Having clear a vision for the future

I’ve noticed that just because you have a vision for your future, it doesn’t mean that other people will share it or understand it. It’s important to learn how to communicate that vision with others and try and stand your ground when faced with scrutiny or uncertainty. That is the nature of being an individual in our modern society. It is, in many ways, antithetical to the Asian culture of collectivism where individual needs are supposed to be suppressed for the good of the community. Yet, we don’t live in Asian. We are very much inhabiting a Western society with Western values. Thus, to function here and to garner the respect of your peers means to step away from what was once comfortable and embrace what the majority deem is important–rather than just what your clan thinks should be. 

I think that was a lot of the source of criticism in my early days from my classmates. Perhaps I pursued medicine for the “wrong” reasons in the sense that I was doing it out of a sense of duty and there was this intellectual laziness about my choice that was very evident to the people around me who actually wanted to be physicians. To many, going to medical school is a calling. The mere fact that I was a biomedical engineer maybe signaled to other people that I wasn’t ready to commit to the subject matter fully entailed in the practice of modern Western medicine, which is a language in and of itself. 

I’m not sure where it is I’m going with this post and I’ve lost track of the original subject matter. I think what I want to convey is that people, especially close to you, do not necessarily have your best interest at heart. Many, like your parents, prescribe a future for you that is a lot of times out of touch with your own true needs and desires. Thus, at the end of the day, it is really up to you as an individual to stand your ground and impose your vision for your future on reality. It is up to you to act.