Together On Tuesdays (One Day Late)-Job Of Your Dreams
This weeks topic for Together On Tuesdays is "What if you could have the job of your dreams?"
I've had so many dream jobs in my head over the past several years. It's always changing and evolving into something new as my interests change. It is a little hard for me to pick one so I'm going to tell you about a couple of things that I've thought about over the past several years.
If you would have asked me this when I was 18 there would have been no doubt that I would want to be a Broadway actor, specifically for musical theater. I've pretty much been in love with singing my entire life. I'm pretty sure that I drove my parents nuts growing up. If the radio was on the car, I was the little girl in the back seat singing her heart out about topics that I had no clue about.
That love for singing drew me to audition for choir in high school (for some reason, I didn't audition in Jr High, WEIRD). Because of high school choir, I was introduced to voice lessons. I would meet with my vocal coach once a week. I did that for my last 3 years in high school. She helped me get confident enough to audition for my first musical, A Chorus Line and I got a part in the chorus.
From that point on, I became obsessed with musicals. Here is a list of shows that I have been cast in......
A Chorus Line
The Wizard of Oz
Will Roger's Follies
Tommy
Fiddler on the Roof
The Wizard of Oz (again)
Chicago
This is in addition to all of the concerts and other performances that I've done (way too many to count).
But as I got older, it got harder to give up my free time to do theater. I wanted to spend more time with my friends. I got tired of all of the politics in theater. It seemed like you had be best buddies with the director in order to get a good part. I knew that I wanted to have a family someday, I started thinking about the time it would take away from that. It was at that point that I decided that, while it was something that I really really loved, it wasn't something that I wanted to do for the rest of my life. It's not like I was brave enough to head out to NYC and try to make it BIG. And while community theater is great, it's just not something that I was willing to invest the time into.
Something else that I thought I wanted to do was become a nurse. While living in Goshen I worked at Oaklawn Mental Health Facility. I found it very interesting to see how the mind works and to help people work out their problems. Then I moved back to Indy for a couple of years before Nolan and I got married and I worked at a nursing home. This was hands down the hardest job that I've ever had. It was brutal, back breaking work. And not only was it physically demanding, it was also mentally exhausting. While that was not my dream job, I did learn that I liked caring for others. I liked making them feel better. I liked bringing a smile to their faces when they learned that I was going to be their aide for the day. When I got married, I moved to Atlanta Georgia with Nolan so I had to leave my job. I was ready to leave, but I did miss some of my patients.
After Nolan and I got married and he finished school at Georgia Tech, I went back to school with the plan to get my nursing degree. I was working full time and doing a couple of classes here and there. Nolan got a promotion at work and I was able to find a job working part time. This gave me the extra time to invest in school. I was able to work three days a week and spend more time on my studies. I needed the extra time, most of the classes that I was taking were math or science related and those subjects just do not come naturally to me and competition was stiff! But soon I found out I was pregnant. I couldn't work part time, be a mom and go to nursing school. So, I quit. I hate feeling like a quitter. It seemed at that point I was never going to have a big girl job. It seemed that I was always going to be just doing something to earn a little bit of extra money. It was a little bit depressing, but I also knew that I was giving this up to do something greater, be a mom.
And now, I've finally gone for a job where I really want to succeed. I love taking pictures. It started as a hobby when Georgia was born. We decided to invest in a good camera instead of taking her to be photographed every few months. And I started playing around with the camera. Soon I began investing more time in photographing Georgia. It became more like real photo shoots. Friends and family started asking when I was going to do this full time. Photographing my own kid is one thing, photographing someone else's kid or family is another. Some friends let me practice on their kids. I was able to learn a lot about my skills and build my portfolio.
I became pregnant with my second child and was due in January 2012. Nolan and I decided that while I was on maternity leave from work we would get a website together and get serious about a photography business for me. That way I would be ready to go for spring and summer photo sessions. In October, our baby died 26 weeks into the pregnancy. I took some time off from my part time job to process everything that was going on. It was then that I decided that I did not want to go back to my job. I started to feel like life was too short and that I needed to go for this photography business if I really wanted it. So this spring I opened Purple Peaches Photography. Its something that I love doing and the best part is that I get to spend plenty of time with my family. And it's a job where I just genuinely going to work. I like the interaction with my clients and coming up with a photo session that is going to be perfect for them. I love editing the photographs. I love the reaction that I get from my clients and their family and friends when I post their photos on Facebook. And really, getting paid is secondary. I don't want to charge an arm and leg for photos. I want to make a little extra for my family so that all of the burden isn't on Nolan, but I don't feel the need to get rich on this. I just love it.
So we will see how it goes, I've got a lot of sessions booked for this spring and it seems like my dream job might just work out for me. It took a long time to find it. For me my dream job had to combine something that I really love but also leave plenty of time for my real dream job, being Nolan's wife and Georgia's mom.
Remember to check out what Danielle at http://mypeachesandcream.blogspot.com/ , Michelle at http://mommqspace.blogspot.com/ and Charlotte at http://thedogdaysoflife.blogspot.com/ have to say about their dream jobs.
