Your parents’ dream for you deserves respect. It doesn’t automatically get your whole life.

A parent’s plan for you is usually built out of love and worry in some mixture, shaped by whatever was hard for them. That makes it worth taking seriously. It does not make it a verdict. Respect and obedience are different things, and you can hold the first without owing the second for the rest of your life.

If a path is being chosen for you, describe it back to them accurately before you push on it. People soften when they hear they were understood. Then say one honest sentence about what you want, and let the conversation stay unfinished.