What career do you have VS what you wanted to do when younger

[Perfectlyblended]

My DD was talking to me the other day about her future dreams ( she’s still primary school aged .

got me thinking about how different my path ended up compared to my childhood dreams.

what did you want to be ?
what did you end up being ?
If you could start again what would you choose now ?

I wanted to be a zoo keeper
ended up being a forensic pathologist

Would've given and done anything to have been an Air Hostess as a child (we travelled a lot in the 80s and 90s). Ended up becoming an Educational Psychologist.

I wanted to run my own sales livery for horses.
I took on problem horses, fixed them up and sold them on from 13 until i was 21, then I realised i'd never have the money for the land i needed to actually make a living, so i got an office job.

Been in management in my professional role for 8 years now and stuck here - i can't retrain as something else without taking a huge paycut that i can't afford!

If i did my time again i'd have worked out a way to make the horse business work long term.

I wanted to be a bus conductress.

I ended up being an Accountant.

When I was small bus conductress's were so glamorous, like film stars. I got made redundant before I started, with the advent of one man buses.

I looked at it a good few years ago via an undergrad route and also direct application (late 30’s now). I would have loved to as I did study Biology and Maths at A-Level and so met the requirements for some routes but I was in the age old situation of not being able to afford the drop in salary as I have two DCs and now I fear I am just too old. I would never ever in any other instance say that late 30’s was old!!

My daughter always wanted to be a teacher, she would line her teddies up and set up lessons on her ELC wooden A board. She would do it for hours and I would join in but she would often send me out for being naughty.

She is now a training to become a real teacher.

Me, I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up.

I have had two careers, both required training and one a degree but only one of those I had an interest in.

Mind is a bit grandiose, but has a back story .

opera singer. Yes, really.

I was a shy tubby child, very bookish, always picked last for school sports, couldn't catch a ball, had trouble understanding basic arithmetic. Was quite bright at bookish subjects. All I was really good at was singing, I had a huge voice. My music teachers encouraged me to have quite serious singing lessons at a young age. I wanted to pursue music college but my health was poor and my parents didn't want me to have a job with little guarantee of success (I had talent but some have way more) and I never did make it. I tried to study a law degree, but was struggling badly healthwise.

My mental health was very poor and I'm now in intense therapy, have been on heavy duty medications which effed up my voice and brain and muscle movements. I am working on becoming more stable mentally and I'm doing a bit of voluntary peer mentorship with other people with the same mental health issues as me and like me, also doing Dialectical Behaviour Therapy. I want when I'm better to work in mental health maybe study to become a therapist working with trauma survivors, especially those labelled as having illnesses like BPD/EUPD.

But I don't know. I'm overweight and not the most confident. I'm kind of taking it day by day. I'm not in a great place now, tbh.

At primary school I wanted to be a teacher. At secondary school I wanted to be a journalist. School careers advice told me I should be a librarian and there was no guidance from home. I ended up leaving school and going straight into retail work full time and did no further studies. I now run a soft furnishings business and have done for nearly 12 years. In some ways it's a shame because I excelled at school and I would have done very well studying further English, but then my chosen career has meant I've had less childcare costs and have been fully flexible when my son needed me most. Saying that, I wouldn't have had my son if I hadn't followed the path I did. Everything for a reason.

Throughout my childhood and teenage years, I wanted to be:

• a witch
• a scientist
• a mounted police woman
• a member of the household calvary

I became (and still am) a witch and a registered veterinary nurse!

If I had my time again, I would have joined the military and waited it out until women were finally allowed to ride the Queens horses!