The choices we have to make
I am 16-years-old. I turn 17-years-old in five months and 20-years-old is starting to look closer than it ever has before. College is just around the corner and I thought I had the perfect plan set out for myself: I would go to a 4-year college, get a tattoo apprenticeship while I pay off my debt and then start up my own business.
I have been set on being a tattoo artist for the past three years, focusing on taking the classes that would get me there, and the extracurriculars that would help me reach this goal. until recently I realized, this job will not support me for the life I want. I fought this idea because, what is a life of money without happiness? But then again, what is a life of fulfilled passion, whilst struggling to keep a roof over your head, not to forget your partner or children? The motion in which our economy is going, my generation will not be able to buy their own house, let alone be able to retire at 70-years-old.
I am stuck between two very different professions, being a plastic surgeon or a tattoo artist. One would make an average of $64,000 a year and the other would make over eight times that. It is unfortunate that we have to spend a lifetime working to have a comfortable life, rather than living a life that would bring us utmost happiness. However, for some, that is not the case. There are plenty of people who can spend the rest of their life with a great income and also be happy with their career, that is just not the case for all people.
Our futures are similar to clay, we can mold them and change them as we go, but the longer we let it sit, the harder it gets, until we are stuck in the mold we made for ourselves. We can choose to let life run its course and take us wherever it goes, or we can decide where we see ourselves in the future and create the outcome that we want. Although I might have a set career for myself now, I have to think about what is best for myself and my future family. I realize now that I don’t have to pick between a career and happiness, I just have to find a compromise between them.
Being a surgeon will not necessarily make me happy, but seeing people who struggle with the same dysphoria as I do with my chest finally live a life where they are comfortable being themselves would bring me immense joy. I have always struggled with the thought of “how do I make a name for myself if not a movie star, singer, or politician?” and I always thought my art would be the way to do that, but being a plastic surgeon is an art, no matter what label it has. I want to leave my mark by saving young teens’ lives from their own world of hurt, the same way I will always remember my surgeon as the person who saves my life.
