Monday 13 January 2014

Monday 13th January: What do you want to be when you grow up?

Ask me again in two years. Or ten. 

Idly flicking through Facebook earlier brought me to a status from a girl in my year who had just applied for tha army. That really made me think; the army isn't something that tone enters onto lightly, how did she know that she wanted that for herself? As much as it is disputed by the teenagers themselves, they are fickle people. How can someone who doesn't know whether to put butter or chocolate spread on toast decide their entire future?

I never had one of those typical childhood dream jobs. I would have liked to have been a performer, maybe a singer  or something, but I was never an astronaut kid or a ballerina kid. Being herded through secondary school and logged onto careers programs dictated that I was suited to a creative career, something which I cannot dispute for I can see myself doing this. 

In recent years I have thought that a career in an English related area, such as journalism, could be for me. However, one thing is for certain, every time I tell my family about my 'career goals' or even job ideas I feel like they take them over. My mum becomes controlling and starts to look out for university courses in that field and asks her colleagues for tips, and as much as I can appreciate her intentions, her whole involvement just bundles more pressure onto me about achieving that certain job title. 

For the greater part of last year, I had myself convinced that a career as a lawyer is what I wanted. Again, my mum was the one who really pushed this idea: she convinced me that a law degree would be beneficial in all fields and that it's a great qualification to have. I couldn't argue with that, and before long I was researching Oxford law admissions, and imagining myself as a lawyer. That is until I realised that law was not something that brings me joy. I have never felt happy thinking about laws or rule dictating, and to be frank, the idea of paper pushing in an office so that a bunch of CEOs can get out of bad contracts makes me feel physically sick. Clearly law is not for me.

So what now? I think that a passion for writing my opinions coupled with unbearable wanderlust has lead me to one career path: travel columnist. I am a human with a easily changeable mind, so this career choice for when I grow up may only last a few months, but at the moment it is soundingositive and sounding like something that will make me happy. 

After all, I think career choices and life choices in general come down to this: should I make choices based on how successful I wish to be or on how happy? 

Right now, happiness is trumping success because if I am to be working, I want so desperately to be the kind of person who loves coming into work on a Monday morning.

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