Career paths! One of the biggest decision one has to make in his lifetime and as such requires so much guidance before concluding.
The fact that it needs much guidance does not in any way transcend to the fact that someone else will make the decision for you... My thoughts though .
Just like marriages, career decisions should be taken by the person in question, this is not in anyway to say that arranged marriages or career paths decided for someone does not turn out fine sometimes nor is it always a guarantee that once you make the decision yourself that everything will turn out perfectly fine, but, it is just me saying that the chances of making the right decision increases when you are the one that made the decision.
One thing with career decisions is that they are decisions we are stucked with for the rest of our lives and we will either look back to the day we made such decisions and be happy or sad we ever decided to go for the path we went to.
As someone who had quite a dilemma before settling down for the career path I choosed, I can attest that how difficult it could be and I remain grateful for my parents for the role they played.
I was a balanced science student while in secondary school so to say that I felt comfortable that I could fit in any of the science courses except pharmacy because I never loved the course, so I was in the battle of making a decision between going for civil engineering or medicine and surgery.
I loved both courses with all my heart so instead of making the decision, I went to my parents and asked them what they wanted me to be in the future and they said,
"It's you we are talking about, not we your parents, anything you decide to be in the future just know that we are willing to see you through the University trainings and see that you finish it up but it's your decision to make where you want to go"
To be honest, I left the room more confused than I entered but well, thank God I am where I am today.
There are some factors to consider before making such a big decision of course:
- Passion:
Is this job something you will get up from the bed every morning and be happy when you remember you are leaving your house for the day's activities because what's a job when you can't derive happiness and joy from it?
- Job opportunities:
This is one of the factors our country, Nigeria has made us consider immediately after passion.
It's not enough to be passionate about a particular career here in Nigeria but you also need to ask yourself what exactly has the career got to offer in making your ends meet.
Is it one that will put a good food on your table or one that will at least accord you little time to learn other things too.
This is also where you get to consider the various routes someone with such career could take and decide the one you really want to.
- Are you willing to pay the price?
Every career has got a price to pay to attain that and this is one of the factors that you should consider before making such decisions because at the end, it's you and your decision.
In summary, I think career paths remains a decision to be made by the someone himself/herself and not the parents because at a point, it will definitely get unbearable,but then, if it was the choice you made to be there and wasn't imposed on you, the love and passion you have for the career will see you going whereas you will be looking for the thinnest of opportunities to blame someone else if the person was the one that made the decision for you.
So what's your own personal conviction, you think it's okay to let our parents make the decision or it should be just then playing the guidance role but you making the final call?
Thanks for reading and have a nice day