When did you know what you wanted to do with your life?

It wasn’t really a moment, but more a collection of moments that led to a gradual realization.

When I was a freshman in college, I realized it looked fun to be a professor.

A few months into the semester, I was told by several of my professors that I was destined to become one myself. (Started to get the idea in my head.)

Sophomore year, I started doing research in a lab and realized I wanted to do science forever.

Also sophomore year, I instructed my first full class and realized my potential as a teacher.

Some time around here, I realized professor was the career for me because I could do research and teach.

When I was three, I told my mom I wanted to be a fire truck.

When i got my first skateboard i knew i was going to be a skateboarder until my legs quit working or i died first. The only thing that has always loved me and been there for me is my skateboard. Defining yourself by a job or profession I don’t care for. Whats your passion?

I was in high school and had just initiated my school’s first recycling program. I had moved from Vermont where not recycling is literally against the law (it is!) to New Hampshire where “Live free or die” really can describe the mentality. I was asked to be part of a task force that was looking at how to improve recycling city-wide since nothing was in place. I remember sitting in a cold room that was on one of the city’s nature reserve properties, with lots of people older than me, many of them Americorps volunteers. I loved sitting around and being part of something that was going to make our community and environment better. It was at that point that I ditched my dream of being a television broadcaster and decided that I wanted to do something for the environment. I was probably 14 or 15. I went on to college to do Environmental Studies and Political Science, then did a year of service with Americorps myself as an environmental educator with students from K-12. Now I have my own environmental consulting business. I’m 28.

Dude! I can’t wait till I can answer this question! Until then, I’ll let you know if I ever figure that out.

When I was little, I used to break the arms of my dolls and teddy bears just so I could “make them better”. My all time favorite childhood activity was playing doctor.

As I’ve grown older, due to numerous accidents and health problems I’ve had to spend a healthy amount of time in the hospital. Because of this, the occupation has come to truly fascinate and enthrall me, not to mention that the anatomy and physiology of the human body is the most interesting thing I’ve ever studied. I spend every summer volunteering at pediatric clinics and hospitals such as St. Jude and Le Bonheur. Right now I have my heart set on becoming a pediatric oncologist, but the subspecialty may change once I enter med school.

I guess my “moment” was more of a compilation of memories that have matured and become interests as I’ve gotten older. GQ, by the way. :)

What I want to do with my life changes on an almost daily basis. Not dramatically, but in an evolutionary kind of way. I know what I want to do now. I don’t know if I can get there. That modifies my plans. But the goal of the moment is always out there, beckoning.

I was almost 23 and a Junior in college (I had dropped-out for a couple years). I was a Speech Pathology major and I had realized during the previous semester that it wasn’t a good choice for me. But since I had no Plan B, I stuck with it. Audiology 101 was a required course, and on the first day of that class, I knew I had found a vocation that fit me. I consider myself very fortunate.

@jt- Dude. Me, too.

I don’t know what I want to do with my life. I doubt I ever will.

About 20 minutes ago.

Seriously, I figured it out at around 40 when it was finally time for me to go back to school. I had a ton of business classes under my belt but realized that I really want to teach.

When I was in Second Grade, I told my teacher I wanted to grow up and be a kitten. She yelled at me, that dream stomping bitch. Ever hear of a imagination?

So here I am a teacher…and none of my kids ever say they want to grow up and be a kitten….stripper, yes, policeman, yes, accountant too. How sad.

my dad came home from work and told me a law partner’s daughter was headed to a local college’s nursing school. My boyfriend was also attending that school. My mom had always wanted to be a nurse. Something clicked. I became a nurse. My mom graduated from the same program the year after I did.
I love nursing and have never regretted the decision.

When I held my first child in my arms. Day after day I became more and more certain that being a mother is what I was put on this earth to do. I may not be the most conventional mother in the world, but it is my privilege to raise 3 wonderful girls. I can’t wait to see what kind of wonderful women they will become.

Now that they are getting older, and don’t need me as much, I have returned to an earlier dream. I want to make a living as a writer. Wish me luck!

