Amplify Blog - Your Future – Your Choice
The below is a guest blog by Killian, a QFCC Youth Advocate
Amid subject selection for Grade 11, I see myself and my classmates being confronted by the thought of what they want to do for a career. It seems so far away, right? How am I supposed to know what I want to do in life at only 15 years old? I ask myself these questions as I read through the QCAA subject selection handbook. Will I succeed in what I choose? Will I be happy?
I look to my parents’ lives for guidance. Specifically, my mother. Her first real career was as a radiologist. However, after meeting my father, she moved across the world with him for work. In France, Belgium, and Switzerland she worked in marketing and advertising. Then while living in Japan she spent time as a housewife looking after my siblings. After I was born in France, my parents moved to Brisbane. There my mother worked for Mothers and Babies, quit, and co-founded The Truffle Man with my dad. Now she runs every part of the Truffle Man by herself. So, from complex medicine and mathematics to a niche French import company, something must have happened.
People change their minds often. Whether it be a friend wanting to make a change of plans, a child choosing his desert, or me, choosing my subjects, no one is ever sure of what they want to do. I want to be an entrepreneur, but I am also playing with the idea of being a chemist. I have so many passions in life and with the countless opportunities there are in the world, it would be insane to choose just one. I think my mother knew that. I think my mother knew that she could do what she wanted, she knew that whatever opportunities that came would help her grow and succeed in life.
I want to be like that. I want to be someone who takes life by the horns, as my mother did, as her mother did, as every successful person has.
I met the Governor of Queensland, His Excellency the Honourable Paul de Jersey AC. His Excellency had a career in law and then became a judge of the Supreme Court of Queensland, then Governor. Pretty straightforward career, right?
Life will not always be messy; it wont always be clear. The Governor was like my mother in a sense. They were both intelligent young adults who took the opportunities that came to them.
And there are stories like this everywhere.
The other side of history lies with my father’s side of the family. My grandparents lived in French Algeria during the Algerian Civil war. As young adults, they fled to Corsica and started a new life. My grandfather was a civil engineer and my grandmother worked as a secretary/ human resources assistant. When my uncle and father were born, my grandmother stayed as a housewife. She would fish everyday to get ingredients for that night’s stew, and my grandfather would find work as an architect, builder, engineer, and juror (it was a small town and since he was a refugee, he was one of the only impartial people around). My grandfather went to Iran for work then when Corsica was on the verge of its own civil war, the rest of the family moved with him. Fortunately, there was no civil war in Corsica, so when the Iranian civil war happened, it was safe to move back.
Why am I telling you all this? Well, no matter how smart you are or how secure you think your future is, the world is always ready to change. Even as recently as coronavirus we can see how fragile society really is. Most fell, some rose so do not get caught up in the big things. Focus on yourself and what you want, and you will be right where you want. Live in the moment. Live for yourself.
I guess it just goes to show that no matter what you do, everyone’s lives will end up differently – so do not fret, you have your whole life to figure it out. I hope this blog helps you find comfort in knowing that you do not have to lock in your life right now. Focus on yourself and what you want, and you will be right where you want. Live in the moment. Live for yourself. There are so many ways to experience the world.
Do yourself justice.