Home » Categories » Lifestyle » Opinions » What are you going to do with your life?

Posted Tuesday, March 18, 2008
View All Blog Posts submitted by Lola Plume

As soon as they can speak people begin to ask children "What are you going to be when you grow up?" Surely a seven year old should be thinking about what to do at the weekend or what toy or game they want to play with next. It doesn't make sense to ask someone that young what they plan to be doing in ten years time.

For a start they haven't experienced enough of life to be able to answer this question. Their contact with other people is almost certainly limited to parents, school friends, other relatives and, at a push, their neighbours. So instead of asking them what they want to be when they grow up why not ask them if they'd like to learn how to play an instrument or just spend some quality time with their parents.

But this problem carries on beyond young children. Older children, teenagers and young adults are all constantly being asked to make decisions that will affect "what they're going to do with their life." In fact with this pressurised decison making it's unsuprising that the number of cases of depression in young people are so high.

I have an idea and it's simple and effective. Why not stop planning what you want to do with your life, where you want to be in ten years, what age you need to be married by etc and just get on with living it. Deal with problems as they come up. Do what you enjoy and be happy instead of stressed. So simply stop planning and start living.