By Domingo Fortuna
I wonder why we are motivated to know what our future will be. Sometimes, I sit on my bed and try to think about myself ten years from now, but my mind soon gets overwhelmed. I end up with a headache because I feel frustrated by the fact that I still don’t know what I want in life. If life were as simple as it appears in movies, we wouldn’t be so worried by the fact that things can happen or change in the blink of an eye. I now recognize the reason for my frustration. Life has turned into a time when we are obligated to commit to a career path or risk losing our minds because there is so much pressure placed on us. I don’t know if you understand my reasoning, but I am tired of planning my future.
The word “future” means to me an imaginary goal which is put into our minds to enslave us to a society in which we feel hopeless. Think about your goals, the ones you believe are really yours, which stick in your mind. Most of the time people think that they have chosen their own goals, but in reality these goals are what others hope they will achieve. The phrase “I don’t know” keeps repeating itself in my mind because I don’t know where I want to go in life because “my goals” are not actually my own. The truth behind the curtain for many of us is that we don’t know what we want to be. We are caught in a society that expects a lot from us. Ultimately, the kind of pressure these expectations put on our minds drives us to a state in which we are strangers to ourselves.
Ever since I was a kid I’ve been asked what I want to be in life, so I always repeated the same thing that my sister used to say. I did this because I didn’t want to disappoint the people around me. This is an example of how others’ goals could become my goals. Now that I am older, I realize that the habit of not following your dreams can get you to a place where your life is not yours because it wasn’t meant for you. If you don’t want to be stuck in that bad place, from now on try to be aware of the things that you actually like to do, as opposed to the things that others tell you to do. Recognize the real you.
What if? This is one of the questions that we ask ourselves very often. Contemplating questions like this can affect the way we make decisions in life. If we were honestly asked to make our own decisions, don’t you think that we wouldn’t think twice? As human beings we make mistakes, but most of the time we learn from those mistakes to become better people. As I go along in life, I analyze every situation that happens in my surroundings. By doing this I get to know how every person around me will respond. For example, if I tell my family that I want to be a waiter in a restaurant, I will expect from them an expression of disappointment. Situations like this can make you do things that you don’t want to do.
The only advice that I can give you to help you not get depressed is to begin filling your mind with positive thoughts. Stay aware of what you want to be and not what others want you to be. Remember that those people in your life who currently make decisions for you are not going to be there forever. As you get older you are allowed to become more independent. This is one of the benefits of getting old. Independence will provide you with enough courage to continue with your life and to make decisions by yourself.
