This is a big honkin' deal. Bigger than Elvis. Or sliced bread. I've figured out what type of career I would like to do!!
Like a lot of people I know, I definitely had a quarter life crisis. Unlike a lot of people, I refused to pay for grad school until I was absolutely sure. Now my GRE scores are well-expired, and I'm not sure if grad school is ever in the cards.
Back in 2010, when B was deployed, I blogged about trying to figure out my calling and how I went to a Career Planning workshop at Fleet & Family Support to help me out. Well, almost two years later, I think I have it.
I want to be a Family Life Educator. There it is. I've written it down. I feel like I should ring a bell or call my mom or something.
I re-read that old blog post tonight, and the only thing that is missing is "the great outdoors." But I think I can fill that void in other ways, without having my career hinge upon it.
Okay, I actually already sorta am a Family Life Educator. I have been (volunteer) teaching Budget for Baby class to expectant military couples for almost a year now. It had been growing on me, obviously. Sometimes my classes stink and the participants sit there like bumps on a log and just listen to me bumble on about the parts of a budget. But I taught a class today and seriously hit it out of the park. I was able to somehow transform it from almost non-participatory to a pretty lively and informative class! I don't even know how I really did it, but it was kinda magical. Thinking it might have been all in my head, I read the anonymous evaluations that the participants filled out, and I got perfect marks from every. single. one.
I think this is actually a great field to combine my educational background. My degree in Child & Family Development can help me teach more of these budget types of classes, and I would also like to get into teaching some parenting skills or other family topics. My advertising background will definitely come in handy because I will probably be the one who has to market these classes.
As for the next step, I'm not sure. I know I want to be primarily stay-at-home for a while, so this will be sorta put on the back burner until I'm ready. I then will need to get some certification and find someone to pay me (the hard part). However, I am already volunteering my way into it more fully, as I am now taking on more than just teaching the Budget for Baby class. They made me the chair of the operation, so I'm making some marketing materials and making this class the best it can be!
Have you figured out your calling? How long did it take you to really know? (I'm just about 10 years out of high school, in case you're wondering!)
Showing posts with label career. Show all posts
Showing posts with label career. Show all posts
26 April 2012
23 September 2010
thursday 5
I don't usually participate in this one (have you noticed my lack of consistency in pretty much everything?), but I think it will help sum up my feelings today. So here are things that make me feel . . .
Giddy
Jubilant
Ecstatic
Thankful
Giggly
I'm Jubilant that I found my keys after looking for them for an HOUR.
I'm Ecstatic that "The Big Bang Theory" is back on tonight. And B is on a 'business' trip, so no one is gonna fight me for the remote!
I'm Thankful for all the people who have given me bloggy "awards." I would hazard to say that I'm not playing very nicely along with other bloggers, since I never re-post and pass them on. However, it's my blog, and I pick my own content, and it's usually not what I want to blog about.
What I WILL do today, though, is say thanks to these bloggy friends:
You should definitely go over to their pages and go check them out!
I'm Giggly because I got free museum tickets for Saturday! And you should too! Check out what's free in your area for Museum Day at http://microsite.smithsonianmag.com/museumday/ (Consider this my first giveaway!) B doesn't know it yet, but we'll be spending Saturday at the Pensacola Historical Museum. It's sure to be a hoot and a holler, all for less than a dollar! (And if my ridiculously Southern turn of phrase didn't make you Giggly as well, you may need to re-evaluate your life.)
08 July 2010
what i want to be when i grow up
This morning, I attended a Career Planning workshop at Fleet and Family Support. I love the fact that I can pretend that I'm still in college and go to stuff like this - I always loved the Career Center at UGA. And when I get preggers, I can take a gabillion more classes offered there. But for now, I'll stick to the career and financial management stuff.
At the beginning of the class, we were asked to draw a picture of us in our dream job. Ummm...I still don't know what my "dream job" is--isn't that why I'm at this workshop?--but I do know some components of it, so here is my drawing:
There's the sun, and that's me (with smudged eyes because my pen got a little excited), and those squiggly things are grass blades representing The Great Outdoors, and there's some people over there of all different ages (the one on the right even looks vaguely like my father). And I'm telling them all something fantastic, I'm sure, or perhaps I'm singing this song. You can see my energy in my big open-mouth smile.
