The Pressure in the Life of a Student

Does anybody remember what they wanted to be when they were in kindergarten? Well I do. I had everything figured out. I was going to be the first ever pirate, cowboy, spaceman. Basically my job was going to consist of me flying around in space wearing a peg leg, a ten gallon hat and a space mask; taking out Martians with a double threat of my rapier and trusty six shooter laser pistol; all while taking care of my pet parrot, and my horse named comet.

Pretty awesome right? Well that dream didn't last long. By the third grade I had moved on to a more realistic dream. I was going to be a firefighter. I soon changed my mind when I realized that, in order to be a firefighter, one actually had to fight fires. All I wanted to do was drive the truck and eat five alarm chili all day. By the sixth grade though, I had a new dream.

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I was for sure this time. I was going to be... a televangelist. The thought of being able to yell “praise Jesus”, and smack geriatric old ladies in the head while screaming "be healed"sounded great. However that particular career path didn't go over so well with my very methodist family. By the time I was in the eighth grade had absolutely no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up. So when I told that to my eighth grade counselor, she got very mad at me.

She spent twenty minutes yelling at me for not having any drive in my life, because apparently those with no drive, end up flipping burgers all day. Is it ironic now that I want to own my own burger restaurant? The pressure put on kids these days to have their life figured out at such an early age is an issue that needs to be addressed.

The average high-school student is under a great deal of stress. Homework, tests, extracurriculars, applying to college, jobs and wanting to ask out that really pretty girl who sits next to you in English, are just a few of the things we worry about. In 2007, a Stanford neuroscientest named Robert Sapolsky, released his findings on the neurological effects of stress. In his report he stated that in short amounts of time, stress can be a good thing. It is what tells are body that we need to survive. He used the example of a someone being chased by an animal that was trying to eat them. In that short period of time, your body is producing several hormones that make surviving easier. They tell your brain to run faster, your heart to pump more blood through your system, and your vocal chords to shriek like a little girl because you are about you get eaten alive. He then goes on to say that, prolonged stress like worrying about the future, produces the same hormones. Prolonged exposure to these hormones can supress your immune system, causing you to be more susceptible to things like heart disease and cancer, cause chronic pain, lead to anxiety problems and a whole bunch of other problems. With these adverse effects of stress, shouldn't we be trying to help reduce it, not cause more of it? So why do we cause this stress? Well In todays culture we look down on people who don't strive for the best. Those who didn't finish college or have blue collar jobs, are quite often considered dumb. With those stereotypes, we are pushing people to work as hard as they can to avoid a life full of hard work. My family has been pushing lawschool on me for years. Half of the people in my family are lawyers, and they think it is a waste of time for me to want to do anything else. I want to open my own restaurant, but to my family, that is work that is not prestigious enough. They want me to go to lawschool and pass the bar so that I can assure that I have a nice life. Well wanting to go to college and have a nice life is fine, but this country was founded on the ideals of hardwork. Plumbers and construction workers are needed just as much as lawyers and brain surgeons. I am not saying that people shouldn't go to college, but people shouldn't go due to pressure.

Being pressured to go to college happens to a lot of people. My aunt for example was really

good in chemistry. Her mom pressured her into being a chemistry major. She spent four years in college only to find out, that she hated chemistry. She wasted her time and effort into doing something that she wasn't passionate about. That story is not uncommon. Several people who finish college don't end up working in the field that their degree is in. They spend four years studying only to realize that instead of majoring in international business, they really would rather be a pilot. Now sometimes people get their degree, work in their field for twenty years, and then realize they hate it. This leads to a sense of unfulfillment and can lead to worse things...like midlife crises. We all know what they are. A middle aged man finds out he hates his job, quits and ends up starting a business selling some "groundbreaking" invention with a buddy of his. They are usually accompanied by buying a new sports car, or for the dangerous man, a "hog", and blowing through life savings. Now as fun as that sounds, we tend to ignore the feeling of unfulfillment. That feeling is often times caused by being unhappy at work. According to a survey done in 2010 by CBS news, about 55% of Americans are unhappy with their job. I personally in twenty years want to still be happy in my chosen career path. I do not want to have the huge feeling of unfulfillment haunting me every day for the rest of my life.

When we plan so hard and stress so long about our future, we tend to miss out on what is happening now. A friend of mine has a dad that always works. He is very successful, but due to the large amounts of time he spends working, he misses out on lots of family events. Now after years of his dad missing events, my friend has grown very distant from his father. They don't talk very often, they very rarely sit down to dinner together and, my friend says he can't remember a Christmas where his dad was present. It is kind of sad isn't it? That someone could spend so much time stressing out about the future, that they neglect what is going on right now. My friend understands that his dad is trying to make a better life for him, but he still misses his father. Now his mother says that his dad was just like this in college. Always working and never taking the time to relax. He was always stressed about making sure that he would get the most prestigious job, that eventually he became that way permanantly. Now by no means am I saything that everyone who works hard ignores their kid, but when we stress about work so much we neglect other things. It is a problem that needs to be fixed. So how do we do it?

In order to fix this problem, society needs to put less emphasis on planning. It is not important to know exactly what you want to be when you grow up. We need to not make having a huge salary and lots "prestige" the only correct choice. We need to abolish the stereotypes that college is the best thing for everyone. We need to make it ok to not know.

Earlier in this speech I mentioned that I want to open my own resteraunt, but in all honesty, I don't completely know what I want to do with the rest of my life. There are several things I would love to do. I have always to travel the world, eat food and write trip reviews like Anthony Bourdain. I would love to get on stage infront of a thousand people and do stand-up comedy night after night. Heck I would even love to become a highfashion male model... I'm not quite tall enough for that though. There are several things that I would love to do, and trying to decide what I want to be is hard. I am a senior now and in a few short months, I will be out of the womb that is high-school and in college. Then in a few years after that I will be in the real world. It is a scary thought and a lot of my friends are stressing about the rest of their life. I however am not to stressed out about it, because my mother gave me the most insightful words of wisdom on this subject. She told me "it is no use not doing what you love and what you are passionate about". That is the real solution. Follow what you are passionate about. Do not worry what others want you to do, or what you THINK others want you to do. Do what makes you happy. So in a few years if you come into my restaurant, or come to one of my shows or see me walking the runway at New York fashion week, remember that you have to do what makes you happy, and who knows? Maybe I will be the first ever pirate, cowboy, spaceman.