I feel like today we live in a culture and society that is incredibly worried about money and stability. The way the economy was when I was growing up definitely scared my community, family, teachers, and pretty much all adults around me. I wish I could count how many times growing up that I heard, "Go into the medical field. There's jobs everywhere and it's the only stable thing you will be able to do." Another popular one was, "Get as much education as you can. Your high school diploma, associate's, and even your bachelor's in this day and age won't get you where you want to be." I feel like every community has ideals like these. Whether it's the medical field or something else, everyone should strive to conform to these unrealistic expectations and career paths.
Those are some serious words and thoughts for an 18 year old to be processing. Let's face it, when you're 18, a lot of people don't know what they want to do every single day for the rest of their life. I got enough grief for marrying at a young age. But, somehow we expect high school students to make the decision of choosing a career that they may not like or see themselves doing?
When I was a senior in high school, I realized that I had no clue what I wanted to do in the medical field. So, I made myself sign up for a Health Occupations course. I spent all semester trying to formulate a career that I could handle that would still be considered in the medical field. At the end of the semester the idea I had come up with was speech therapy. I was also convinced that I wanted to work with children in the elementary schools. This is about as far away from being in the medical field that I could get and still be in the safe zone where some people in this profession were affiliated with hospitals and nursing homes. But still I felt happy because I was choosing something that everyone else thought was smart.
All this time, I was ignoring the talents I already had and the interests I already held that were important to me. I have loved to write since I was in elementary school. I used to keep notebooks full of stories that I had written and hide them under my bed. I won the DARE essay in the 5th grade and got to read my paper to the parents and students of my school. I think that was the proudest I was of my writing for a very long time.
Then college came around and I found myself in a class in my junior year where grades were composed mainly on essays and writing. I was struggling to maintain a decent grade in my science and math based courses and was breezing by in the course that was focused on writing. It didn't make any sense. I haven't even taken many writing classes or learned the ins and outs of the field. It was never something I felt like I could pursue as a profession so I never spent the money on tuition for it. I didn't think much of it until the last day of class. We had to write a 2 page paper on a topic of the professor's choice off of the top of our heads in about 30 minutes. My professor was the head of Communication at the university I attend. I'm sure you can guess, it was a lot of pressure.
After I turned in my essay he pulled me aside. At first I was terrified that I hadn't done something right. However, he used this time as a chance to tell me how much he enjoyed reading everything that I had written. He then went on to ask when exactly I was graduating and to tell me about some positions they were hiring for at the university that he was helping fill. I was floored. I haven't even taken many writing classes. In a lot of cases, I know that my grammar is incorrect and my thoughts are at times all over the place. But just to hear that someone with so much experience and education in a field that I had loved for so long, thought that highly about my ability, opened my eyes a lot more than I think he will ever realize.
I started to think outside of the box. Do I really enjoy taking math and science courses or studying anatomy? Not so much. There are so many different people out there. We are all made unique by God for a reason. What fun would it be if every person we knew was a nurse or a lawyer or doctor? None. It wouldn't even be desired then. So, if you are like me, not necessarily a medical field type, don't feel bad. Don't feel pressured or confused at your other gifts. You are worth something. Don't let the average starting salary for the career you really desire, your family or teacher's comments, or even the thoughts that have been programmed into your minds for so long, hold you back from doing what you really want to do. Take it from someone who is knee deep in college debt and graduating with their first degree in a field that they aren't even thrilled with; do what YOU want.
So whether I will ever wind up writing a book, having a successful blog, or even working in one of those big fancy high rise buildings for a newspaper or important company, I'm not sure. There is definitely nothing wrong with working in the medical field. There is also no guarantee of what field I will end up continuing my education and career in. One thing is for sure though. From now on, I am exploring the talents I have and the things I love. No more making decisions for my life based on the ideals I feel like others around me desire or expect. When I look back on my life and my career 40 years from now, I want to know that I have made a difference and been successful. I want to have inspired, changed lives, helped create new ideas, and left the places I have been a little different than when I came.
