What Should I Do With My Life?

I think some time during high school (or was it college?) my dad bought me the book above. The author interviewed tons of people who had asked the question, "What Should I Do With My Life?" and found all sorts of different answers. I read the whole book and it was definitely interesting. I think his goal in giving me the book was to show me all the possible careers out there. Now that I'm a Kindergarten teacher I see from an adult perspective the careers that kids know about... doctor, professional athlete, vet (I can't tell you how many kids in the past 5 years have wanted to be a vet, is there something about that career I'm missing?!), teacher, police/fireman, astronaut, you know the drill... However there are SO many jobs out there beyond all of these jobs you know about as a kid, and in reality, you receive very little exposure to them unless you happen to have a parent who is a publicist or an event planner or basically anything out of the elementary school norm. No wonder no one really knows what in the world they actually want to do with their life...

My internal dialog about my career has gone something like this...

High School/ College:

Kids are fun, I think I want to be a teacher. Wait, I don't want to be a teacher then I'll be poor forever. But I like kids. Maybe I'll major in elementary ed. I should have a back up plan, Communications seems pretty random, how about that? I actually like a lot about teaching, maybe I will do this. I think I'm going to switch my major to early childhood because I like teaching kids to read. First grade is awesome, I want to teach first grade. Kindergarten is terrible, first or second grade but definitely not kindergarten. I need to get a job. Let's interview in random faraway towns I would never want to drive to. So I landed a job in the ideal school district/location but it's teaching kindergarten... here goes nothing :)

Kindergarten Teaching:

Wow, kids and their parents suck. Kindergarten is terrible. Actually I love the curriculum but not the kids... Maybe I should switch grades. Maybe I should quit teaching. Ah, this new class is making me love kindergarten. Yay Kindergarten. Boo Kindergarten. Maybe I should be a reading specialist. Maybe I should leave teaching all together. I love teaching, I was meant for this job.Maybe I should switch to 2nd grade. Maybe I love kindergarten. Yay kindergarten. Boo kindergarten. I love kids I could never leave teaching. Kids are the worst.

I have a few thoughts on the question, "What Should I Do WIth My Life?"

1. Job does not equal Life. So, in answering the question, "What should I do with my life?" also consider what you want to do with your time NOT at work. My job is often times all consuming, but I do get time off to pursue my other passion: trips! For me, what I do with my life is very connected to my job... for others the two may be almost unrelated.

2. I used to think people who said they "love" their job mean they love it all the time. Then one time I overheard Eric tell someone that he "loves" his job. WHAT? I thought... no you don't! What about our hour long complaining session every single night? That's not love. I've come to realize love is a relative word when it comes to work. Work is always work. Even the best boss will be annoying at times. Even the best "clients" will be annoying at times. Even the best job may not motivate you to wake up before the sun with a big smile on your face. But at the end of the day (and I mean "day" in the broad sense, not the daily sense), could I imagine doing anything else? no. I could not imagine a day without cards and drawings piling up on my desk. I could not imagine a day without the clean up songs. I could not imagine a day without being told what to do by 5 year olds. Or by people who have never actually taught children. I could not imagine a day without hearing the kindergarten rendition of "Dynamite" (it included "I'm gonna rock this club like it's a volcano... singing heyo, baby let's go"). I could not imagine a day without being asked "why?" at least 10 times per hour. etc. etc. etc.

3. You may change your mind about what you want to do with your life. It's a process. You have the luxury.

4. For me, the key has been to focus on what I know. I do want to be busy. I do want to be active. I do want to have purpose. I do want to be challenged. I do want to use my mind. I do want to work with others. I do want to feel confident. I do want the power to make someone's day (even if it means the pressure that I could break it). For now, teaching kindergarten provides these things.

What do you want to do with your life? Do you know? When did you figure it out?

What is something you DO know that you want to do?

If time and money were no object, what would you do differently? Believe it or not, I'd still teach, but I'd hire someone to do EVERYTHING else for me. This includes cooking, cleaning, landscaping, laundry, grocery shopping (might as well since they are cooking all my meals), clothes shopping, donating clothes I don't need anymore, etc etc :) Since we are living in my ideal world, I wouldn't really mind more vacation time too. Might also hire some sort of behaviorist to come and whip my class into shape... and a parent manager (for the kids parents, not my own parents lol) wouldn't be terrible either. Whoa I'm getting carried away...