I just watched a video starring Idris Elba. It's an advert. Anyway, he asks old people and middle-aged people, what do you wanna be when you grow up? And their responses are funny-- they burst out laughing or they stare at him goggle-eyed.
And he says, smugly, you realize you haven't stopped growing, right?
And they're like, ooooooooooooh yeah... Somebody explained that, when you get to a certain age, you think that if you haven't done something, it's unlikely that you'll be able to do it the rest of your life, because real life.

I like it. It's inspirational. In a way, it's very typical of the millennial generation who don't have typical material goals that their parents had. Millennials find it hard to grow up-- I read it in an article somewhere. Millennials don't believe in holding down a job for 40 years to support their family. Well, a few do have such a dream. But I don't. I can't bring myself to be committed to a career for the next decade, much less 40 years. Maybe not even 5 years. 2 years sounds like a more realistic goal for me.

1. I'm not desperately trying to start a family. Falling in love is the first step, and that already sounds like a fantasy to me. Anyway, I don't need a steady cash flow for that. I mean, falling in love... I just think it's hard to imagine another love that could be as unconditional as the family love I currently enjoy.
(Perhaps I'm being very idealistic. After all, a lot of people do have this notion of a transactional type of love, without even knowing it themselves. On the extreme end of the spectrum is the marriage of convenience, so a transactional love is something like that, but to a lesser degree.)

2. I'm all for building a life, for myself, that has meaning. We know that the Singaporean 5Cs dream became outdated a long time ago. (Or do we?) I'm fine as I am without them.
So if this career doesn't work out, I'd see it as an adventure for me to venture in another direction. Something that has less prestige is fine. How could you measure your life with prestige? I can't. It could be a job in a publishing house.
And if Idris Elba were to ask me that question, I think I'd say I want to experience much more of the world-- in terms of geography, in terms of human nature, in terms of culture. I don't know how I can achieve that. But it's good to keep it in mind as an indicator of sorts. It sounds very vague, idealistic, hipsterish, selfish, and vain, and more realistic people would be rolling their eyes if I told them this. Well go ahead, your eyes are yours to roll.
I mean it's to each his own. I personally observe that people with material wealth aren't necessarily happy. And yeah, money can't buy you happiness but you can't be happy without money, yeah I know that as well. But you don't have to be a millionaire to be happy right?