Following My Family’s Footsteps

I was born into a family full of medical and healthcare practitioners. My grandfather is a medical technician, my father’s a physician specializing in family medicine, my oldest uncle’s an optometrist, and my second uncle was a dentist now turned into a medical representative for Unilab. My youngest uncle, surprisingly, took computer science. One exception. Just one.

To be honest, this didn’t bother me at all at first. So what if my family’s full of medical practitioners? It’s not like they expect me to be one, right? I mean, sure, I knew that stool wasn’t just a different type of chair but poo as well since I was eight and that ibuprofen and mefenamic acid are pills that you just got to have when you can’t stand the monthly cramps even with a hot compress on your stomach but that doesn’t mean anything at all. Besides, my parents told me that I should pick the course that I want. I had free reign. Then I went to high school and picking out a career in three years suddenly became an absolute priority.

                                                                                                                                        

At first, it was the high school guidance counsellor.

“Have you ever thought of going into medicine like your family?”

“Um… no. I was thinking of something like journalism or English?”

“… oh. But your cousin’s going to take BS Psych. Why not?”

Second, it was my grandfather.

“Lolo, I was thinking about taking BA Language & Literature. What do you think?”

“It’s alright. That’s for you to decide. But it would’ve been good if you took medicine. Though it’s alright, hija, just choose what you want to take.”

Awkward silence. (Am I exaggerating? Just a bit.)

Third, it was the rest of my family except for my parents.

… I’m not even going to write this one.

Fourth, it was everybody else.

“Won’t you take MedTech?”

“Why not be a doctor?”

“Your father’s pre-med was MedTech, right?”

“Doctors earn a lot of money, you know.” (I beg to disagree. I hate that stereotype. It’s ridiculous. Talk to a doctor who owns his or her own clinic and then talk to a doctor who works in a hospital or ask for their specialty and you’ll see the huge [monetary] difference.)

It started to bother me so much that I was almost tempted to take MedTech despite having no interest in it whatsoever. I stopped myself from thinking of it as an option since I realized that I sucked at things like biology. Anyway, the way they asked me about medicine ever since knowing my family background was getting frustrating. It made me doubt if I was choosing the right course for me and almost made me think that I should just humour the people around me and take a pre-med course. I realized that some of our peers assume that children tend follow in their family’s footsteps.

This goes for our families as well. They may be very supportive but sometimes the family members’ occupations or preferences add pressure on a kid who has a choice of what he or she wants to be without even trying. Sometimes, they’re blessings since a person could actually like what their family does; however, they could also be a burden to a person who has no interest in what his or her family does at all. It could make a kid doubt himself or herself. Am I choosing the right thing? Should I do this? What if they don’t actually like this? Would everyone feel better if I chose this instead? Whether we like it or not, we look for approval from our families when making big decisions. Sometimes, our choices depend on what our loved ones would think of us once we’ve made our decisions, especially career choices. In general, we want them to be proud of us and we want them to approve of our decisions so we tend to pattern our decisions to things that our families could accept. I just realized that sometime ago. It isn’t bad or depressing. It’s just the way things are.

Group 3

Nunez, Vanessa Janine R.

Red, Ramces Brayalle T.

Ojos, Kevin H.

Alabin, Glassyl R.

Calip, Kaye Paula Ara M.

Moraleta, Raniella