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You know how kids just can’t do anything wrong in their parents’ eyes?

While my dad was never very successful, he grew up as a typical Aussie male.. He bought a few Holdens, got a trade, bought a boat, got married then divorced, then met my mother and sold the boat and had a family. He’d always told me how the choices that he made in life were never good enough for his dad and how he never had any support from him. On mum’s side, her mum was sick and her dad was pretty much a no show after her early teens, so she had to fend for herself from a young age with little support once again. Her dad has always given her a hard time about the choices that she has made in life too.

This seems quite common talking to a lot of  mates’ parents. Their parents would always be disappointed by them – things like what career they chose, that they didn’t buy a house early enough, got married too late and so on.

Turn it around though, and things appear to be completely different now. A considerable portion of my friends since leaving school have either travelled, and blown their cash in sacrifice of life experience, or bummed around at uni and not really achieved much, and with the full support of their parents! It’s like the Baby Boomers have learned that the way that they did it was wrong. They are almost giving us approval, or consent to go out there and just live – not necessarily find a safe job or start a family – just enjoy life.

Maybe it’s the way that we portray our lives to our parents – I know that my parents are very proud of the way that my fiancee and I are living our lives. Working now – going overseas next year. My dad is extremely proud of the way that I can go out drinking with the boys without my fiancee, and she trusts me, and vice-versa.

All things considered, the Baby Boomers seem to have faith in their kids – the Gen Y’s, despite some pretty poor decisions on our behalf from time to time.

Maybe they are just learning that there is in fact more than one way to live your life? Or have they just had such a safe life by taking their parents’ advice and getting a safe job, buying a house early and starting a family young, that they are happy to see their kids out there experiencing new things and taking some risks? Risks that they never took and now regret it?

Well, we didn’t win the 90 million dollars. My fiancee wanted a ticket, I wasn’t phased so we dropped the $7.whatever on a ticket. No surprises – it was a waste of money.

I browse a lot of forums, due to the somewhat laid back nature of my job. I can’t believe how much people are up in arms over the fact that they didn’t win. What the hell? Are they really that disappointed? Did they really expect to win? It’s only a one in 45,379,620 chance of winning!

It’s amazing how for some people, the best thing that could possibly happen to them is by chance. I know I’ve spruiked the concept of life planning a fair bit, but really – if you want to get somewhere, just plan for it and make it happen. Don’t sit around in a life that you hate just hoping that one day it will change, because it won’t!

What does this have to do with me not winning the lotto? Nothing really. My direction wouldn’t have changed if we won. Sure, there would be a lot more money in our lives, but we would still be getting married, still head off backpacking through Europe in the new year, and still fly to Canada after that to enjoy life. It would have made my life easier, not better.

What’s my point? DO WHAT YOU WANT TO DO! Obviously there are times when this doesn’t apply – in the short term you may have to make sacrifices or take risks, but plan to do what you want to do! Don’t wait for the opportunity to come along and tap you on the shoulder, because chances are it will never happen.