I keep hearing the phrase "Plan for your future" and this phrase is usually coupled with stock options, retirement funds, TFSA accounts, social securities, and so on, and before all of these examples there was what to be when you grew up, what schooling were you going to take, were you saving money for post secondary education, could you be accepted for a school loan?
I myself have a hard enough time simply trying to survive instead of worrying about what to be and how to go about it. What does an average 15 year old teenager worry about? Boys are interested in girls and girls are interested in boys and transgendered are worried about all of the above. They are worried about the clothes they wear and their social status in their little community of peers.
Very few teens give two figs about their long term future, as most of them are being taken care of by their parents and do not need to support themselves, they are much more interested in their immediate future and cannot think that far ahead.
But that's not to say that we shouldn't still give them options and ideas, and showing them something that they have never seen before might inspire them to strive towards it. If they are never shown anything new then how would they ever know anything about it?
The same goes for us adults, with the exception that we have heard rumblings of certain accounts and ways to save money, there are advertisements on tv and castings on the radio, but after a while it becomes a droning noise that we block out because we hear it so often and the reality of it being an option seems a long way off.
If someone you know is excited that they have some sort of plan for their future that they have put into place, its only then that you start to listen again and really hear what they are saying, it no longer is like listening to an ad, and becomes a fact of life and a possible reality.
Sometimes we need that real life snap into reality, a close friend or acquaintance is on a good path and it inspires us to join them. Some times we need a little nudge in the right direction with Our Life Decisions.
Scott Goerz