Very few people want to be just one thing in their life, Most peope change, grow or have different priorities at different stages of life.

Like a lot of women, I felt the need to be a mother and of course I wanted to be a good mother which made it a high priority. The child I had required more of a mother than most so I happily undertook the job.

As years passed her needs changed and so did my economic status. Being a good mother meant being better able to provide financial support so I examined what I enjoyed that would pay well. I trained for accounting and did it for 15 years.

Then the time came when I didn’t need as much money because I was only supporting myself and was beginning to feel “been there, done that” I also had different priorities when it came to what I enjoyed, I thought about different careers, including nursing, before I decided to go into teaching-now into my 18th year.

Even people who stay in the same career seldom do the same thing all their lives. Even if they don’t change positions ie nurses changing from one specialty to another or clerks moving up within a company, over the course of one’s worklife the job changes ie what started out as invoicing and billing and collating paperwork morphs into the paperless office.

When I was much younger I remember working with a woman who had been basically doing the same job for 20 years. She was efficient and detailed oriented and every time they offered her a promotion, she turned it down. Eventually I realized she was doing what she wanted to do-not the 40 hrs/wk of shuffling paper, she spent almost as much time gardening.

at 47 ‘m still trying to figure it out.

It will come to you one day☂

I wanted to be a writer since I was a child, and also a vet.
I couldn’t be a vet, because I realized I couldn’t put an animal to sleep. I’m not a professional writer, but I write.

In high school we had a student from Vietnam, and I sat next to her in History Class. I liked her so much, and was so desperate to communicate with her, that I ended up teaching her a great deal of English. After I graduated from college, I realized that this was one of my best talents. I have taught all over Europe and now in the inner city. I still love it, and my students.

Just when I think I have it figured out, I change my mind!!

when i watch a japanese movie telling a true story about the of girl with a terminal desease

one litre of tears

In middle school I became a “nanny” for a little boy who was mostly deaf. When I first started watching him his parents did not know he was deaf, and were trying to figure out what was wrong. I watched him bang his head on the wall because he couldn’t tell you what he wanted, and it broke all of our hearts every time. After many different opinions and lots of fighting with doctors, his mom finally convinced someone something was wrong with her son. They figured out he was 80% deaf and we all started learning sign language together. It was the most amazing experience. The look on his face when he could tell us what he wanted is something I will never forget. It was a beautiful thing to watch him grow and learn. I suspected then that I wanted to help children with special needs, but at that time I thought I just wanted to help deaf children.

A few years down the line I was watching a show on the Discovery Health Channel, but I can’t remember what the specific illness was. I watched these amazing children on TV and could not stop the tears from pouring down my face. Even just watching on TV I could feel their powerful presence. Their happiness emitted through their eyes. There were some children that could not spell out their name but they could play a piano piece from Beetoven by ear, after only hearing it once. Amazing. In that moment I knew that is what I wanted to do with my life. I simply want to be in the presence of such miracles. I want to get to know as many of these special children as possible. I want to have them in my life and I want to do everything in my power to help them. Whether it’s helping medically or just being their friend, I want to give them what they need. They have made such an impact on my life I feel I need to pay them back. Since then I have volunteered one summer at a camp for special needs kids, and spent time with my autistic cousin. I am in the process of getting a degree in special education and I hope to someday start my own program.

I was in Economics class, macro, I think… bored outta my mind, but sketching a layout for a party flyer, when the girl next to me said, “Hey, you know you can get paid for that, right?” “Paid for what?” I asked incredulously. She responded, “Ummm, it’s called Graphic Design! Look it up!”... I did, and haven’t looked back since.

in middle school, i knw what i anted to with my life

@kevinhardy ; Your keyboard is sticking? did you spill a Coke on it?

lol your a funny one judi

When I discovered I’d have to fend for myself – the stuff I wanted to do didn’t pay well enough to let me live the way I wanted.

Trade-offs and concessions… it’s what the world is made of.

LOL. Puberty! Ah, but it was not to be.