LIFE moves so fast and in today’s fast-paced world, priorities among Gen-Zs are forming a new narrative when it comes to work, self-fulfillment, and relationships. 

For earlier generations, career success was seen as the ultimate measure of one’s life accomplishment, but as Gen Z entered adulthood, they redefined what it meant to thrive in an evolving society. 

As they come to adulthood, Gen Zs face balancing things out from prioritizing climbing the career ladder and achieving the sweet taste of a successful career to devoting their time and energy to building a romantic relationship. 

While stepping on things like these is considered as one of the events that a person should go through, has it ever crossed your mind on what Gen Z prioritize more between building a career and pursuing romantic relationships? 

For this article, republicasia reached out to two Gen-Zs to further explore competing priorities and how their values and life goals differentiate from those of the older generation.

Weighting priorities

With a whole lot of opportunities, 22-year-old Engineering college student Jaem shared that he is currently prioritizing building a career for himself at the moment–prioritizing his studies over pursuing a relationship due to him graduating soon.  

He also added that due to this priority, he doesn’t see himself being in a relationship at the moment. 

“After graduation, I plan to build my career and eventually take a master’s degree, either here or abroad.” He said. “Maybe in the future, I’ll teach in college as part of my retirement plan.” 

Doing his current internship, he came to share how he is using this opportunity to broaden his knowledge in the field and by prioritizing his studies to be an Engineer, he came to stay single by choice. 

Priority of loving myself more 

When it comes to the topic of building a career, just like Jaem, 19-year-old Ikang came to say the same thing. According to her, she is currently focusing on building a career for herself by prioritizing her studies as well as being in an organization she’s in. 

Ikang is currently a college student taking the course of nursing as her future career. After graduating, she plans to take PNLE (Philippine Nurse Licensure Examination), find work, study language proficiency, and take NCLEX  (National Council Licensure Examination-for Registered Nurses) exam. 

Aside from prioritizing her studies and organization, she’s also prioritizing her family as well as her health. 

Ikang also came to share how she is currently learning from her past mistakes by being in her previous relationship and learning from her past comes with the priority of loving herself more. 

“It is safe to say that I’m currently learning from my past mistakes,” she said. “I want to focus on loving myself more and not wanting any boy problems right now.” 

Just like Jaem, Ikang is also single by choice with the same intention of focusing on her self and studies. 

“I am focusing on myself as well as with my studies as of the moment and I currently have no intention to be with anyone right now.”