Yes, I’m sure.

“Have you thought about retirement?” 

“What about insurance?” 

“Are you really sure that you want to pursue that?”

It feels like any time you tell someone from an older generation you want to be an actor, athlete, author or  musician, they just laugh in your face. 

There is nothing wrong with being an accountant or a computer scientist, but it personally isn’t “The American Dream” I am looking for. It just feels like Gen Z can’t do anything right in the eyes of older Americans, and that needs to change. 

I’ve talked with other kids my age going down an unconventional career path, and everyone seems to get the same reactions when it comes to telling adults of their choices. 

The idea of going to college is so enforced in today’s society, they have freshmen taking the PSAT and juniors getting ready to submit their FAFSA  before they even start their senior year. 

College seminars and visits, career days, all being shoved down our throats as if it’s what every student wants to do.

I think that it’s OK if we choose a job that doesn’t require college or a degree of some sort.  People forget that some of the greatest minds didn’t go to college, or finish – they made their own way in the world.

Older generations expect us to be tough but not opinionated. They call us “the lazy generation,” the generation that doesn’t do anything. 

As someone who wants to pursue acting, a career that isn’t “secure,” I can tell you firsthand the insane comments I get from adults. Of course I know that acting isn’t a solid career, but it’s my life and my choice what I do with it. 

“You’re not going to make it.” “Just stick with nursing.”

No, I refuse to conform to society’s ridiculous standards. Will we fail sometimes? Yes. But that is something we are prepared for.

I am prepared for my career choice. I’ve taken the classes, done a number of workshops and prep work. College auditions and scholarship contests, I know what I’m doing.  I do plan on attending college, but in this path, you never know what could happen, and I may not finish and that’s OK. 

Despite what people tell you, Gen Z isn’t completely full of blind dreamers. 

Some of us are more than ready for whatever “reality” has to throw at us, so we will be actors, athletes, authors, musicians, and you can laugh.

But we don’t care.