This picture is the reason that I will 1) never work in a cubicle environment again and 2) never be a classroom teacher, no matter how much my aunts (and bank examiner mother, strangely) try to push me into it. I recently had given thought to maybe teaching Elementary Phys. Ed., but after all the assessments and whatnot in this class today, I just don't think I'm meant to educate. At all.
My highest scores did come in for the Hospitality, Tourism, Recreation field. Which was no surprise to me. I think being a tour guide or docent is probably my dream "career." Fun environment, interacting with people, no overly-air-conditioned cubicle trap, possible good hours even. But how is that really different from teaching? I had to ask myself today. I think the difference here is that a) people you're instructing are there willingly (usually) and b) you're not responsible for whether they learn anything or just walk away and don't give you a tip. I have no tolerance for brats.
I've had a lot of wonky jobs (and duties within jobs) in the past 10 years, from reading books onto tape to writing rejection letters to reviewing infomercials. But the best job I ever had was a part-time summer gig supervising teens on a High Ropes Course at an adorable Catholic Life Teen camp in north Georgia called Covecrest. I loved being outside, I loved watching the teens learn to trust and discern their own physical and mental capabilities, and I loved teaching and encouraging them. I would love to work on a ropes course again (even though I'm scared of heights!--I spent almost all of my time on the ground at the camp), and it might be a more available job in Pensacola than a tour guide, but we'll see. And, no, I'm not set on working with teens, so please don't ask me to lead your youth ministry. (I'll save the rest of that rant for another post!) Corporate team-building might be a viable option as well, but only time and the economy will tell.
Let me know if you have a job or know of one that you think would suit me! I'm always open to suggestions since I can't really foresee myself doing this full-time housewifery business forever.
At the beginning of the class, we were asked to draw a picture of us in our dream job. Ummm...I still don't know what my "dream job" is--isn't that why I'm at this workshop?--but I do know some components of it, so here is my drawing:
There's the sun, and that's me (with smudged eyes because my pen got a little excited), and those squiggly things are grass blades representing The Great Outdoors, and there's some people over there of all different ages (the one on the right even looks vaguely like my father). And I'm telling them all something fantastic, I'm sure, or perhaps I'm singing this song. You can see my energy in my big open-mouth smile.
This picture is the reason that I will 1) never work in a cubicle environment again and 2) never be a classroom teacher, no matter how much my aunts (and bank examiner mother, strangely) try to push me into it. I recently had given thought to maybe teaching Elementary Phys. Ed., but after all the assessments and whatnot in this class today, I just don't think I'm meant to educate. At all.
My highest scores did come in for the Hospitality, Tourism, Recreation field. Which was no surprise to me. I think being a tour guide or docent is probably my dream "career." Fun environment, interacting with people, no overly-air-conditioned cubicle trap, possible good hours even. But how is that really different from teaching? I had to ask myself today. I think the difference here is that a) people you're instructing are there willingly (usually) and b) you're not responsible for whether they learn anything or just walk away and don't give you a tip. I have no tolerance for brats.
I've had a lot of wonky jobs (and duties within jobs) in the past 10 years, from reading books onto tape to writing rejection letters to reviewing infomercials. But the best job I ever had was a part-time summer gig supervising teens on a High Ropes Course at an adorable Catholic Life Teen camp in north Georgia called Covecrest. I loved being outside, I loved watching the teens learn to trust and discern their own physical and mental capabilities, and I loved teaching and encouraging them. I would love to work on a ropes course again (even though I'm scared of heights!--I spent almost all of my time on the ground at the camp), and it might be a more available job in Pensacola than a tour guide, but we'll see. And, no, I'm not set on working with teens, so please don't ask me to lead your youth ministry. (I'll save the rest of that rant for another post!) Corporate team-building might be a viable option as well, but only time and the economy will tell.
Let me know if you have a job or know of one that you think would suit me! I'm always open to suggestions since I can't really foresee myself doing this full-time housewifery business forever.
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