<p>If you’re 19, you can go to india and become an ascetic hermit if you want. It doesn’t matter whether your parents like the idea. You can always change your mind later, but there’s no reason to waste tuition money if college isn’t for you.</p>
<p>OP:</p>
<p>(Your posts would be much more readable if you’d hit the shift key every now and then and capitalize appropriately)</p>
<p>If you don’t want to go to college then don’t go. You can’t blame your parents for wanting what they perceive is the best course for you whether you agree with it or not but as an adult you can do what you want. This freedom, of course, means you’d likely need to be able to support yourself. If you have that covered, then don’t worry about college, be understanding of your parents but tell them what you plan to do rather than attend college, then get on with what you want to do. Your outlook might change in the next year or two or maybe not.</p>
<p>absolutetruth, A wonderful place to begin work on your ego is to let go of your need for your parents approval of your life choices. Their negative emotions belong to them, not you and you are boring those negative emotions as an excuse for not taking responsibility for your own life. </p>
<p>I also think it’s very ungenerous to ascribe their emotions to selfishness. They love you and worry for you and want the best for you. Give them time, lots of time, to see you in your new role. It will be an adjustment for them, love them through it.</p>
<p>Just a warning: you may meet a number of Indian ascetic hermits who wish they had the background and wherewithal to acquire a university education. You might want to keep that to yourself while you familiarize yourself with the lifestyle.</p>
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Can you list any actual jobs you are qualified to do that fulfill this requirement? Those that require no skill or training generally don’t pay enough to pay for “rent and all living costs” unless you work about 60 hours per week. Doesn’t leave much time for reflection.</p>
<p>But if you’re convinced this is possible, I suggest you take a year off and try it. Maybe it is a plan for your life - if so, great. But you might find that low-skill, low-pay jobs are not as noble nor as philosophical as you think. I suspect you are assuming that if you really fell into a financial hole, your parents would bail you out. I suspect your parents know this, which is why they are pushing you to finish college. </p>
<p>MommaJ noted that you are already in college…?</p>
<p>My personal opinion, absolutetruth, is that you need to first work as diligently as possible to fulfill your obligations (real or perceived) to your family and to the society and the world which has provided for you through your childhood. So make your parents happy and study and excel in your studies. That success in a university will enable you to find a position in which you can give yourself to others … Peace Corps, Americorp/VISTA, Doctors Without Borders, whatever. Maybe you could even find a way to help those in one of the places where you wish to pursue ascetic life, those in that place who live with practically nothing not by choice but by circumstance. After fulfilling these obligations, your decision to withdraw from the world to seek a different path will be one that you are free to make. Along the way, you may discover much about truth that is not evident to you now.</p>
<p>absolutetruth- You are 19 years old and an adult. Get a job, move out of your parent’s house and start your life. It’s time.</p>
<p>absolutetruth – No one is stopping you from doing what you want. Just be prepared to live with the consequences. </p>
<p>My recommendation is to avoid burning bridges. Just in case you decide the grass on the other side isn’t quite as green as you had imagined.</p>