I've had so many dream jobs in my head over the past several years. It's always changing and evolving into something new as my interests change. It is a little hard for me to pick one so I'm going to tell you about a couple of things that I've thought about over the past several years.
If you would have asked me this when I was 18 there would have been no doubt that I would want to be a Broadway actor, specifically for musical theater. I've pretty much been in love with singing my entire life. I'm pretty sure that I drove my parents nuts growing up. If the radio was on the car, I was the little girl in the back seat singing her heart out about topics that I had no clue about.
That love for singing drew me to audition for choir in high school (for some reason, I didn't audition in Jr High, WEIRD). Because of high school choir, I was introduced to voice lessons. I would meet with my vocal coach once a week. I did that for my last 3 years in high school. She helped me get confident enough to audition for my first musical, A Chorus Line and I got a part in the chorus.
From that point on, I became obsessed with musicals. Here is a list of shows that I have been cast in......
A Chorus Line
The Wizard of Oz
Will Roger's Follies
Tommy
Fiddler on the Roof
The Wizard of Oz (again)
Chicago
This is in addition to all of the concerts and other performances that I've done (way too many to count).
But as I got older, it got harder to give up my free time to do theater. I wanted to spend more time with my friends. I got tired of all of the politics in theater. It seemed like you had be best buddies with the director in order to get a good part. I knew that I wanted to have a family someday, I started thinking about the time it would take away from that. It was at that point that I decided that, while it was something that I really really loved, it wasn't something that I wanted to do for the rest of my life. It's not like I was brave enough to head out to NYC and try to make it BIG. And while community theater is great, it's just not something that I was willing to invest the time into.
Something else that I thought I wanted to do was become a nurse. While living in Goshen I worked at Oaklawn Mental Health Facility. I found it very interesting to see how the mind works and to help people work out their problems. Then I moved back to Indy for a couple of years before Nolan and I got married and I worked at a nursing home. This was hands down the hardest job that I've ever had. It was brutal, back breaking work. And not only was it physically demanding, it was also mentally exhausting. While that was not my dream job, I did learn that I liked caring for others. I liked making them feel better. I liked bringing a smile to their faces when they learned that I was going to be their aide for the day. When I got married, I moved to Atlanta Georgia with Nolan so I had to leave my job. I was ready to leave, but I did miss some of my patients.
After Nolan and I got married and he finished school at Georgia Tech, I went back to school with the plan to get my nursing degree. I was working full time and doing a couple of classes here and there. Nolan got a promotion at work and I was able to find a job working part time. This gave me the extra time to invest in school. I was able to work three days a week and spend more time on my studies. I needed the extra time, most of the classes that I was taking were math or science related and those subjects just do not come naturally to me and competition was stiff! But soon I found out I was pregnant. I couldn't work part time, be a mom and go to nursing school. So, I quit. I hate feeling like a quitter. It seemed at that point I was never going to have a big girl job. It seemed that I was always going to be just doing something to earn a little bit of extra money. It was a little bit depressing, but I also knew that I was giving this up to do something greater, be a mom.
And now, I've finally gone for a job where I really want to succeed. I love taking pictures. It started as a hobby when Georgia was born. We decided to invest in a good camera instead of taking her to be photographed every few months. And I started playing around with the camera. Soon I began investing more time in photographing Georgia. It became more like real photo shoots. Friends and family started asking when I was going to do this full time. Photographing my own kid is one thing, photographing someone else's kid or family is another. Some friends let me practice on their kids. I was able to learn a lot about my skills and build my portfolio.
I became pregnant with my second child and was due in January 2012. Nolan and I decided that while I was on maternity leave from work we would get a website together and get serious about a photography business for me. That way I would be ready to go for spring and summer photo sessions. In October, our baby died 26 weeks into the pregnancy. I took some time off from my part time job to process everything that was going on. It was then that I decided that I did not want to go back to my job. I started to feel like life was too short and that I needed to go for this photography business if I really wanted it. So this spring I opened Purple Peaches Photography. Its something that I love doing and the best part is that I get to spend plenty of time with my family. And it's a job where I just genuinely going to work. I like the interaction with my clients and coming up with a photo session that is going to be perfect for them. I love editing the photographs. I love the reaction that I get from my clients and their family and friends when I post their photos on Facebook. And really, getting paid is secondary. I don't want to charge an arm and leg for photos. I want to make a little extra for my family so that all of the burden isn't on Nolan, but I don't feel the need to get rich on this. I just love it.
So we will see how it goes, I've got a lot of sessions booked for this spring and it seems like my dream job might just work out for me. It took a long time to find it. For me my dream job had to combine something that I really love but also leave plenty of time for my real dream job, being Nolan's wife and Georgia's mom.
Remember to check out what Danielle at http://mypeachesandcream.blogspot.com/ , Michelle at http://mommqspace.blogspot.com/ and Charlotte at http://thedogdaysoflife.blogspot.com/ have to say about their dream jobs.
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