Dear Teentalker,
Thank you for reaching out and sharing your concerns.
There are a lot of concerns you've shared earlier in terms of not being sure in terms of what you want to pursue as a career and the confusion surrounding the various options mentioned by your family members versus not pursuing your education, but instead getting married and settling down, which can certainly seem like a stressful phase to go through!
i) At this stage, I would request you to ask yourself, what is it that you would truly want to pursue, if money, societal pressure, family pressure, 'log kya kahenge mentality' was.....
Dear Teentalker,
Thank you for reaching out and sharing your concerns.
There are a lot of concerns you've shared earlier in terms of not being sure in terms of what you want to pursue as a career and the confusion surrounding the various options mentioned by your family members versus not pursuing your education, but instead getting married and settling down, which can certainly seem like a stressful phase to go through!
i) At this stage, I would request you to ask yourself, what is it that you would truly want to pursue, if money, societal pressure, family pressure, 'log kya kahenge mentality' was not an issue? Then write that down in your diary.
ii) What is that you love doing the most, so much so, that if you kept doing that work, you would enjoy thoroughly and also lose track of time in the process? Then write out the answers to these questions as well.
iii) What is it that you're naturally good at? What were you good at in your school days? Write down the answer to this question in your diary as well!
iv) You can also try to talk to your family members indirectly and try to understand their views on girls' pursuing their further studies and career. Keep the discussion very general, without mentioning anything about your future plans. For example, you can refer to a female character from a popular movie or TV serial where a woman chose to pursue her dreams against all odds. This will give you some idea in terms of how you should plan your career ahead.
v) If your family is willing to support your education, then you might want to explore the option of going to college that is away from home and living in a hostel. You can also simultaneously look for part-time work in order to support yourself while studying.
vi) If you're family is not willing to support your decision to study further, then you might want to try and talk things out with them to let them know why your career plans are important to you. If the support still doesn't come through, then you might need to look for a job at the earliest, in order to become financially independent. At the same time, having a college degree is necessary for you to do well in life, so if you're working, then please make sure, you're atleast pursuing your Bachelor's degree through correspondence or signing up for online courses.
Hope this helps, if you have any other query do connect online for chat between 11am-8pm or drop us an offline message.
Regards,
Expert Teentalk India
