What do you want to be when you grow up? Most of us hear this question hundreds of times as children and there are those who have the same answer each time. I wasn't one of those. While my childhood dream of becoming a firewoman/astronaut/dancer/circus acrobat/brain surgeon/photographer has not come true, my resume does look a little like it should belong to several people. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a job hopper. Most of my jobs have lasted between three and five years but when I make a change, boy do I make a change. Usually a different industry, functional role and environment.
For instance, I was a customer service representative and later customer service manager at an import company for several years then worked briefly in a retail environment. In my customer service and retail roles, I was responsible for training and development of other employees. My next job was as Training Manager for an IT Consulting Company. It was fun and challenging and definitely fulfilled my need to help others succeed. It also required long hours and quite a bit of travel which became an issue with taking care of the things that were most important including my children who were fairly young at the time. In an effort to work close to home with no travel requirement, I accepted a position managing an auto body repair shop. I knew nothing about cars except how to put gas in them but soon realized that anything can be learned if an individual has the right mindset and puts forth the effort. For additional variety, a stint in sales for a staffing company and my current position working for a non-profit rounded out my career to date.
I've gained valuable experience from all my jobs and have enjoyed all of them to varying degrees. While I still don't have any idea what my 'calling' is, I have certainly ruled lots of things out. I like to think of that as progress and have recently made a commitment to stop beating myself up. Not everyone has one specific interest that stays with them for life.
Recently, writing articles, short stories, poetry and blogging has made me think this might just be it! I love every minute spent writing, researching and even editing but I'm not sure yet how to make a living doing it.
At forty, I guess I'm still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. At this point, I'm not at all sure it is necessary to figure it out.