In last Sunday's paper, there was an article about finding your dream job, "To Find My Dream Job, I Didn't Just Dream." It was really interesting and it got me thinking. I don't think I've ever had a 'dream' job!
When I was little, I wanted to be a ballerina (what little girl didn't?). Other than that, I never had a clear dream of what I wanted to be when I grew up. I'm sure at some point I wanted to be a wife and mother (because you know that's just what you did) but never had that aha moment of THIS is what I want to do for the rest of my life. I've kind of fallen into jobs over the years. When I was in high school and then summers in college, I worked in various jobs for the same company as my mother. I was a receptionist, a bookkeeper, and a credit analyst. In college, I got my degree in psychology and thought I would go on to get my master's and maybe PHD so I could be a therapist. Then a week after graduation, I was sidetracked due to the death of my brother. I went back to work for the same company as my mother and ended up in Human Resources, although it was called Personnel back in those days. I kind of fell into it but I managed to make a career in HR for over 10 years. I did pretty well, made my way to a Director level position in Corporate America, made a good salary and then as the company grew, it got more and more corporate. I wasn't enjoying it anymore and I didn't feel like I could make a difference. So one day I had a conversation with my father, who was also disillusioned with the corporate world, about starting his own business and he asked if I'd want to join him, I decided why not? I grew up around the building business so why not give new home construction a try. We have a small family business and initially I thought this would be my career for the rest of my life...I'd take over the business one day.
It has been almost 5 years since I got into the construction business and I got in right at the end of the housing boom. We've been lucky as a small business and have survived through the ups and downs. I have learned a lot about construction, marketing and running a business. But I have realized that this is not my Dream job nor is it my passion.
So now I am once again exploring what I want to do when I grow up. And during this period of exploration, I have realized that there isn't just ONE thing that I want to do. There isn't one label I can put on myself so when people ask what do you do for a living, I won't have an easy answer. I'm ok with that, but I'm not sure how everyone else will view it. What label will they put on me? Why do we have to put a label on everyone? And who says we only have to do one thing for our whole lives? Who made these rules? I really do envy those people who have always known what they wanted to do/be and are doing it. That's just not me...and I am learning to accept that.
There is so much more I want to write on this topic of labels and judgements but I don't have all of my thoughts together yet. I definitely want to explore this further...so I'll be back with more on this soon. And maybe I'll have it all figured out...HA!