How It Feels to be an Outlier in the Family

Image source: google images

Being the only person who studies a totally different academic field and also has some eccentric hobbies in the family is really not that easy.

As a note, no one in my family has ever formally studied political science (international relations) as I do. The spectrum of my family's academic background is quite easy to draw. If it is not from educational background, it must be from some exact sciences. At that point, you can call me as an outlier.

I did not know that until a couple years ago when I talked to my father about our (big) family. To be honest, I feel kind of excited at some levels, knowing that I will be the first bachelor of politics in the clan.

Studying international relations also gets me exposed to various different things and interests that are not commonly circulating among the family members.

Thus, sometimes it is difficult for me to introduce the things I am interested in to my family, in a sense that I never really get the excitement I have always expected.

This article will tell you some "heartbreaking" moments I have ever experienced on being an outlier in the family.

• The "try asking someone else" moment 

As a student, sometimes there are moments when we have completely no idea whatsoever about things we study at school, and maybe about things we are interested into. On those situations, what we will naturally do is to ask.

Being around the family on those situations can also be a relief for the problem. By asking the family's experiences, questions can mostly be answered. Not only that, besides giving the answer we are looking for, family will also almost certainly give us some moral support for the things we do.

In my case, the first one does not happen. Once (if not everytime) I asked my parents about the problem I encounter at school, specifically about a particular subject, I have never gotten the answer I need. The reason why it is like that, I guess, is self explanatory.

However, as a remedy for that, my parents always give me some moral support. The support that sometimes ends with an eye-opening phrase that makes me realize that nobody in my family has ever stepped on political science, "try asking someone else.."

• The "are you really into it?" moment

As said, studying political science allows me to know many things that are not commonly known in the family. 

For example, my interest on journalism and media industry are apparently seen as two strange things by my family.

The effect from such way of seeing expands as there's skepticism sometimes occurs when I seriously want to develop my interest towards those things.

It is not that they (my family) are unsupportive about it, but it is more that they are unsure whether I can be really consistent in doing things that happen to be my interest.

In my assumption, that also happens because, again, nobody in my family has the experience or record for having the same interests as I do. So, there's a kind of misgiving about me doing the wrong things.

That is all actually fine with me. Sometimes I just do not like the sense of doubt that ripples at the same time with the question of "are you really into it?"

• The "just be focus on your study" moment

It is not a secret that political science students (if not all) would need to gain some experiences outside the class, as in trying out new things and being involved in new activities.

This can get hard if we are in the situation as portrayed above.

In that situation, trying out new things can be equally hard as having "strange" interest.

First, as stated above, the family maybe is already worried about us, having the fact that they do not really know about the world we are in. Second, now we want to add that worry feeling with the "uncertain" experiment which would make them even more worried about us. 

The magical phrase my family would say to softly intercept my attempt on doing that would be presented in "...just be focus on your study now, and do those other things after you're done with it."

-----------

After all, I understand that my family is always supportive towards the things I do and I am interested into. Sometimes it just needs better explanation for them to understand.

For those who have ever experienced the moments above, those are just the reflections that they actually concern about us.

That, in the end of the day, they do not want to see us fail.