Pressure? Schmessure!

     DO YOU STILL FEEL PRESSURE TO CONFORM?  IF NO, AT WHICH AGE DID IT STOP? I think there is always some pressure to conform; society doesn't like having to open another box into which it must categorize things.  The less variation in people, the smaller variety of labels society's printer has to pit out, the happier 'society' is. It has, however, been ... a lot of years ... oh, ok, DECADES since I gave a rat's you-know-what about 'fitting in'.  Am I going to pull a Lady Godiva anytime soon?  Not likely.  (Collective sighs of relief all around.)   My maternal grandfather wanted to be a banker.  His parents wanted him to be a lawyer.  He became a lawyer.  He also became an alcoholic. My father was a chemical engineer.  He would have rather, at least in later life, have done something in investments.  He stayed a chemical engineer because: a) he was good at it; b) people expected him to stay the course, and c) it paid well.  My father came home early from work one day in early February 1979 because he did not feel well.  One week later, he died at the age of 47. Three times after my father passed away, my mother's brother came to visit us.  Each time my mother and uncle visited me at the place where I worked.  Each time, my uncle said, "You can do better." I really owe a debt of gratitude to the men in my family, although I can't say I appreciated the lesson at the time.  I've come out of class with a good idea of what makes me happy, the ability to express what makes me happy and why, and a thick enough skin to resist efforts to fit this square peg into a round hole.