Growing up is hard and choosing a career path is even harder when you come from a background where parents choose your route for you.
“You can’t be a journalist, you know that,” my family and close friends kept saying to me over the summer.
My mother even advised me to switch to the one-year project management program for the fall semester.
I began having nightmares of not being able to get a job as a journalist if I continued in this program.
I was worried because I have a Bachelor’s degree in public administration. I still haven’t found a job in that field. I don’t want to waste more years getting degrees and diplomas without actually working in those fields.
The pressure from my family made it worse for me because every time they had to introduce me to a family friend, they didn’t feel proud to say that I am studying journalism.
There were moments where I felt like a failure and a disappointment to myself, and my family who have always been my number one support.
One morning, I woke up and told myself, this is your life and you must make your own choices in order to be happy.
I had to become my own self-motivator. I had to encourage myself in order to finish this program.
There was nothing really specific that made me come back. It was just a feeling that I needed to complete what I’d already begun. Maybe it was for self-satisfaction or just the urge to prove my parents wrong by succeeding in what they didn’t expect me to succeed in.
I believe that nothing is ever a waste. Whatever skills I am learning from this program today might be useful in the future.
So, I decided to come back and finish my program against all odds.
Despite all these challenges, I came back strong.