My future as a blank

Mr.Bowers/New teacher
Honors Humanities
23 January 2011
My future as a blank
    It was around the age of six that I began thinking of my future career. Or in a more realistic wording for a child of that age, what I wanted to be when I grew up. Although I had been living for six years, I was still a bit new to this world. Part of me was only beginning to make sense of the fact that children go to school, while adults go to work. After your school days are over, most people say goodbye to their teachers and parents, and both move into a house of their own and begin their own career as an adult. That is the borderline that separates childhood from adulthood. But, I was only a kid after all. The other part of me was content with it staying that way. I was happy living in a world where ice cream, Disney movies on cassette, walking to the park with my dog and playing in the sunny streets with the neighborhood children was my life. End? No thanks.
    Sadly, my six year old self was washed, melted, and smeared away by the reality. My childhood portrait was painted over with hot, mean colors once school began. I never knew that the future would mean homework until 1AM. (such as tonight, sadly) Throughout the years, I was informed by my older peers that there is an end to everything. “Think on the bright side” they would tell me. “This is a new beginning, you are the one that ultimately decides weather or not it will be a bright one in the end”. This frightened me. What if I don’t succeed? What if I don’t get a good education? What if I don’t have the time? What about money?
    Maybe that was slightly overdramatic, but after realizing that my life was going to change, with the inevitable future coming on much too quickly, I was scared. That’s just how I am, overdramatic. So I begin thinking now, what should I do with my life? Well there are quite a few options. I could become a kindergarten teacher, spending my days reading to children and playing with them until nap time. I would send them home to their parents and then drive myself home afterwards. Sounds do-able. I don’t think I could put up with the excitement though. Being my laid back self, I’d probably get sick of the job full of constant movement.
    I could be a taxi cab driver like my mother temporarily worked as during college. She would tell me stories of driving around the windy city, Chicago, giving rides to all sorts of interesting people. It sounds fun, but wouldn’t fit as a permanent career. It’s more like a practice job, a small one to prepare myself for my real career. I have a lot of these ‘practice jobs’ in store. Jobs such as grocery store cashier, flight attendant, or waiter. Whatever it is, I would love to work with people. The possibility of rudeness is likely, but it sounds entertaining. I could really bring back some stories through jobs working with people.
    I remember just last year thinking about how fun it would be to score a career as a marine biologist. I had no clue what it was, but I figured I would be swimming in the ocean observing animals. I was mostly right, but there’s a lot more training than I was expecting. A major in biology, exactly. Not really my strongest subject to be honest…
    Currently, I’m interested in becoming a nurse in the Navy. Why the Navy? I figured that it must be better floating somewhere in the ocean compared to out in the middle of nowhere if I were in the military or army. I would be paid to get my bachelors degree in nursing. So, it would be my job and my education at the same time, sounds good to me. Part of being a nurse is becoming an officer as well. That means waking up early, working out and taking classes as well through NROTC, short for Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps. Although this sounds pretty unappealing to me, it’s just an obstacle that I’ll have to work through. Much like my six year old self, coming into the world of reality, I’ll just have to toughen myself up and get through it. The future won’t be as bad as expected, I’ve concluded. Change happens, I just have to embrace it this time.