Growing up, I went through phases where I had so many interests of different careers. I mean I feel like we all at some point in our lives had very different choices in our minds. Some of these may be realistic and some may be not very realistic. It’s funny to now see how it compares to what we’re doing now.
Lawyer
For the longest time when I was in elementary and early middle school, I dreamed of being a lawyer. I’m not entirely sure why I wanted to do this, but maybe it is because I am good at arguing. Maybe it was simply because I wanted to be someone sophisticated and make a good deal of money. Either way obviously that didn’t turn out to be my exact career anyways, so it doesn’t really matter.
WWE Wrestler
Growing up as a kid I always watched WWE. Whether it was Raw or Smackdown I made sure to have it on every week. My uncle and dad sure did have a lot to do with this because they also watched it every week. Most people when they hear that I wanted to be a wrestler thought I was joking, but I was so serious. Female wrestlers at the time inspired me so much I wanted to be just like them and show everyone that I could be fierce and unique. As I grew older, I slowly realized that maybe this wasn’t the most realistic career to follow.
NASCAR Driver
Again here is a crazy one. My uncle always loved and still loves watch NASCAR and Indy car races. I took an interest of this myself after seeing him enjoy it for so long. My first race I saw was super fun and amazing and ever since then I told myself I could do the same thing. I mean who doesn’t want to be famous to sped driving cars. The whole race car driver “aesthetic” was appealing to me, but not so much to my family. I mean, with every job comes pros and cons and this job specially had some cons of potentially getting into a car accident or other injuries. This definitely made me think about it more, but in a different lifetime I would definitely try this career.
Interior Designer
During middle and early high school interior design was all I ever thought about. I have always enjoyed moving and organizing furniture, going shopping for home decor, and painting different rooms. I thought interior design would be the perfect fit for me to do after college. To this day, I am unsure as to why I did not continue this, but I guess everything happens for a reason.
Nurse
Now, for the couple last years of high school, I really was struggling to figure out what I wanted to do for a career. I knew my interests, but I never really knew what stood to me the most. I knew that realistically I wanted to work with kids because I am good with kids, and you can really impact their lives the most. Pediatric nursing was appealing to me, and I was dead set on this. Which was weird because I never ever talked about nursing a day prior to this decision. Part of me thinks that I chose nursing because I just simply didn’t want to be someone who went to college as undecided (there’s no shame in that). So, from there on until I started my freshman year at college, I was so serious about pursing a nursing career. Fast forward, to the third day of classes I decided to drop that major because I had a gut feeling that it was not for me. When looking back to this I am so glad I listened to myself because I would hate to be trapped in something that I didn’t really have a passion for.
Where I am now:
Now you may be thinking that I had many different dreams some more realistic than others. Trust me I think and say the same thing. After I dropped nursing, I went into undecided communications. Now I really only chose this because it seemed the most neutral where I could still take beneficial class until I knew what I wanted to do. This allowed me to explore different options and learn more about myself too.
After some time, I finally decided that I wanted to be a part of the education field. At first I was thinking maybe like a school counselor, but then I realized I wanted to be a direct part of the learning experience and have more connections with these children. So today, I am pursuing a career in Early/Childhood Education, which allows me to work with children birth-6th grade after graduation. I can 100% tell you that I am happy with my decision. The classes are so much better and ultimately, I am a happier version of myself than I was when I first started college.
The moral of this story is that it’s okay to not know what you want to do. The pressure of choosing a career can be really difficult and overwhelming, but changing your mind will not be the end of the world. It is also nice to sit back and reflect. Reflect on the possibilities you could have done or options that may have helped you choose your path today.