Breaking the "Norm"

What even is normal?

I was tired of living my life according to societal norms, rules, and expectations. Don't get me wrong, I am a law-abiding citizen, but I am always challenging the game of life.

As a little girl in the 90s, I grew up believing that my goal in life as a female was to meet prince charming, get married, and buy a nice big home to raise children in. This fantasy seemed great as a child, because toys, costumes, and Disney movies all supported the same ideal!

Additionally, I was expected to first go a good college and then work hard for an established company to pay the bills as an adult. Most people are, right?

While this dream package is possible, it doesn't always work out easily for most people. Disney princesses seemed to have it made, because either their prince was the breadwinner, or they came from a family of wealth! You never saw wrinkles or white hairs on any of these fictional women who were happy with their simple and magical lives, right?!

Times have certainly changed. Life is not as simple as it used to be!

My parents allowed me to choose my own career path, but the tailwinds of that freedom felt more like a light breeze once I uncertainly decided upon the fate of my life journey {with a high price tag attached}. Once I moved forward with the plan, it felt like there was no turning back.

I picked pharmacy as my career path knowing next to nothing about it, but I knew that it ran in my ancestry and could provide a high paying job so long as I made it through 6 years of school. I had an interest in math & science but was never an A student due to my slightly deviant behavior and undiagnosed ADHD in grade school.

I got into the school of pharmacy that my grandfather had been affiliated with {long before his passing} by what felt like the skin of my teeth and without any scholarships due to my lackluster grades and talent on paper. Still, I was grateful that I was being given a chance and my parents were exuberant that their only child got into college (after a few rejection letters).

Pharmacy school grew on me, and I started enjoying the material I was learning from the textbooks and did pretty well compared to my peers. I had a small class, so it felt almost like high school in a way. Being my extroverted self and living on campus for the first time, college felt like a constructive playground with the freedom to be myself away from home.

I'll admit, I was naïve going into and still {somewhat} coming out of pharmacy school. I was fortunate that my parents took care of my bills and allowed me to have fun while in college, but I was not prepared to take over that responsibility in a realistic manner.

I had a false perception of reality.

I seemed to think everything would be fine and that nothing bad could happen to me given the fact that I was overly protected as an only child and took responsibilities with a grain of salt.

As someone with an imagination and a zest for life, you can't exactly have barriers that are "within means" all the time. By allowing societal obstacles to steer the direction of our curiosity, we're basically stunting our own potential growth.

I believe that fear of disapproval from our social circles is one of the top reasons why people stick to the paths that are comfortable & currently working for them. The game of Life can be tailored to each person completely in their own way. If we all followed the same yellow brick road, there would be no room to walk on it!

What makes you unique? Do you embark on that enough?

Are you going thru the same daily motions all for a long-term retirement goal? If so, how happy does that make you right now? I challenge you to try out something that interests you, but feels in far reach. You'll never know unless you try!

Thanks for reading!

XO Hope