Career · 14 Sep 2017
Perhaps a parent's biggest worry for an 18-year-old is a simple one: how will my child learn to look after themselves one day?
That worry only grows when a young person has no clear idea of what they want to do with their life. It's the norm, really — most teenagers have no clue what career they want, and the pressure to figure it out, move out, and become independent can feel enormous.
The honest, if sobering, reality is that most people simply drift into a job, pick up skills out of necessity, and eventually end up prioritising a family's needs over their own fulfilment. Why would any parent want that conventional path for their child, if there's another option?
I own a scuba diving company, and became an instructor young — but even I travelled first before settling into the usual working life. I still wonder what it might have looked like if I'd gone straight from my PADI Instructor rating into travelling the world.
Our interns get to do exactly that — travelling from Bali to Zanzibar to Greece to Madagascar, documenting it all as they go.
Of course, there's a common worry from parents that diving is a “beach bum” career with no real financial future.
That's exactly why Scubaversity launched its internship programme back in 2010 — to prove that a career in diving is not only sustainable, but can offer a far better lifestyle than a conventional job.
The results speak for themselves: our interns are travelling the world, living out what most people only get on holiday, enjoying life, and building genuinely independent careers.
If your child shows an interest in diving, don't dismiss it. A motivated, hardworking young person can build a life for themselves this way — and who knows, maybe even set up a beach retirement for you one day.