What do YOU Want to be When You Grow Up?

By Jeni Platt, 18th Jan 2012 | Follow this author | RSS Feed | Short URL http://nut.bz/wja28ckl/
Posted in Wikinut>Writing>Personal Experiences

The age-old question we ask children, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" still has no answer for me. Although there are many ideas and possibilities, it is hard to choose a career path. I still can't decide what I want to be when I grow up! Can you?

Words of Wisdom from a 5 Year Old
Drawing Pictures and Riding Ponies
Work Didn't Work Out for Me
Self-Employment is the Cure

Words of Wisdom from a 5 Year Old

"What do you want to be when you grow up?"

I ask my five year old daughter this question frequently. She is full of ideas, she has new careers in mind all the time. A paleontologist, an archaeologist, a veterinarian, a fire fighter, an ear piercer at the mall, a vegetarian, and most recently, a detective. She is so spunky and full of new ideas! I ask her this question to help her find her passions, but also to give myself some new ideas.

Drawing Pictures and Riding Ponies

I still do not know what I want to be when I grow up. As a child, all I wanted to do was draw pictures and ride ponies. Teachers at school urged me to become a teacher myself, especially various English teachers I encountered over the years. Me? Teach other people? Yeah, right...could I do that? "No, not me..." I would say to myself. So what am I? Currently, I am a college graduate, writer, artist, mother, and horseback riding instructor. I studied Criminal Investigations and had planned to pursue a degree in law enforcement, become a deputy, and then obtain higher education and eventually become a forensic toxicologist.

I graduated from high school when I was 16, ready to take on the world. Suddenly, I had doubts about who I was and what I wanted to be, so I did something completely illogical. I dropped out of college at 17, got married, and had my daughter. After all, family is what dreams are made of! I worked odd jobs as my young marriage crumbled: I was a waitress, a receptionist, a dog handler, heck, I even worked for UPS! My marriage, my first dream, ended bitterly. I knew then and there that there is more to life than the supposed love I had found at my young age, but that is a story for a different day. I continued to work at these odd jobs, unhappy with how my life was turning out. The only light in my life was my beautiful little girl. I knew I needed to do something different in order to support her. Finally, I realized that I needed a career. So, I enrolled in an online school studying Criminal Investigations. As I worked towards my degree, I obtained employment with the Post Office. I delivered mail for a year before I sought change. Don't get me wrong, it was a great job--just not a great job for me. I continued working towards my degree, unemployed and searching for something more.

Work Didn't Work Out for Me

I worked odd jobs as my young marriage crumbled: I was a waitress, a receptionist, a dog handler, heck, I even worked for UPS! My marriage, my first dream, ended bitterly. I knew then and there that there is more to life than the supposed love I had found at my young age, but that is a story for a different day. I continued to work at these odd jobs, unhappy with how my life was turning out. The only light in my life was my beautiful little girl. I knew I needed to do something different in order to support her.

Finally, I realized that I needed a career. So, I enrolled in an online school studying Criminal Investigations. As I worked towards my degree, I obtained employment with the Post Office. I delivered mail for a year before I sought change. Don't get me wrong, it was a great job--just not a great job for me. I continued working towards my degree, unemployed and searching for something more.

Self-Employment is the Cure

Now that I have obtained my degree, I am questioning my choice. Am I really cut out to be a police officer? I have the integrity, the attention to detail, the deductive reasoning skills...but I lack the experience and the relationships necessary to get into the department. You have to know people on the inside in order to get there, otherwise you will always be on the outside looking in. Since I have realized that, I have reflected on what truly makes me happy. My life, my family, my home, my animals; in short, the things I already have. How can I make these things into a career?

Self-employment may be the answer I have been searching for. I can turn my hobbies, my passions, my creativity into a product or service. I have sold artwork, trained horses, raised children, and so much more! Why am I trying so hard to be something completely different than who I am?

What brought me here? Fear of failure, lack of commitment to a job working for "the man," or something else? I will tell you what it is: passion. I cannot accept anything less than happiness. If that means that I need to start something new, spontaneous, and creative all on my own, then that is what I shall do.

I finally figured out what I want to be when I grow up, and that is happy.

Meet the author

Jeni Platt
Jeni is a creative writer, artist, essayist, mother, animal lover, and horseback rider. She has an AAS in Criminal Investigations and has worked as both a writer and an artist, among other things.