We live in a time that tells us very early that we must discover who we are. By the age of five, we have parents starting to ask their children what they want to be when they grow up. All through school, we are told if we want a good life, we must get good grades, so we can go to college. We go through college, and we are told we have to have a high GPA if we want a good job.

When we graduate from college, we get the job, we get married and buy a house. Then this time hits, society calls it a mid life crisis. It is that time in our lives that we realize we were lied to.

In all of the time that we discuss with the young, when do we talk about passion, dreams, and desires. We pump into them, the belief there is only success if we have a good paying job. But, what we don't talk about is passion. What do you really love.

Why is it that at forty it is acceptable to have a mid-life crisis, yet a young person who dreams, is considered flighty, or undisciplined. The dreams of the young should be nurtured. I believe in education, don't get me wrong. I myself hold a degree, and a trades ticket.

I worked at trying to find my passion within the system and could never quite achieve it. Then I stepped outside of the box. I started to work towards achieving the financial success I needed to live the life I wanted.

Now, it is not the money that was what I wanted, it was the freedom that it gave me. I love to help people, but unfortunately, the way I like to help doesn't pay very well. You see I like to help people who are lost and trying find themselves. These people usually don't have a tremendous amount of money, and I needed to find a way to support myself, so I could have the freedom to help others.

Now, I probably could have found a job that would allow me to do what I wanted, but the problem with that is you have to do what society tells you, not what the person wants.

When did I realize this? I was a school teacher and I had a student who loved plumbing. His parents were devastated, they wanted him to go to college and become a doctor or lawyer. Now this kid could have. He was a honour role student with an unbelievable work ethic. There were meetings over this kid, his teachers and parents pressuring him to give up plumbing, so he could focus on his academic courses.

I spoke up for the student. He had an incredible plan. He wanted to get his plumbing ticket, then his master plumbing ticket, then open his own business. After the meeting, I was reprimanded by my administration for not following the wishes of the parents. But, what about the student. At this point he was 17 years old, and knew what he wanted. He had a solid plan (I over-simplified it, he had it written up as a proper business plan), but nobody was listening to him.

He caved into the pressure of his parents and quit taking shop, but after graduation, he moved out of his parents house, and started to pursue his dream. That was 10 years ago, and he now owns one of the fastest growing plumbing companies in his city - even with the economy. The last time I talked to him, he was pulling in well over six figures of personal income, and was happy. Unfortunately his relationship with his parents was still very strained, they are still upset that he didn't go to university.

After talking to him, I started to think about what we do and don't do in life. This young man created his dream, he was happy and fulfilled. Yet, his parents still were upset. What is wrong with this picture?

Society has so corrupted our thinking that even after a person chooses their path, is well on the way to wealth at 28, they are still considered to be giving up on their potential, because they could be a doctor or lawyer. How ridiculous.

The one thing I have learned is if you have a passion, you can make money from it. Find your passion, use it, live it, breath it, and it will provide for you. Don't allow society to determine who you are. If you are like me, find a way to earn money, so you can have the time to live your dreams.