Choosing your career at 16

I don't have the answer but I have often wondered why we let 16 year olds choose what career they are going to follow. Although thinking about it I didn't really get to choose my career. I knew what I wanted to do but well meaning parents convinced me that I did NOT really want to do that. So maybe before my ramblings begin I am already disagreeing with myself, maybe we should trust them to chose their career!

This is how choosing my college major went.... I wanted to do something artistic, using the creative side of me. I considered Interior Design, Architecture and I can't remember what other art related fields. I had even taken a drafting class in high school and an art class and determined that technical drawing wasn't as enjoyable for me. So, you see, I went through the "right" steps, even at that young age, to try to rule out what would and wouldn't be a good fit. But I was deterred. Why? Because I was "smart". It would be a waste of my brain and money to go to art school. Art school is too expensive, the supplies alone would bankrupt me. Once I graduated I wouldn't get a "good" job (one making enough to justify the expense of my education).

I paid my own way through college. I believed the adults that taking the art path would leave me broke at graduation. And maybe it would have.

They tried to persuade me to go into Engineering. I knew from my high school state testing that that would be a bad idea. The only scores that I didn't place in the top 90 percentile were spatial relation type tests, which, to me, seemed to be pretty important in engineering. And I hated physics. And the school was in Detroit! My boyfriend was going to Philly, so that would never work! (Hey remember I said 16 year olds shouldn't be making these decisions but if you are going to make your kids pay then you really can't tell them what to do, I suppose)

So...how did I end up with pharmacy? Funny story....so I got the Temple course catalog and started leafing through it..(Temple is where the boyfriend was--DUH!) The boyfriend was pre-med...so when I came across the pharmacy degree...it seemed kismet(is that the word I am looking for?)....he writes the prescriptions then I fill them. How utterly pathetic it seems now. It helped that my best friend had also decided on this career path, but in Pittsburgh. It just seemed like such a good idea....I was good at Chemistry, really good at Organic, which every one else seemed to suck at, so voila, my major was chosen!

It was purely luck that by the time I graduated 5 years later (and with a different boyfriend, I might add!) there was a nation wide pharmacist shortage. Salaries quickly soared and so it seemed I had made the right choice....

I am pretty sure I hated pharmacy while still in school. I worked at both a hospital pharmacy and at CVS. The hospital route didn't appeal to me because the salary was lower (I had already been corrupted by the power of money-- I was graduating with a $3500 credit card bill and about $10k in student loans, which seemed like A LOT at the time! One day I will post about the horrors of penny pinching and working 3 jobs while going to college) and most hospital pharmacies were in the basement, which just seemed claustrophobic to me. CVS sucked for multiple reasons, even back then the welfare patients demanding their refills early because they were going on vacation both astounded and aggravated me. I was also the victim of sexual harassment when it was not nearly as taboo as it is today...please don't get me started on HIM. But I, oh so optimistically, thought that once I was a pharmacist and "in charge" the irritating customers wouldn't be so bad...HA! But, once again, that is a post for another day.

So 22 years later and finally free from pharmacy, I am still getting crap about leaving such a well paying job. I have come to realize (a long time ago actually) that money is not, in fact, the road to happiness. I stopped working full time many, many years ago because I realized this. The more I worked the more stupid expensive shit I bought to pacify myself (again I could write about that for days!). At this point in life I can not be swayed by what others think, I do what makes me happy and not what I "should" do. So here I am in California pursuing a job...just a silly little job that will maybe not bring me joy but at least not bring me misery!

I have considered working with animals--whether at the local zoo or a pet store, or even volunteering at a parrot rescue, if I can't find a "good" job (one that brings joy). I have begun looking at running stores. I just want to be around things I like, even if it it's just cashiering at a sports store, at least it's related to something I am passionate about. I have also considered working at a craft store, who knows maybe someday I could lead those classes they have to make wreaths or something! None of these things will make me wads of cash but I know how to live frugally and would rather do that than spend one more day in pharmacy.

I have considered going back to school to be able to do something I am interested in but at a more "valued" level...like being a personal trainer or a pet groomer but I am not ready to commit to anything.

And finally there still lies within me that desire to be an artist. Fear stops me here.....fear that I won't sell anything or not enough to pay for supplies...fear that I will be too successful and be under too much pressure and lose the joy that drawing brings me. And maybe they are all just excuses...at this point it just seems easier (I hate when I say that because my former therapist always pops into my head....reminding me why the "easy" way is seldom actually easier) to work FOR someone and put my true desires off again as a hobby, as I was told to do nearly 30 years ago.

So...back to what this post was supposed to be about....my son is starting college, which is why I wonder HOW we expect kids to make these huge life long decisions at such a young age. The only guidance I have given him is to pursue something he enjoys, I am almost on the other end of the spectrum...begging him NOT to chose a career based on salary. His dad is paying most of his tuition so he doesn't need to worry too much about debt. I, obviously, wouldn't encourage him to pursue something with zero future with the cost of college today. I just don't want him to end up trapped in a career because he feels obligated to be there because he invested so much time and money in it.

How do we help them find their passion? I realize some of us just know...like I did. But my husband didn't and my son doesn't seem to. So how, with all those possibilities available to you, do you narrow down what you want to do? Back in the dark ages when I went to high school I remember taking some sort of computer assessment that determined being a mortician would be a good fit for me. Do they still offer this crap to kids today? My son didn't receive any advice, not that his stubborn ass would have pursued help if it was offered...

I just wish I could help both him and my husband find their passion and wish that I would have the balls to finally pursue mine.

Thanks for reading...if you are still here....remember I warned you I am a rambler!!