IMHO, as long as you can (legally) support yourself, and live life at the level you choose, it really doesn’t matter whether you select your life’s work based upon your passions, or competence and skill–again, as long as you can support yourself.
The problem comes, when the person who chooses their life path is not willing to live with the outcome, and feels they are “entitled” to be supported by others (read parents), for an indefinite period of time, even when they make poor decisions.
Case in point. Several of our friends who did not clearly outline their expectations from their kids prior to college, still have kids in their 20’s and even 30’s, bouncing around all over the place–with no direction in life.
They aren’t happy and their kids aren’t happy–so nobody wins. Sadly, as the article I mentioned noted, this scenario is becoming more and more common, and it’s not working out well.
Of course, outlining college or any other expectations in life does not guarantee success, but it’s definitely a better bet than having a flaky plan or no plan at all–but again, to each his own–as long as you are prepared to live with your decisions for better or worse.
