How soon should one follow his/her life goals?

I will be turning 21 this month. I am in a point in my life where I am sort of drifting between homes. I recently moved from my hometown where I had recently lived for 20 years. Im from an Island but moved to Utah for College. Im going to college fulltime and working 17 hrs a week. I have moved quite a long way from home. I am living with most of my family (mom, brother, 2 sisters). I don’t necessarily like the location or the majority of the people (my opinion). Before I moved here I was extremely active, ate healthy, and was doing things in the sun all day. I have been here for 8 months but I suppose maybe im still going through a culture shock. But I feel I am just unsatisfied with my current living situations. People were energetic and upbeat where im from. Moving to a place where It snows and I barely see the sun its really draining and to be honest depressing. I have a girlfriend and shes planning on moving here to live with me. Of course I know im gona be moving out of the house soon and its not a problem for me. I lived away from my family once i turned 18. My only problem is I feel like im not being honest to myself and im not happy. I feel my mother is very judgmental when it comes to my choices in life. I feel like if I don’t graduate or continue going to school she will be disappointed in me. I suppose I feel a lack of support from her. I love her and everything but all she wants is for me to graduate college and work the rest of my life away. The point im trying to get at here is, when is it the time to fullfill ones dreams, goals? I know for a fact that most of the richest people have not even attended college. I know a so many Entrepreneurs that make an ok salary. Im a minimalist so I dont really care for material things. What makes me happy is being in the ocean. I sit in class all day listening to things im not interested in and none of the majors interconnect with my passion. I am paying thousands of dollars for classes that I don’t care for meanwhile living a unhappy life. I am extremely passionate about spearfishing/free-diving and it has been all i have been thinking about for months. I want to move back to my hometown into a place with my girlfriend, get a job, and continue following my dreams in the ocean. I have no problem living away from most of my family I just feel they will feel like im doing the wrong thing. Is it wrong that I want to do what I love? Why do I feel like everyone is bringing me down? I know I should follow my dreams and passion but I know my choices effect others. Is it wrong to want to do more? To do what I want? To be happy?

link

DeepBlue

3 Answers

Cliche as it sounds, it's really never too early to follow your dreams. You only have one life, wasting a majority of it on doing something you hate is absurd. Don't bother to care what anyone thinks, do what makes you happy. This is the only chance you get. I would comment that it's pretty crucial to make sure you have a fallback plan, in case things go south. One thing that's common in most successful entrepreneurs is that they all make sure to have a safety net in some shape or form, usually a chunk of savings that can support them minimally for a few years. Do what you want, but do it smart. It might be worth getting the backup degree to give you a plan B in something like marine biology that could actually be useful. Good luck.

link

Hopefullylesspretentious

593

Now. Now is good. You don't need to fulfill their expectations, you need to listen to yourself. You may want to listen to everyone else's arguments, too, they can help you prevent mistakes, but the choice is yours. You should never wait, but first of all you should think a lot about things like how will you do what you love and provide yourself with everything necessary and so on and so on. I wish you luck! ^^

link

Kisumi

Like the above poster said, it is never to early to follow your dreams.

I've been on 3 completely different college courses until I found the one I wanted to follow through with. As much as money is a factor in American colleges, never settle for something that doesn't interest you, no matter what anybody else thinks. You're the one studying and going into a certain career, not them. You're an adult now, so it's time to make adult decisions. So you must find something that genuinely interests you, and could see yourself doing in 20 years time.

One thing I will say is that if you genuinely cannot get used to life where you are currently living and want to move back home, do so. But always make sure you are not out of pocket. Get a job to have some money behind you, just in case things don't go as smoothly as planned. If you really have a passion for free diving/spearfishing etc. you could eventually set up your own business if you wanted to. But also remember there, you have to spend money to make money.

Overall, it is always possible to follow your dreams, as long as you're always thinking about it strategically and realistically. Then when you finally get there, you'll see your family and friends oozing with pride for you.

Hope this helps!

link

Leafie