I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up. I know that sounds funny, but it's true. I've never found my true calling, my true passion.
Even now if you were to ask me what career path I would choose for myself if I could be anything I want to be I would not know what to say.
The obvious answers like a famous actress, a singer/song writer, a doctor, a lawyer, all those things don't really appeal to me.
I've always said jokingly that if I were to win the lottery tomorrow I would become a professional student just going to college to take various classes without really trying to get a degree, just for the love of learning. I know that I would mostly take classes having to do with Journalism and Writing. I've always loved to write.
I remember one summer when I was going to write a book. I think I was in the 7th grade and I had my mom buy me a composition book. Remember those?
I started out by writing, "Once upon a time" because that is how all great books start. That is as far as I got. I doodled and drew lines and then I just started writing numbers.
I kept going the whole summer until I filled the whole book with numbers. If the Great American Novel is in my head it's taking it's time coming out!
In the book that I'm currently reading, Trapped Under The Sea by Neil Swidey, which is a true story about a team of divers that get trapped...under the sea; I am amazed by the divers and their work. I haven't gotten to the point of their getting trapped yet but I am on the edge of my seat reading this amazing book!
Each of these divers just stumbled into diving and the type of work that they do, and they love it. They live, breathe and eat diving to the exclusion of almost everything else. I sometimes wonder if someday I will stumble into something that I love just like that?
What about you? Are you living your dream career? Did you just stumble into it? Did you always know what you wanted to do? Or are you like me and waiting to see what you're going to be when you grow up?
This post was inspired by Trapped Under the Sea by Neil Swidey. In Boston, five men were sent into a dark, airless, miles-long tunnel below the ocean to do a nearly impossible job that would help clean the once dirtiest harbor in America. Join From Left to Write on February 19th as we discuss Trapped Under the Sea As a member, I received a copy of the book for review purposes.
