Does anyone else think that it’s odd that you’re supposed to choose what you want to be when you grow up when you’re 18? I, for one, didn’t even know who I was at 18, much less what I wanted to do for the next 50 years of my life.
And I know that people will say that you don’t have to choose. You can always change later. In fact, I think most people change careers at least once in their lives. But I would say that going college right out of high school is the most convenient time to make plans for the future.
When I started college 7 years ago, I went in as a Speech Pathology major. I remember sometime during my first year thinking about changing my mind. I suddenly thought it would be nice to be a first grade teacher. But I stuck with speech path. After 3 semesters I got married, moved, and transferred. I stuck with Speech Path for only a few more weeks. Suddenly the thought of graduate school wasn’t so appealing. And honestly, everything else in my life was so hard at that point (leaving all my family and friends) that it almost felt like the only thing I could control was my major. While thumbing through the course catalog of a school I absolutely did not want to be attending, I decided I wanted to be a P.E. major. All those sports classes were so appealing to me. So I changed majors. One more semester at that school and I transferred again, only to realize that if I wanted to keep my PE major I would be in school for at least an extra year. So I changed majors again-Liberal Studies with a PE minor. I would be a teacher-hopefully either grade 3 or under or elementary or middle school PE. My only motivation for changing was to finish sooner. I never gave any real thought to an actual teaching career. Just before graduation, this silly thought entered my mind: I should have done nursing. I ignored it, graduated with honors, began looking for a teaching job and considered going to graduate school (after innitally switching majors to avoid it…ironic, huh.)
Two weeks later, a second pink line appeared on a little stick and just like that the path of my life changed. My teaching career was over before it even started.
So, here I am, three years later with two beautiful little boys and loving being a stay at home mom (most days, anyway). But that little thought that entered my mind three years ago keeps coming back. I should have done nursing. It’s getting louder and louder. I firmly believe that one of these days I will go back to school and become a nurse-more specifically, a labor and delivery nurse.
Had I only known this 7 years ago, it would have been so easy. To go to nursing school now will be a huge undertaking. Even though I think I finally know what I want to be when I grow up, it will be a long time before it actually happens. I’m lucky that being a mom is my only job right now.
You would make a great nurse!!
Take comfort in the fact that I’m 33 and still don’t know exactly what I want to be when I “grow up”. 🙂
I agree, I think it’s totally odd that 18 year olds are supposed to have some kind of idea of what they’re going to do for the rest of their lives. Looking back, I really wish I would’ve spent a year doing my own thing, like traveling Europe, or just living in a totally different state. I just feel like I’m 23 and I’m about to be a grown-up. My time has past for the craziness.
I don’t know what I want to do either. I still think I would be a good monkey trainer, and an excellent performer with Shamu. Actually I think I want to be an occupational therapist.
It seems that ever since a very early age I was destined to be a dirtbag, thanks to both genetics and environmnet. It did not take me long to realize that this was my passion and the direction that the Lord wanted me to take. Look at me now…
You may change your mind several more times! I realized that I was in the wrong major when I was a senior in college and just kept on because I didn’t want to spend the time or money to change – and I wasn’t sure what I would change to! When I was a young mother, I thought I wanted to be a midwife (not real different from a labor and delivery nurse). I really looked into it. We were living in New York, but didn’t want to move to NYC for the school! So, I just stayed home. When I had to go back to work, I just drifted into office work because I had done that while I was in college. Now, after 15 years, I’ve wondered why I didn’t major in business because I really like it. I’m 52 years old and not sure if you ever decide what you really want to be when you grow up!