that we don't necessarily want to follow. But they only do this because they want us to be successful and happy. They might at first be upset with you for not following their plans, but once they see how happy you are following your own I think they'll be a lot more supportive. The only thing people who love you want most is to see you happy, and once you reach a point in your life where you are truly happy it won't matter to them so much how you found that happiness. It will just matter that you found it at all. Find your happiness in the way that you want to, and I'm sure you will gain your family's support along the way!

I hope this helped a little and I wish you the best of luck in becoming the person you want to be Take care.

[xxpaigiexx]

Hey there,

I think every parent hopes that their children are going to make something of themselves and do all of the things that they never managed to do, which I can understand but I think being happy is much more important. My parents tried to push me into more academic things I could handle, and it took some time but they accepted that that may not be where my talents lay.
I think you should speak with them and explore your options, I think it's important to please yourself and not others because you're the one who has to do that career for the rest of your life, not your family. Make sure whatever choice you make is the best for you, as you may never get the opportunity to go back to school/college and re-train.

Best of luck,
Paige