19/30 – Write a scene of a time when someone older than you gave you advice, and write about how you followed it or ignored it and the consequences:
I remember being on the phone with my Dad growing up. He would often say, plainly, “If you don’t buckle down, work hard, and get good grades in school, you’ll end up working at McDonalds. You don’t want that do you?”
No. Obviously I don’t want that.
Unfortunately for my Dad, I didn’t do any of those things. I shat my way through high school and college. (It honestly astonishes me; the low bar for graduating high school.)
Years after failing out of college, I’ve spent the last few months teaching myself skills online, selling them, running a business, creating my own schedule, and building the life I want to live. This of course–like he said–requires hard work; but it doesn’t require anyone to sit down in a classroom, shut up, put their head down, and get good grades.
In my eyes, the sentiment of such advice is to simply follow the herd. Do what the masses do. Go to school. Get good grades. Get an internship. Get a degree. Get a job. Pay off debt. Pay your bills. Vacation when you can. Find meaning where you can…
No thanks. I’d rather fight and struggle for something better.