I Wonder When My Dream Job Will Come Along?

I think I am a pretty typical 30 year old woman in that I have absolutely no clue what I want to be when I grow up. It's funny, I think, how it seems like you either know exactly what you want to do or you have no idea.

When I was a little kid, I knew exactly what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wanted to be a doctor. People were always impressed by this answer and I spent a lot of time as a kid watching surgery shows, reading medical books, and plotting out my path to success. However, things don't always work out the way you plan them. I had a professor in college who basically told every woman in the room that they would never be doctors and he promptly gave D's and F's to every single one of us. It was a great motivational tool, I suppose, for some of the women. For me, it made me hate the subject of chemistry and opened my eyes to other professional options.

The college that I attended was a liberal arts school and required students to take various types of classes. I hated Philosophy and Theology, but I loved Communication. I got paired with a faculty advisor who basically told me I was the greatest thing since sliced bread and my love of people made Communication seem like an obvious major. I took all sorts of classes and started to plot my professional plan.

Once I got out into the real world, reality hit me square in the face. My plan basically shifted from thinking about what I wanted to do with my life to what would pay the bills. I got a job in customer service and while it was a good match for my personality, I absolutely hated dealing with angry people all the time. I got promoted to sales within that same company and I hated that more anything. I am definitely not a "works well under pressure" kind of gal. I mean, I can get the job done and I was really successful, but all the money in the world didn't make up for the fact that I was waking up in the middle of the night freaking out about contracts and what I needed to sell to hit my goal the next day.

After the dream of being a doctor fizzled out, I started thinking that event planning would be my dream job. Then I realized that the hours involved would mean that I would never see my husband and that if I ever decided to have kids, I would never see them. I think it would be a lot of fun to work with people to plan some of the biggest events of the careers and lives, but the hours just don't cut it for me. Now I am back to working in a job that pays the bills. It isn't a particularly stressful job, but it does have its days. I am certain that this job isn't one that was ever on my list of dream jobs. However, at least there is an end in sight and I am working toward what has become my new dream job -- kept woman sitting by the pool eating chocolate chip cookies all day. That's a joke, people! My dream job right now is to be a stay-at-home mom (though my husband thinks I would be insanely bored) and a photographer of some sort.

My dream job is definitely a few years off, but it is in the works and that is what keeps my going right now. For now, I'm content to dream.