I’m barely an adult but I feel like all my friends are growing up so fast! I feel like a lot of people around me are living up to the ideal, “Singaporean Dream”, where they graduate uni, get an apartment with their partners, get married, have 2 kids, work till they are 50+ years old, retire, and then fade away. I’m super happy for these people, and I really think they deserve all the happiness in the world! They have worked really hard for their achievements and goals, and I understand that this path is a very practical option to take for many!
But is it just me, or is there something quite unsettling about the traditional “Singaporean Dream”? Im not sure why, but I feel like the system does not really allow the time and space for people to venture out, to learn/ experience new things and find themselves! Of course no one is pressuring me to do anything, but the social norm itself feels quite suffocating!
Does anyone feel the same way? How do you reckon with such external pressures (even though no one is even explicitly pressuring me to do anything at all?)
Hmmm I kinda understand where you are coming from. You can say that they live their lives on a well-trodden path and hence uninteresting. And while the cause is probably due to the traditional goals for “stability and peace”, but I think many people really derive happiness by achieving a stable life with their families^
say real your post kind of make me reflect a bit, because I used to have dreams which I now think are too lofty, like being a full-time Youtuber making small movies and being an astronaut (which is still really really cool). But in SG the realities make me reconsider my goals for something more conventional? Like going to a good uni and getting good grades so that I can have a really good-paying job, which can allow me to earn enough so that I can do what I want.
it feels like in other countries in the US, many people do what they love as their job or as their way of life, whereas for me I do what my society values (be it being an educator or doctor) then accumulating enough funds for me to do what I love
I guess is something that is drummed into us. Coming from a chinese family, that has always been made known time and time again.
Could be a survivor mindset. I guess now the gen x and later could break out from this survivor mindet. Fortunate to be in sg where i dont need to worry where my next meal is coming from giving me more room to venture.
Further there r quite a number of grants to tap on for entrepreneurs! This is a gd time. Go out there n risk it, expecially if u r still young!
I feel the same way as you too! Living in Singapore always felt like that there is always a “correct” path to follow and sometimes I really question myself if this is the path I want to follow as well too. It seems like there are so much to explore in this world that I have not seen and heard, and I really want to see more of the world when I am still young too!
But I guess…such pressures will always exist no matter where we go, so the most important thing I tell myself is to cave out the life I want and always live in the moment! I comfort myself by thinking that each one of us are unique beings and avoid from comparing myself to others because all of us have our own timelines. We will be fine!