Stop following your dreams

I browse Facebook every so often, and I see this phrase over and over again, “Follow your dreams”, and honestly, I am sick of it.

I’ll explain through allegory.

What is my dream? You may not know it, but before college, before The Stute, before any thought of being a civil engineer, I was a damn passionate writer. I wrote thousands of pages of text. Most of it was pretty good for my age, and I impressed most of my immediate peers when I published these stories. I have a magical ability to really get into character with all of my creations: I know how the villain thinks, what the victim feels, how the hero struggles, and so forth. I really love creating these magnificent stories from nothing. It is one of the few outlets in my life where I honestly feel free.

I had plans for about five books, each over 500 pages long and very detailed in complex plot and characterization. My fans (and yes, I had my own “fandom”) thought I was good enough to become an author, so much so that they thought I might be the next bestseller.

However, as soon as I made up my mind to become a civil engineer, I dropped the notion of becoming an author and solidified my resolve to graduate with a good degree and get a job at a large organization.

I can hear you passionate folk screaming at me as you read this, believe me, I can.

Why would I do this? Well, let’s look at this rationally: Life sucks, and it costs a lot to live.

That is really all it boils down to. No matter how passionate I am about something, I still have to pay the bills. If I tried writing as a career, I would likely become disinterested in it, and writing really sucks when you’re in a rut. I know very well that writing, unless you’re already super famous, doesn’t get you large paychecks, which I will need later to send my children off to college and help my parents through retirement (which I feel is the right thing to do).

Engineering has a higher chance of me striking it rich, so to speak.

But, it goes much deeper than that.

At Stevens, I am surrounded by very intelligent folk who are handy with computers and good with numbers. Even our Art and Technology majors are pretty tech-savvy. Yet, we are a very odd conglomeration. The people outside of this Institute of Technology are far less comfortable with programs such as AutoCAD and InDesign. As intellectually gifted individuals, I feel we have a responsibility to use our gifts to do tasks that others cannot.

You pick a random person on the street, do you really think they can lead a team to design a bridge? How about cure a strand of cancer? Create a new form of power generation? No, I don’t think so either. But a Stevens Student? Yeah, I could buy that.

Besides, it isn’t like I am sealing away my passions for good, I am simply reallocating focus in the present to secure any sense of future that I might have; I am not giving up on writing.

But, all of this nonsense you hear from celebrities or other “important” figures of society about “following your dreams” and “doing what you’re passionate about”? Forget about it. If it means dropping your Civil Engineering degree to pursue a venture in the Liberal Arts, don’t you dare. I don’t mean to offend anyone, but just about anyone can try a Liberal Arts field. They might succeed and eek out an adequate existence, only the absolute best will be exceptionally successful, but not everyone can be an engineer.

Take pleasure in doing what you do as an innovator that changes the world around you, because there are only so many people who can possibly be in your shoes. Do it, because you are one of the elite few who can, and don’t doubt yourself; if you made it to this school you have hope and promise. Don’t throw out the possibility of making vast technical contributions to society in lieu of your passions. That is selfish, and you should be ashamed of yourself for hogging your own talent.

So give up on your selfish wants and desires from the world, and do something to help society that only you as a Stevens Student can do.