When I grow up...

Ten words, ten letters and ten years haunting me - what do you want to be when you grow up? Such a simple question yet so complicated. Ever since I reached a certain age all people asked me was ''what do you want to be when you grow up?" and I, at the age of five, wondered why people kept asking me this question when all I wanted to do was to play with my Barbies. As we grow older, we start to truly understand the concept of this question, people aren't curious to know if you want to be a doctor or a sales assistant, they simply want to know how intellectually capable you are. When we reach high school and things get serious, the immense amount of pressure that is put on you by your family, friends and peers overwhelms us and when we reach university/college we are simply relieved to get away from everyone.



For as long as I can remember, my mum has been hammering into my head that I should be a lawyer. A brainwash so skilful and well-thought that for the past decade I did want to be a lawyer however, it isn't what I am passionate about. Like most people I love to eat, travel and shop - an addiction so strong that after adding 7 kgs into my petite body and shopping until I blow my well earned money, the only thing missing is travelling; I worry that by the time I reach 21, I will weight 150 kilos. We have all heard and seen the Hollywood versions of the common mid-life crisis, where those forty-something year olds go around buying Rolex watches and Air maxes, however, what most people don't realise is that even though most forty year olds won't spend a fortune to realise what they are truly passionate about, they aren't happy with their careers. We are led into believing this fairy tale ending that we should marry the rich, work for money and buy oversized houses that we forget why we married the rich, worked for the money and bought the oversized houses in the first place.

We are all familiar with the movies Paranormal Activity, a cheap film which made millions of dollars the first week it was realised, by the second or third movie it becomes evident that the demon called Toby is really only after Hunter - the male firstborn of the family. Most people don't understand that the movie isn't about some crazy demon trying to scare the shit out of those girls (pardon the French), but it is about a family who made a deal with the Devil to be rich. It horrifies me to think that people are pressured into making a fortune that they would eventually sell their kidneys in the black market (and even their souls to the demons out there) for money - it all starts with the question what do you want to be when you grow up?

Honestly, I have no idea what I want to do when I leave school. I would love to write books, be the Editor of Vogue or be part of the Getaway crew and visit all those amazing places, however, unfortunately I will most likely end up being a lawyer who will sell their firstborn for millions of dollars in my bank account. My dream to have brunch in NYC, shop at fifth avenue and spend thousands of dollars in the Chanel stores is still alive within me and it will still burn passionately inside me, it has made me who I am today, it made me want to work harder in school to be able to go to college in America and maybe one day become the next Ana Wintour, however, this passion to work harder only grew when I heard someone say "you will never go to University if you get B's and C's".

It saddens me to realise that most teachers and parents brainwash kids into believing that if you are not the best in such a young age, you will never achieve anything. For instance, my school motto is nothing but the best, in bloody Latin (nil sed optima), not only do I not speak Latin, but roughly only 10 million people have studied Latin at some extent of their life. Coco Chanel for example, she was a poor orphan who made her living in a brothel somewhere in France, in today's society she would be categorised into the will never succeed pile, however, she built an empire for pursuing her dreams.

We have been led into believing this fantasy world that if you don't have an IQ of 150 or Miranda Kerr's looks, you will never be anything in life. Whether it is true or not, we must never doubt ourselves, if Miss Chanel turned her life around and is one of the most famous people in the world with a multi-billion dollar company, we, the John Dow's of today can go to university, we can make million and we can achieve the best we possibly can.

xoxo,
Issa.