When faced with a dilemma between following your heart and being influenced by others' success, it can be challenging to make a decision about your career path. Seeking advice from elders, mentors, teachers, parents, and peers is an excellent first step, but it may not solve the issue entirely. Therefore, a layered and divided approach is required to address the problem comprehensively.

The first step is to bridge the communication gap between parents and children, which requires the involvement of a career guidance counselor and one-on-one mentorship. Parents should stop imposing their unfulfilled dreams on their children and have individual expectations from them. Similarly, children need to understand that their parents were raised in a different era and may not comprehend the risks and rewards of the future. Once both parties establish mutual understanding, they can focus on devising ways to achieve their goals.

Secondly, we need to understand the need for embracing creative channels that children build for themselves (arts, sports, films, music, or anything else). The need for these forms of artistic expression can be well understood when a psychological analysis of a student’s mind is being conducted. These are the avenues students make use of to rid themselves of stress and pressure of academic performance. Some students make use of physically exhaustive channels like sports and training, while others use more mentally calming channels like meditation, music, painting, etc. This can give us a massive insight into a student’s mind.

Thirdly, it is necessary to remember that career decisions should be based on personal aspirations and not just financial gain. Considering financial needs is extremely important but it does not have to come at the cost of emotional and mental well-being. Students are convinced into taking a career path because it is usually safer and has more chances of success. The best example would be the approach towards STEM subjects. Science, technology, math, and economics may be the most in-demand subjects but not every student has a liking towards these subjects.

Fourth, we need to make sure that children do not feel responsible for their parents’ unfulfilled dreams. Sometimes we see that parents are often pushing their desires onto their children and the way that narrative has been set up, children feel almost obligated without a choice to follow the path created by their parents. This builds unnecessary pressure and prevents students from exhausting their true potentials to find out what they’re actually good at.

As a society, we have been so focused on the academic aspect of education that we have completely underestimated the importance of the holistic development of our children. For being so proactive about life choices and propagators of rights and freedoms for expression of individuality, we are severely lacking in the field of education.

The dilemma of parents is often unaccounted for. Many times, parents want to be supportive of their child’s dream and their passion for a certain form of art, but they are not able to help their child pursue the same due to lack of infrastructure for the same. We need to build a collaborative career guidance system, inclusive of best learning apps for students, best parent apps, a guided education system and interactive online coaching classes, wherein we look at all options as allies and not rivals and only then can our students be truly and genuinely happy.

In conclusion, it is essential to have a backup plan, especially when pursuing a risky career. Having a plan B ensures that you are not entirely dependent on one career option and can switch to a different path if necessary. Making career decisions can be complicated, especially when it involves taking risks. However, with proper communication, guidance, and a well-thought-out plan, one can pursue their passion and create a fulfilling career path.