Who Says?

From the time our children are quite young we ask them, "What do you want to be when you grow up?"
When graduating high school we ask, "What are you going to study in college?" (which is yet another way of asking, "What do you want to be when you grow up?")
If someone answers with "I don't know yet." or "I think I want to backpack around Europe" they are met with the unspoken thoughts of  'oh goodness, they have no direction to their life!' Does one need to have a 'plan' to have a "life"? Is 'having a life' and 'creating a life' the same thing?

Is one happy with a forty-plus hour work week and then dreading when the bills start coming in the mail? 
I'm fifty-five years old and today I found myself thinking it was time for me to "create" a life. (yes, I actually thought that). Who says? Who says I need to follow those preconceived societal norms? Let me assure you, those norms haven't worked brilliantly at times.
I'm a grandmother of six and I'm FINALLY realizing that normal just isn't suited for me. 
So if any of my grandkids tell me they want to go travel and see the world, I'm going to give them a wink and a pat on the back and say, "Enjoy yourself my love."