If you could do anything ELSE with your life, what would you do? I think Colleen would be a natural health provider. Am I right C? If you've ever read the Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler, Macon, her main character, never decides ANYTHING in his life. He just sort of floats through life and someone gives him a job. Someone decides to marry him, etc. Personally, I have a hard time with passive folks -- maybe because I'm a bulldozer in comparison, but it got me to thinking how part of life just ends up in your lap.
I majored in advertising because it was journalism-based and I couldn't do math at a higher level to save my life. I only made it out of the required statistics class because it was a Scantron test -- and don't you love the irony of that? I guessed my entire way through that test (if I didn't get a B I wouldn't pass). Well, statistically, I'd say I did okay because I got a B. (Part of it was that the teachers didn't speak English and couldn't answer a question, but that's another issue altogether.)
Anyway, I have always loved watching people, wondering what motivates them, what drives them to do the strange things they do? Why are so many brilliant engineers socially inept? Why do some who call themselves Christians treat people so poorly? Why would any hot guy who looked like Matthew McConnaughey become a priest? (Beth and I attended the ordination of Deacon Dave at the San Francisco Cathedral, where we yelled, "Don't do it Dave!" much to the chagrin of her mother.)
So if I were smarter and more motivated, I think I would have become a psychologist or a psychiatrist. : ) The only thing is you have to listen well, and that might be an issue, I sort of like taking it all in without hearing. : ) What would you do if given another shot? Here's my Monday Morning Aye Aye again. Doesn't that face just make you laugh?
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I'd go after a degree in counseling specialized in youth counseling. I'm kinda bummed I went the HR direction now that I've got 14 years and counting of youth ministry under my belt and it's my recognized passion. BUT HEY!! God knows what He's doing even when He doesn't share it with me! :)
I was just telling my dh that I finally know what I want to do when I grow up!
Be a Writer!
I've been a stay at home/homeschooling mom for a LONG time, I love it, but the kids are getting older, I've gotta do something when THEY grow up! :o)
I have written a few articles (even gotten published! :o) and have others to send out.
I am working on a book. (don't laugh)
The thing is, I realize I need a bit more education in the writing department to do this well.
I have considering taking some online writing classes, or some at the community college. We'll see.
But now that I finally know what I want to do when I (and the kids) grow up. I've got to find a way to learn how to do it better!
You nailed it for me, K!
Tricia, you need to join ACFW if you want to write fiction.
I'm in a slightly unique situation: I got married at 17, had my first baby at 18, my second at 20, and my third and fourth babies at 27 & 28. I've been a stay at home mom for much of that time, except for a brief stint as manager of a finance office. Now that I'm only two years away from my youngest being in school full time, I'm trying to decide what I want to do career-wise. It's kind of nice to make this decision in my early thirties, with a little more maturity and experience than if I had made it 15 years ago. I'm leaning toward an English degree, but I'd happily go into nursing, especially labor and delivery, or even a certified nurse midwife. I have easy access to a course in paralegal studies, which seems kind of interesting. The whole world is open to me, and it's very exciting!
And I've got to ask: what is that creature in the picture?!
Reese
I'm hoping and praying to become a writer, but if God didn't want that for me, I'd like to either write reviews for Publishers Weekly (somebody's gotta read full-time Christian fiction over there!) or a creationist scientist (just because I think standing up to evolutionists would be fun :)
First Choice: Full-time Grandma.
Second Choice: Run DeBrand's and lavish truffles on all my writing friends! :-)
Third Choice: Own/run Krispy Kremes
Fourth Choice: Rid the world of exercise machines/videos.
I LOVE the picture of that little creature, Kristin! Makes me laugh every time I see it!!!!
Jaime, I hear ya, how bad off can employable people be? Give me the real crazies. LOL Tricia, that's an easy one for later, you'll have a life of experience. Heather & Reese, it's an Aye Aye, a cousin of the lemur. It's my screeensaver. I just love it on a Monday morning because it makes me laugh. LOL
So Di, you'd be a, um, a big woman in your second life?
Diann, You are a hoot! And I can see Kristin as a psychiatrist and Colleen as a health provider--whatever capacity because she is compassionate and knowledgeable.
I just have been considering all this because we have made each of our boys take a test where they learn their temperament and are given choices of various jobs (in the current market) and the training to get there according their temperament. My youngest, Max, just found out his. It's amazing to me how close this comes to their personalities and how they operate.
