my future, contrary to popular belief
This weekend someone said to me, "I would go into humanities if I didn't care about my future," and I immediately recoiled. My heart ached and my stomach churned. It felt as though someone had just punched me in the gut. They had taken one of my most profound insecurities and breathed life into it in the form of words. "Ouch that stings," I said jokingly with a hesitating chuckle as everyone looked at me in what seemed like a mixture of pity but acknowledgment of the truth that rung in his words. No matter how much I try to shake that stereotype off my back, it seems to cling on with a tenacity that is relentless. I will always hear that until I become something. I will always hear that social studies and humanities are useless and that I am basically throwing away my future. But I don't agree. I thought I did and it concerned me a lot. It made me doubt a lot of my choices and I've come so close every time to throwing away my aspirations to go into something more seemingly "practical."
I am choosing to go into sociology, government, and business administration because I care about my future. Yes money is one thing but money only brings you so much happiness after a certain point. At one point the amount of happiness it can bring into your life tapers off and you are left with the happiness that your actions bring you. I am going into sociology because it makes me smile. It's not the most data oriented field or the most traditionally "rigorous" field either, but it's important to me. It's something I want to use as a tool to pursue the things I want in life. The things I want in my future might be different than what you want in your future. My ultimate goal is not money. It is fulfillment and confidence that I chose what was right for me. I do not want to look back and regret the decisions I made because I swept away by the people who told me that humanities would only lead to my demise and misery.
Humanities will not be my downfall. Both my parents were not-STEM majors and they turned out perfectly fine. They are able to boast that their daughter goes to Harvard (even though I'd like them to stop haha but they're adorable), they don't have to be as worried about money as you'd think because they're NONSTEM majors, they have found fulfillment and happiness. They are happy. I want to be happy.
I didn't choose the humanities because I don't care about my future. I chose the humanities because it will be an asset to my future.
And although it stung to hear those words said by a friend, I understood that friend didn't mean to wrong me with his words. I will understand and move on because it taught me something important.
If I am willing to pursue this field even with all the criticism it attracts, I must really want it.
**I am realizing that humanities does not pertain to sociology directly because sociology is considered a social science, but because there is always the split between humanities vs. STEM, I will be looping it into humanities for the sake of my blog post.
***Fun fact: Econ is a humanities course. Who knew.