You can be anything
In high school, I always thought I would study law later. Not because I dreamed of becoming a successful criminal lawyer as a toddler, but ‘just’ because I thought it would be a good foundational study. I would figure things out later. Until I really started looking around me in my final exam year. Like at my father. Captain in the merchant navy. And my mother. Her parents didn't think studying was necessary; they needed her in the laundry. When she was forty, she decided to follow a course to become a beautician and started a practice at home. By the time she was sixty, she actually went on to study law. She did.
I could also do something I liked, I thought to myself while cycling the twelve kilometers from school to home. I could even go to ballet school. Or drama school. I decided to sign up for everything I liked and where I was somewhat good at. I was rejected by the ballet academy in Tilburg, but they wanted me in Antwerp. I also enrolled at the Academy for Journalism because writing was, even then, my greatest love.
The idea of being able to dance every day in Antwerp made me incredibly happy. Yet my rational side won over my feelings. I could dance reasonably well, but I would never become an Alexandra Radius. The idea of teaching in a hall in a community center for the rest of my life didn't entice me enough, so I declined the honor. Although I looked at the letter stating that I had been accepted a thousand times. With a joyful heart, I kept thinking: is this really, really, really about me?
The Academy for Journalism used a lottery system, and luck was not on my side. No place for me. My dear brother even called the school's administration. My parents were at sea (because captain), and he saw it as his duty to secure a spot for me. That my average final grade was an 8.5. That I would have been accepted for medicine anyway. It didn't help, but it was sweet of him.
Eventually, I ended up in my final study of Film and TV Studies through preliminary courses in Dutch and General Literature and landed at ‘De TV’.
The moral of this rather long story: if you want something, you can achieve it. As long as it's somewhat feasible and you do your utmost, of course. To quote Gigi Hadid: ‘make sure you are the nicest and hardest working person in your field, otherwise there will always be someone nicer and working harder than you.’
Today is International Day of the Girl. A day on which we want to convey a message to the girls of today and the women of tomorrow. Barbie, yes, the one and only, has asked us to spread the message ‘You can be anything’. If anyone is justified in saying that, it's Barbie. She has had at least a hundred jobs in her life. And not the least. For example, Barbie was already on the moon in 1965. You read that right. Four years earlier than Neil Armstrong. She was a trooper in the army, a dolphin trainer, a presidential candidate, and eventually president. Despite a deep love, she has never been married to Ken. Just because she preferred it this way. And they were also apart for a while to ‘explore their own space’ and then got back together. In short, Barbie is an emancipated career woman avant la lettre. With the coolest wardrobe in the world. And the most fun jobs.
The lesson of today? You can be anything. Really.
