It was the best of times...it was the worst of times...wait...what? No! This isn't A Tale of Two Cities, I'm talking about childbirth (yes I am going there)! We all popped into this world together, boy or girl...or both, small and/or obese (this is America after all), varying shapes and sizes. We all inhabit this world, and we each possess the same two things, if you were thinking anything along the lines of genetalia, then you have a dirty, dirty mind. I was talking about parents. One biological mother and one biological father. In most cases, they raise you, they bring you up, they teach you how to go pee pee and poo poo in the potty, and they put that shiny quarter under your pillow under the clever ruse known as The Tooth Fairy, and they teach you how to speak in coherant sentences because for some reason, goo goo gaga just doesn't cut it. It goes on to birthday parties, buying your clothes, and putting you through school, and then finally when you jump off the nest and go to be your own man/woman (and again...or both). It's pretty simple right? HA! Well, that is where you are more often than not, wrong.

There is this romantic convention that you are born and raised so that you may one day be independent, to be your own person. I don't see how this can be a thing, when you are raised to be the spitting image of your own parents. Think about it, you are raised in their home, being taught wrong or right based on their definition, you watch their marriage and in turn that gives you ideas on how to treat your own future significant other and the people/environment around you. They raise you (whether intentional or not) to be them. Even better than that, you get the classic "I want you to be a doctor, or a lawyer...or a doctor lawyer or lawyer doctor or president of the United States. Since the age that you could mentally grasp just about anything, you (the child) should be thinking about the age old question "What do you want to be when you grow up?". Now you may think you have it all cut in dry with your dreams of becoming the first golf-playing astronaut on jupiter or what have you, but come high school or even college, it is safe to assume that you may have lost your way.

Yet throughout your educational career the parents remain in the back seat dictating what career you go for. Is it well intentioned? Usually yes! Of course your birth givers want you to succeed in life, but at what cost? The cost of your dreams? The cost is you. Want to be an actor? No, Uncle Johnny tells you you'll get our Bachelor of Fine Arts in Waiting Tables at the local mexican food place. Want to be in a band? You'll die on the streets! Says Aunt Gertrude as she finishes coughing a second lung out. I just want to be happy! Happy? Well you can be happy after your 8 years od medical school training! Seriously? Seriously.

How do I think we can resolve this? REVOLT! Come on! If you can go through puberty, you can do anything right! Pop the pimple on the face of adversity known as the higher authorities! Put that riot scene from Frankenstein to shame and fight for your right to be happy! It can't be that hard right?

Okay...soooo...maybe that didn't work out for you, maybe you got smacked in the ass by your parents for mouthing off to them, there is always next time. The point is, even through it all they STILL spoon feed your career to you to appease their dreams. They try to live vicariously through you, to fulfill the dreams they had but can no longer accomplish so they recruit you as their minion. Great.

How can you be excepted to know anything when you are born with the drive to learn everything? Others expect too much of you, but why can't they go forth and do what they tell you to do? Reader, I want you to stop and think (come on you can do it) about you, not your mother, not your father, not the neighbors, YOU. When was the last time you went forth because you truly felt compelled to? When was the last time that spark of creation and adventure flowed through your belly (no I'm not talking about gas and finding the restroom)? If the answer was the sound of crickets as your jaw hangs open, then I compell you to, for once, live and be alive for you.

You are inside of your own movie, so why not start being the star? I mean come on, what does Matt Damon have on you? Do what you need to do, not what others feel compelled to tell you to do. Having a hard time doing so? Well, here are a few steps to help you:
1. Take a deep breathe, think long and hard about what you need.
2. Think about what other people want of you, and say f*** it. Why them? No, focus on you
3. Get a milkshake, come on sport, you deserve it! Yes you can make it a large.
4. Stick it to the man!
5. Stand tall and walk with your best foot forward

It's unimaginable to live for others, yet we seem to do it in our daily lives, but it can end whenever you choose it to end. You don't need the second coming to stand up for yourself every now and then. Everyone's got dreams, but just because they failed to make their dreams come true does not mean that they need to limit you on making yours come forth to become your reality. You can do it.