Your life is yours to live. No one else’s. You must do what makes you happy, not others. The expectations your parents have for you are issues they will have to deal with, not you. In general, by setting expectations you also set yourself up for disappointment when the expectations are not met therefore your parents set themselves up for disappointment the day they had expectations of you. If anything, they should simply want you to be happy.

I am glad in your assertion of ‘becoming a slave to the monotonous coveted american lifestyle’. Be extremely thankful for having made the recognition. It means that now you can truly live your life. 🙂 I believe that every experience has a role to play in our lives. In each of them is a lesson, or a truth, that is revealed to us but must be recognized which will then help us realize our true path (I apologize if this sounds corny). In your case, it could be said that you were meant to undergo these difficult experiences in order to be reminded of the what held significance and meaning in your life. And, according to what you wrote, it seems you’ve already known it all along and clear that you’ve already made the decision. You just need that little push now.

I say do what makes you happy. As an advocate to pursuing dreams, I will always push anyone to find a passion or if they’ve found it, to pursue it. Also, I have yet to find a counter-argument for doing what you love. 🙂 I believe that’s all there is to be said so here is where I leave you with a great find I stumbled upon years ago. I hope it will give you the motivation needed to begin chasing your dreams as it did for me.

http://www.dannychoo.com/en/post/1645/Tokyo+Photo+Walk+3.html

Best Regards,
Al