No one is stopping you from doing what you want.

After your basic needs are met, you are free to do anything. Everything else is just a constructed prison to hem you in. You don’t need to care about your family, though there are good reasons for doing so. You don’t need to get certain types of jobs, though there are also good reason for that.

But more importantly, you should free yourself from your fears. If you have dreams, then go out there and work hard for it. Stop letting fear of judgement get in the way. Don’t let what family or friends dictate your life. If you are afraid of what others might say, know that they are meaningless. You can always find new friends.

Don’t hold on to dogma. There is no way of doing things. It’s all a lie that people don’t even follow properly. The pathway of getting a university education and a job is one that works. But it is also one that you should have decided to pursue. Not just one that your parents or other people told you to get.

The point is that besides being a ‘safer’ bet, traditional pathways are not that special. There is nothing else to know. The mistake is people follow such paths with the expectation of something more. They think that they are being promised meaning, stability, or happiness. They are not.

Realise that you don’t have an obligation to do things in any particular way. Don’t assume that things will work out if you just do what you are ‘told to do’. In the first place, who is really telling you what to do? Your parents? Well you can decide what you want and then go reason with them. Assuage their fears. Maybe they are just worried about your financial well-being.

People do choose to follow the traditional path. But they do it because they want to. They decided that safety or an education is something they really wanted. It’s not a bad idea to get an education to experience many things and figure out what you enjoy. Likewise with choosing certain jobs. Do it for yourself.