What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up?
It is never too late to be what you might have been. ~ George Eliot
Do you remember what you wanted to be when you grew up? I really don’t. I can’t remember ever thinking I wanted to be a ballet dancer or any other girly childhood dream job.
I do remember that in high school, I wanted to be a lawyer ~ ha! That didn’t exactly work out. I’m not upset about that. Now, I wouldn’t want to be a lawyer for all the money in the world! I was thinking about this today and wondering why in the world I wanted to be a lawyer. It came to me. POWER. I had zero control over any aspect of my life growing up. I must have identified with the power (control) that a lawyer has (based on my vast knowledge of what being a lawyer was like from watching L.A. Law).
After having worked in the mortgage business for most of my adult life, I was laid off once my company shut down as a result of the current credit/housing crisis (spoiler: I’m SURE I will post MUCH more about this in the future), I found myself without a profession once again. Just like a child, I have a clean slate. Of course that also means I have no income, which is a problem because unlike a child, we have a mortgage. But I digress.
After much soul searching, I decided to go back to school. I have to back-track a little here. I did attend Jr. College for about two years right after high school. Unfortunately, I was much more interested in partying and hanging out with my boyfriend (now hubby) than I was in studying. I found out that even in Jr. College, I could not coast by and get B’s like I had in High School. Back to the present…I am now a college student, at age 38.
My major? Psychology. I figured out just how much I absolutely LOVE to explore the way people think and why they make the choices they do. I’m not talking about long-term-psych-ward-Hannibal-Lecter-folks (although I do feel badly for them). I am fascinated by how seemingly normal people think about regular day-to-day things. That’s another reason I started this blog….so please e-mail me at somuchmorethanamom@comcast.net or comment here on my blog ANYTIME. 
School? It isn’t easy. I’m not coasting. But I LOVE every minute of it and I am not the oldest person in my classes! Last week I procrastinated on two major assignments and had to spend over 6 hours one day researching and preparing for a speech. Lesson learned. As with every other lesson I’ve learned, I chose the hard way. I will (at least try to) never let that happen again.
Back to my original question….what do you want to be when you grow up? Are you living your dream? Or, like me, did you just find yourself in a successful but unfulfilling job? Have you ever considered going back to school or changing careers? Is your current profession what someone else thought your “role” should be? If so, it’s not too late! Believe me, if I can do it, anyone can.
Thanks for stopping by!
A ceramics teacher!
Some of us are still trying to figure out what we want to be. I love your challenge. I want to be an author. Your right. I just need to do what it takes to go for my dream! I’m 47 which in my mind is still very young! I’m now going to go for it!
Thanks so much for the motivational post!
km
when i was in pre-school, i wanted to be a nurse because my favorite aunt was a nurse. but growing up, i love solving math problems so i eventually took up an actuarial degree. i became a computer analyst but gave it all up after giving birth to my son. now that my son is 8 years old, i started a homebased travel agency.
we can be anything that we want, we only have one life so we should live it to the fullest
I couldn’t agree more. Good for you!
I desired to be a 6 grade teacher when I was around 12 yrs old. I was in the beauty industry for several years… Now I’m staying home to raise our daughter until she begins school. Currently, I’m searching for a new direction… Oh the possibilities!!
Thanks for sharing your story!
I agree with you about still feeling very young, and why the hell not go for what we want now? We are more wise and mature and finally know what we really want. You go girl!