Amy suggested I head over to Mama' Losin' It and choose one of her weekly prompts to write about. I had been considering it because I've seen Amy do them before so I decided to give it a shot this week.
4.) If you could change career paths now and be anything you wanted to be...what would you be and why?
This one is a no brainer for me. I thought I'd start with an easy one!
My current job is so far from being a "career". I work part time in a convenience store/gas station. Not glamorous at all. But most of the time it works for us. They have always been very flexible about my schedule and working around my kids. So for now, this is where I am.
But what I have always really wanted to be is a photographer. I used to tell my mom I was going to be famous some day. I think the being famous part is out! Right now I think I'd just like do some portraits, I'd love to get involved in doing high school seniors.
Around my junior/senior year in high school when they start talking with you about your future I had told my parents I didn't want to go right to college. I was undecided and wanted to take a year, decide if photography was what I really wanted and look into where I could go to school for it.
Well, my dad would not hear of it! He insisted that if I did not attend college right after high school I'd most likely never go back and insisted I go. If I remember correctly he even said they would not help financially if I did not go right away. I had no clue what to go for. All the those career path tests they have you take suggested I go for engineering. Not interested. So he said I should go for business because it was a broad choice and I could get any number of jobs.
So I picked a school close to home and majored in Business Administration. When the end started nearing my advisor suggested I go on for my master's in finance........he was the finance professor so of course he would suggest that. This time I held my ground and said no. I didn't even want to go to college (at least for this) why would I go for a master's degree.
I graduated, had a service create a resume for me and started sending them out. Nothing. I quickly learned that Business Administration was too broad of a major and I did not have enough experience or knowledge in any aspect of it to get a decent job. Great. So I eventually gave up and just took on a full time, higher paying position at Kmart where I worked at the time.
I eventually got fed up with that job and decided it was time to go take some photography classes. I quit and got a part time job at a bank and enrolled in a couple classes at a technical college. I loved it. I took a 35mm film course and developed and printed my own photos. I also took a view camera course. You know those big ones with the drape over the back that you stand under. The kind that Ansel Adams used. That was fun too. I was all set to take another the next semester when I found out I was pregnant with Skowt. Since those things weigh a ton I decided to hold off for a bit because I didn't want to be lugging them around while pregnant.
Well, you know how that goes. Life gets in the way, a second baby and I never went back. Now all these years later and I'm about to turn 40 this year and I am wishing I would have done things differently. Regretting decisions I made and the fact that I took my father's "advice" about going to school.
My hubby has been encouraging me to stop looking back at the past and look forward toward what could be. What's done is done and it's time to forget it, start a new plan, set some goals and start over.
As much as I'd love to listen to him, it is super tough for me. I had some issues growing up during my teen years and I have always been a "glass is half empty" kind of gal. No matter how great something is I can find the negative in it or think of what it could have been.
I really want to get past that, but when you've been doing it your whole life it's kind of who you are. You can't just flip a switch and things will be different. So I promised him I'd work on it and take some classes. Try to improve my skills and gain a little more confidence in myself and hopefully within a few years I'll be that photographer I've always wanted to be.
BTW, if you'd like to see some of the photos I've taken recently check out my photoblog here.
3 comments:
I have a friend who is an amazing photographer and I am insanely jealous. How awesome would that be to make good money doing something you actually love!?!
Now you see how easy that was??!! Just kidding.
Anyway, great post and we learned something new and interesting about you. Although I knew about the photography stuff, it was neat to learn more about how that all came about. It is my dream too, but I don't think that will ever go anywhere. Can you tell I am the "glass is half empty girl" too? :)
Your husband's right .. look to that bright future! Instead of making yourself be on a "path", just throw yourself into doing what you enjoy! Take classes that interest you, keep taking photos, market yourself to high school seniors. But, most of all, just do what you enjoy! If God's plan is for you to make a "career" of it, it will happen if you are open to it! Have faith!
Nicole
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