A passion!

Today I watch the Road-trip Nation documentary called The Open Road. It's about a bunch of college kids going on a road-trip across the United States trying to find out how people became what they are today. The career paths they choose and how they got there weather it was in a mail room or fishing. They capture this by traveling to different places to meet successful people throughout the US and interviewing them. People like the VP of Cartoon Network, the founder of the Genome, and Michel Dell. Very successful, powerful people who got to where they are today with there passions in life. One thing that really stood out to me more than anything else was the interview with the lobsterer. The guy was in college and lobstering for extra money and he decided his passion in life was lobstering. He is really happy and that is all that matters to him, it is not about the money. I really hope I find something I have a passion for, lobstering might not be my calling but I really hope I find something worth doing. Something that makes me happy, paycheck or not. What I really got from this movie was its not about monetary success its about personal success. And I feel like no one in my family had a choice to do what they really wanted to do in life. They all did what they had to do to financially stable. Everyone had to worry about supporting there offspring so no one could do what they really wanted to do. I really doubt my father wanted to own a cleaning company, if he had the option he would have been an engineer or carpenter of some sort. And my grandfather was happy living the farm life but he could have never supported 6 kids and a wife with that so he drove a truck and was never home. Everyone had to do what they had to do, there were no other options. And I feel like I have so many options that I am confused with what I want to do. I don't know....

The "noise" the pressure I'm encountering comes from my family rather than friends. My mother pressures me to do something I want to do. My father is very practical and wants me to make money, it's all about the "American Dream." I feel like he has the ideology that his kids should be more successful than he is. He is way more successful than his father ever was, but that was a completely different era. I live in an era where more and more people are lucky to be making what there parents make. I don't know it is just so frustrating. Now my grandfather is a lot like me, and he is a person who is very grounded and quiet but when he does say something it is defiantly the important thing. He said that if he could do it all over again he would come to america earlier in life and move to california and have a farm. I love the man to death and he is his happiest and proudest when his garden is fully blown and I want to experience that sort of happiness when I complete something. He has a passion. I want to find my passion.

I learn a lot better through experience so the way I learn about new careers is through my connections. The people I talk to every day. When that fails me I could go online and look up career descriptions and so on. The internet is a very useful tool. I can even go to JMU career website and look up jobs under my major. There are plenty of sites that will help me.