I wish that I had taken it when I was young and deciding my major. I took the test and I was totally off on my major and job. When I was a school board executive and curriculum chairman--that came closest to where I tick(And I loved doing that.) I also wanted to be an artist/graphic designer/cartoonist. I wanted to be an editor. All of these things are in the realm of an INTJ (me.)
Diann knows that I wanted to be children's author, but it's near impossible to sell children's stories. Ah, well. Agents won't even touch them. ha
But I'm too old now to start over. Not sure where I'll end up.
Interesting subject.
I love this question. I think this is a question many of us consider at different times in our lives. I relate so much to your comments Kristin. In college I knew I had to pick a major that required the least amount of math. Luckily, I had a statistics teacher who was blind and deaf, so needless to say, I passed!
I did major in communications but if I had to do it all over again, I may have chosen English-more of an emphasis on writing being that I do hope to be published one day. But as many have already shared, God knows what He's doing!
I would be BOTH a world famous artist and a world famous writer. I would live in a Georgia O'Keeffe-eske house in the desert, far away from daily intrusions. I'd wake up with the mourning doves and the sunrise and alternately write and paint the day away, pausing to deal only with cashing my checks. (I'm still holding out for this dream in my old age!)
I know my journalism instructors drove home the point that we would be poor. I just didn't realize how poor. Or that I would be allergic to practically everything required to print a newspaper.
So, if totally dreaming, I would run a bakery/coffee shop/bookstore/art gallery. Tall order, I know. And besides, I think you have to do math to own a business.
Realistically, I'd like to do PR for a faith-based nonprofit. I have the skills, if only I can convince them. And if they don't have a working press in the building.
I am currently a receptionist, 22 years old, and a newlywed. But if I could do something different, I would be Kristin Billerbeck, because then I could write awesome books and make people laugh out loud on a plane while reading What a Girl Wants (yes, this happened to me--people thought I was a lunatic...).
No, really...I would write books or be a performer on Broadway. I can belt "Tomorrow!" from Annie like no one else...
Oh Ashley, you have your whole life in front of you!! How fun and exciting. I want to be Ashley! Let's trade. LOL I make dogs howl when I sing.
Let me give you an outline of what it would be like to be me:
1. Pastor's daughter. This prize package comes with an awesome family, but also includes a glass house, criticism and judgment in "Congregation Gossip Weekly," and people having verbal diarhhea (aka saying whatever they feel like).
2. An ADHD cat named Doris Day. She is black and white, psychotic, and obsessed with water.
3. A visit from the termite man. Enough said.
4. A husband who is a contradiction. He was raised in the South (I, the Midwest), in a town with a population of twelve. His accent and mannerisms sometimes...most of the time...reflect this. Yet, he is an anesthesia resident (therefore, very smart). I like to think of him as my Rural Prince Charming. [Sidenote: This part of the package includes his creativity: when we had termites, he tried to suck them out of the wall with a dustbuster.]
So, when do we switch?
Ashley,
Laughing on a plane beats crying over a book in public. People actually got up and changed seats. I believe actual whimpering was involved. It was "All Over But the Shouting," by the way, a memoir by Southern writer Rick Bragg. For my sister, it was a book about Mary by Francine Rivers.
Love these posts and the comments!
I'm a nurse (stay-at-home mom now but keeping up my license). But my "other" love is English and editing. I would love doing that. I just proofed and edited a friend's book that's about to be published, and it was a blast! I love anything to do with words and grammar. Geeky, I know. And on my missionary sister's month-long vacation visit, we had our annual Scrabble fest/marathon!
Oh, and I totally get the people-watching thing. I do that too. People probably wonder why I'm looking at them. . . Humans are fascinating creatures.
Being a pastor's wife/kid, etc., is like being a politician. For some reason, we hold these people to such a ridiculous standard!
I can beat you on the termites though Ashley. I have rescued my dog from the kiss of a coyote (man, don't mess with my dog!) and this week pulled out two ticks with my bare hands and crushed the little devils.
I also do spiders. I had one two inches across floating in my bathtub the other night on my bath pillow. BLLLLLECCH!! Living in the hills has its drawbacks.
But I am close enough to the city to MEET Donald Pliner. WOOOHOOO More about this next week! : ) Kristin
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