livebygrace

The Question That Changed My Life

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” As children, a question posed to us as we learn about our world’s fictional and non-fictional heroes who inadvertently taught us to want to be just like them. No matter your age, you’re always expected to have an answer. But when we’re young, it’s ok if our response involves the impossible, a princess, Superman, or some flying hero. The adult who posed the question will still look at you with a smiling face and throw some version of “I’m sure you’d be a great, blank.” At one point, the question used to strike an array of exciting emotions within me, wonderment, excitement, and the opportunity for incredible potential. However, as I got older, the very same question made me feel a completely different way. Pressure, confusion, and even inadequacy was always my emotional response in the months leading up to my high school graduation. As the “What do you want to be when you grow up?” was code for, “What career do you see yourself making a living in?” Causing the lighthearted question to carry new weight, an expectation. While friends around me had quick and definite answers, I always found myself hesitating. As a good student with a good family, I believed I should know with certainty what I wanted to be; it was time. I should know the modern-day hero I wanted to become.