Career Paths

How does one chooses what they want to do for the rest of their life? How does someone make such an important decision in their life? How do you know you picked the right career for you? I’ve heard people say, “choose something you love to do that way you don’t have to work a day in your life”. But to be honest there isn’t anything I was really passionate about and I don’t think I have a talent. So, how was I suppose to pick a career?

During elementary school we are always asked what we want to be when we grow up, kids always answer common careers like doctors, lawyers, policemen/woman, firefighters, or chef. Kids answer these common careers because they have no idea the thousands of career choices they actually have. Which is another thing, we have so many possibilities how can we choice just one? 

During high school we took an questionnaire to see what careers we would be good at based on our personalities, my results was air traffic controller. I told my parents that I was going to join the air force and be an air traffic controller. And everyone who asked if I knew what I wanted to do after I graduated I told them the same thing. Until my senior year of high school I started searching online about joining the air force and I had read that people who suffered from asthma couldn’t join. Well, there went my plans I was so sure about. Also, while I was working and my aunt’s hair salon one of her customers was telling me that air traffic controlling is a very stressful job and that you usually couldn’t retire from that profession. I started doing research on that too and it was true, air traffic controlling is one of the most stressful jobs out there. They even require them to take therapy as least once a year. Again, there went my plans. So, I graduated high school not knowing at all what I wanted to do. 

One day I was watching the movie Juno with my step-mom and during the scene where she was getting an ultra sound I was thinking, “maybe I could become an ultra sound tech.” My step-mom thought it was a great idea. I looked up information for the community college and there was a waiting list of about 2 years, so I gave up on that. In the fall after I graduated I started KVCC as undecided, took general courses hoping that somehow I would just crash into what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. It didn’t happen. I had talked with an academic adviser and she had me take another questionnaire to see what careers would be most interesting to me but none of the results interested me. I finished my freshman year of college and I still had no idea what I wanted to do. There went one year wasted. I went to Florida that summer and started at Palm Beach State College in the fall taking general courses. There I also looked into the ultra sound tech but they picked only a certain amount of students each year to begin the program and it always started in January, so you could only start in January. Towards the end of this semester in Florida I was looking at options back in Michigan for Medical Assisting programs because my friend did it in 9 months and started her job at 15 an hour. (She was one of the lucky few.) Well I thought the same would happen to me, it was a fast program and the money would be good.

I went back to Michigan to start the Medical Assisting program at the same school my friend went to and I also found a job at a law firm. I loved how the lawyers made their own schedules. They could come to the office if they wanted or they could work from home. One of the attorney’s was also an accountant and she had a separate office from the law firm. I started thinking about what careers are available where you are your own boss. Being a lawyer didn’t really interest me, but then I thought maybe I could be an accountant and have my own office. I did take accounting in high school and it was pretty easy. A lot of people told me accounting is boring but it didn’t matter to me, that’s what I wanted to do. Well a little surprise came and I got pregnant while still finishing my MA program. 

My husband (who was my boyfriend at the time) was telling me that even though I got pregnant that didn’t mean that I couldn’t get a degree. He had graduated that April with his Bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering. He was always telling me and asking me if I finally knew what I wanted to study and if I had taken the steps to find out what I needed to do to get started, because he didn’t want me to settle for just getting an MA certification. Well, I finished my MA program and that same school also had online classes for Associates Degrees in different health care areas. I am currently taking online classes towards my Associates Degree in Medical Billing Administrative Specialist. I was thinking that after I got my AS I could go a pursue my Bachelors in Healthcare Administration. But I still want to be my own boss. 

Recently a family member of mine went into rehab and I have found myself asking a lot of questions regarding their time in rehab and the other people who are in there with them. Also, I have just finished my intro to psychology class. The other day while I went to go visit my family member this young lady (just a little bit older than me) was walking into the center too. I had asked my family member who she was, they told me she was a student who was studying psychology and she came to observed a few days a week. That’s when I was thinking, maybe I could be psychologist and council people who are addicted to drugs or maybe even people who have mental health problems. I spoke to my cousin about this, she has a minor in psychology, and she told me if the intro classes was very interesting to me that I would definitely enjoy the other psychology classes as well. I am currently going to find out information regarding changing my career path because I finally think I have found exactly what I want to do. I will be able to be my own boss and I’ll be able to help people, which is something I have learned that I really like to do. I know it will be a lot of schooling but the time is going to past anyways, so why not put in the effort. 

I really hope this is the fit for me because I sometimes feel like I am just wasting time. I mean picking what you want to do in life is a big decision and you don’t want to pick the wrong career and then regret it later on in life.