Writer | Mary Mikhael

Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

My name is Mary Mikhael. I am a college graduate from Cal Poly Pomona; the four years I was in school was a tough challenge for me. Here is my story.

As an Egyptian- American, there were a lot of expectations from my parents when growing up. The four careers, Doctor, Lawyer, Engineer, or Dentist. Out of those four careers, all I knew is that I wanted to make my parents happy. As soon as I entered college, I knew I didn’t want to study science and law and stay up all night to study boring subjects. I wasn’t going to put my life and my career in the long run for something I didn’t want to do… Even though pursuing these career paths was common in the Middle Eastern community, I knew had to break the rules. I quickly realized those careers weren’t for me, so I decided to stop living my life to please my parents. I am the only one in my family that didn’t study medicine… No biggie at all!

The four years I was in college, I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do, and my parents gave me this statement, which I will never forget, “Study something that makes a living.” This statement hit me hard, and to this day, it does when I talk to my cousins or friends that are going to school. During my college years, I always felt sad and stressed out all the time just to pass a class. The professors that were teaching these courses made every student feel so stressed out, and it was starting to take a toll on me mentally… I first chose to study accounting, but it wasn’t for me or my personality. I then switched my major to Computer Information Systems (CIS), and let me say I had to change that too, BORING! (My parents were sad that I didn’t want to study CIS.)  In the beginning, when I started college, I always felt something different, like someone was telling me that I wasn’t enjoying college or the classes I was taking… Lastly, I studied Marketing. Wow! The classes I took were amazing and so FUN! I knew this was something I wanted to do, and I knew there would be a potential future. I talked to my older sister about this path, and she told me to go for it if that’s what I desired. During my junior and senior years, I did an internship, and marketing was so fun for me, and I knew this is what I wanted to do; yes, stressful, BUT YOU WILL GET RESULTS. I made some amazing friends; I would say I was under stress, but not significantly. I would say it was a good stress for me because I enjoyed these classes in Marketing.

Fast forward, I had to quit my internship because I was taking almost 29 units, almost six classes, and I knew I was going to be stressed out. And so it happened; I got so stressed to the point where I suffered hair loss and acne. I passed all my classes, but I needed to take two more courses in the summer, so I didn’t “graduate” I still needed to finish two classes, and then I was DONE! One of the classes I took with this fantastic professor who opened my EYES about marketing. He said the only marketing field where you will make money is SALES. When he would talk about SALES and how much he would make and all the positive things about SALES that scared me for the real world, I questioned myself… will I find a decent job with a marketing degree? Fast forward to finishing up the classes… Now I was looking for a job. It was the most challenging search I had to do. I was MENTALLY, PHYSICALLY, AND EMOTIONALLY WANTED TO GIVE UP ON LIFE, and the pressure from my parents was insane, but they gave me hope that something good would come.

After six long months of trying to find a job, I finally got hired. It was different from what I had studied, but I knew I could take the challenge. Being at a job from 8-5 was the worst nightmare for me. Being in 1-hour of traffic going to work and coming home was the worst. I didn’t like it all. I asked my parents, “this is how life is supposed to be?” I gained so much weight I rarely went to the gym, and I didn’t take care of myself mentally and physically. After being at that job for only nine months, I was so happy I didn’t have to be at that hell place. 

I decided on my own. As I became more active on Instagram, I started following bloggers, who had corporate jobs and made $60-80K a year, and now they’re living life freely. As I started following them, they would repost quotes and affirmations on a daily basis. As soon as they began to posting these affirmations, I quickly realized, life is short, and we have to make the best of it. From then I started to be a blogger. I started doing something on my own and started branding myself. Now I have begun branding myself; girls are looking up to me now, asking for beauty and lifestyle advice. I now have a BLOG, and I promote products as well. I wish I did this earlier when I was in college, but it’s never too late to start. I also post on daily affirmations, and so many people quickly send me messages after posting, telling me how much that has made their day or if they’re going through a tough mental health journey, they just vent to me. My go-to affirmation is God, Goals, Growing, and Glowing. Wherever you are in your journey, it’s never too late to pursue something that makes you happy.

For more affirmation and tips, follow me at https://www.instagram.com/meeemers_/