AMBITION: 'When I grow up...'

When I was 3, I wanted to be a cat (though I unfortunately suffered from being human).

When I was 5, I wanted to play for Arsenal (though I'm terrible at football).

When I was 8, I wanted to be a spy (though I based my future life entirely off James Bond).

When I was 10, I wanted to front a rock band (though I can't sing, dance, or play an instrument).

When I was 12, I wanted to be an author (though I get bored of anything I write beyond 2000 words).

When I was 14, I wanted to join the Peace Corps (though I realised the impact they make is minimal).

Now that I'm 17, I want to be a journalist (and yet I still feel conflicted about it).

Ambition has always seemed like a tricky issue – we have one life, and not everything we want can be achieved through it. Beyond that, much of what we want simply may be too difficult to achieve. Whether we like it or not, we have to do something that will earn us money. I'll be honest: I have, on many separate occasions, romanticised my future. The recurring vision of my future is me as an ex-pat, moving from city to city, living beyond constraints, but I know that that probably will not be the case.

The wide-eyed idealist wants to change the world, and more recently I have discovered that changing the world may be easier than it seems. One does not have to lead a revolution to do it, but simply know where to put their time and money. If I were to be a journalist, I may have a platform from which to advocate a specific cause. If I make money, I would be able to donate large sums to really effective charities. So my ambition has become to do my bit to make a mark on the world which to some extent heals it, as large as I can make it, even if it still is very small.