I'm sure most of you have been asked the question
"What do you want to be when you grow up?"
And I'm sure half of you have replied with "Hot and famous of course!"
But later realizing that maybe the world isn't ready for your hotness
and that maybe you should reconsider something else.
What's worse is that you've probably been asked that very question
as early as when you were maybe five years old
I remember being five and being asked that and when you were that age,
let's be honest you were probably only exposed to a select few jobs:
a police officer, a firefighter,
an astronaut, a doctor, a princess...
I wanted to be a princess, but I figured the world wasn't ready for that, so I said I wanted to be a teacher.
As a kid, I thought teachers were an elite level of humans who possessed infinite knowledge.
They just know everything there is to know.
I wanted their intelligence
I respected them
and I still do
well, most anyway.
Some do an amazing job at it, while others like to rely on reading mundane overhead projector notes verbatim
and having weekly quizzes pertaining to those notes
and you question if there even is an influential teacher present.
Because what you're actually doing is just regurgitating data based on memory
and not actually learning the practicality of the information you're being exposed to.
But yeah, I wanted to be a teacher.
but looking back, I think it was only because I didn't know there were thousands of other options
that would pique my interest.
and I think that's the issue of why a lot of us are stuck wondering what we want to do
and feel the pressures of possibly not being able to contribute to the society in the world
For a lot of you, your parents might have been a driving factor as to what you've chosen
or will choose to be.
While some may be the epitome of strict parenting
where they try to mold what they want you to become since day one
(Asian parents, I'm looking at you)
Most are generally content with what you do in life, as long as you don't end up being a bum and
amounting to nothing despite the privileges and opportunities available to you.
And I can vouch for that.
See, both of my parents were born and raised in the third-world country of Philippines
They both grew up with eight or so brothers and sisters
so you can assume wealth and luxury weren't aspects of their lives
But once they were adults,
my parents knew they had to leave the country in search of a better life for themselves and their future children.
I've mentioned before that I lived in Saudi Arabia for a few years,
but that was just a stepping stone for moving to Canada.
Actually, my parents were deciding between Canada and Australia and they chose the former.
Can you imagine an Aussie Domics?
Here's my attempt at offending the Australian accent.
*clears throat*
Crikey, the bum! A bloody good thing I reckon, mate!
Sorry.
But yeah, we moved to Canada, and being able to experience the immigration process with them
in retrospect, I can appreciate their efforts for seeking a better lifestyle
and I think a lot of second and third generation kids are just unaware of how good we have it.
Our parents literally left the homeland of family and friends
left the lifestyle that they grew up with
to go to another land where they had to start over.
A new and different land where they weren't necessarily familiar with the language and culture
but are willing to adapt for a better life for their children.
My parents probably had less than half of the privileges I had growing up.
As an adult now, I understood why my parents were so strict towards my sisters and I to focus on our studies.
Because there are way more career opportunities here than there were back in the homeland.
It was their way of telling us that if we worked hard enough,
we could be successful and live comfortably.
Not necessarily become rich, but not have to face the struggles of potential poverty as it was back home.
So I understood my parents concerns when I came home with a bad grade on a test,
and they were probably like
"Shit, did we come all the way here for nothing?"
A little harsh and exaggerated, but I wouldn't blame them if they actually thought that.
A little self-awareness for y'all who think your parents don't love ya
I've mentioned before how my parents kind of discouraged my ambition to become an artist,
and how we met halfway when they let me study architecture.
It seemed unfair at the time, yes,
but I understood their perspective and preconceived notion of the starving artist.
As excited as I was to design structures, my passion for the field diminished over time.
But my fear of disappointing my parents was greater than that,
and so I went through my four-year Bachelor's program
graduated, got my degree, and then did jack shit with it
After a while, I realized I needed to find another option
I felt that my parents would understand if I chose an alternative if I really didn't enjoy what I was doing
I started Domics as a webcomic series during my third year of university,
and used it as an outlet for the stress I had from school.
Once I graduated, I postponed getting an architecture career to pursue being an animator on YouTube
I'll admit the first couple of paychecks were pretty bad and was less than what I earned with my part-time job
which I quit in order to focus on my videos.
I had architecture as a plan B, even though I studied it for four years.
My parents were a little concerned with what I was doing since being a Youtuber didn't sound like a normal job to them
and even for some of you watching
Apparently, I don't have a "real" job
so I guess I've just been feeding myself and paying the bills with Monopoly money...
On the bright side, at least your mother accepts it as payment.
But I was fortunate enough that my parents remained patient with me because I assured them that I'd become
successful as long as they gave me time.
and they did
after my channel grew a bit
I showed them my earnings, and they were like
"yeah yeah, okay
you can do what you want"
Becoming a Youtuber opened my eyes towards what people can actually do for a living
While traditional jobs still exist,
new and unique jobs have flourished with the advances in technology and worldwide network.
Tools and information are much more accessible now,
and allow us to achieve things on our own that may have been more difficult a decade ago
People asked me what school I went to or where I went to learn animation, but the truth is I'm self-taught.
I mean I've been drawing and keeping my artistic passion intact my whole life,
but specifically learning animation was an independent effort.
I use Adobe Flash
(I know it's - it's "Animate" now)
for my animations
and so I looked up tutorials on how to use the software
combined with the knowledge I got from friends who were already more experienced than I
animating became easier the more I did it
If you look back and compare the quality of my first few videos to my current,
you can tell that there's been improvement
(or at least I'd like to believe so)
Anyway, my point is that it's okay to not know what you want to be when you grow up
and if you're already an adult
It's still okay to be unsure as long as you have the drive to do something, anything.
I wasn't even sure what I wanted to do for a living until I was already doing it
I did consider being an animator as an adolescent because of all the cartoons and anime that I watched
but I would have never guessed I'd end up here being a full-time YouTuber
Despite having studied something completely different from animation
I probably wouldn't go back and tell my five-year-old self to change my history.
despite all the struggles, I think it was necessary to make me who I am today...
A bloody wanker
Actually, as a kid, what I really wanted to be when I grew up was become a Super Saiyan
Which... you can't do unless you're a normal Saiyan first
which you can't really work towards and can only be passed down by bloodline
aw....
But at least I can enjoy watching the sequel series of my childhood anime, Dragon Ball Super
and you can as well! ad-free
professionally subbed and in full HD
if you head over to crunchyroll.com/domics
link in the description
and trying a premium membership for 30 days
You'll be able to find tons of other anime, manga, and drama titles as well
If overpowered humans and aliens pummeling each other 'ain't yo thing', I hear Yuri on Ice is getting epic
so maybe I'll give that a shot.
Again that's crunchyroll.com/domics - link below!
Enjoy!