When I grow up….

Most people have various job aspirations as they grow up and I was no different.  I have had a number of different jobs throughout my lifetime and aspired to be many more.  I recall at various times in my childhood thinking I would have liked to be an astronomer, a meteorologist, video game tester/designer, a teacher, a professional baseball player, and many more vocations.

My actual list of jobs since I entered the workforce has been equally diverse although significantly more mundane.  In order they go like this, K-mart stockman, firewood cutter/splitter/stacker, meat cutter at Weis Markets, Hyundai car salesman, directory advertising inside sales for Donnelly Directory, truck driver/loader for Goodwill, pc tech/network engineer for Entre-Ameridata-GE Capital (multiple buyouts), and finally the last dozen years down here as the network admin for a local county government office.  There are also a few brief stints in there where my dad was my pseudo-employer as I did odd jobs for him to make money until I figured out what the F I was going to do next.

For the most part, my job history has been a steady upward curve where one job was better than the previous.  The only exception was when I left the sales field for a brief dip back in the hard labor pool while I went to tech school at night.

I have held my current job for over a dozen years, the longest tenure I have had with any employer in my lifetime.  The job is secure, has good insurance, lots of holidays, stable hours and low stress levels.  Despite these qualities in my employment that many would find quite desirable, that doesn’t mean I still don’t have other vocational aspirations.

Even as I approach 46 years old, I still think about other possible avenues I could take in the future which would amplify my happiness inventory while allowing me to earn a living that still enables me to live comfortably.

How cool would it be to a full time YouTube content producer?  There’s a few lucky individuals that live entirely (some quite handsomely) doing nothing but throwing themselves out there via various social media outlets.   Doing something that allowed me to put my health and fitness interest to work would be another cool path to travel.  How about moving out west and being a full time race timer, a job that would blend my sports/IT background.  Utilizing my unpolished, but decent writing skills to make a buck would be interesting as well.

If I did something like win lotto, where money is no longer a main concern, I would still want to work to remain productive.  Working with animals in some capacity would be awesome or anything where I get to enjoy the great outdoors on a regular basis without breaking my back in the process.

The point is, no matter how old you are I think it is always important to have aspirations, to not shut your eyes to other opportunities.  Everyone’s life typically has many forks in the road.  It certainly is less complicated to just keep the wheel pointed straight ahead.  The problem is the view never changes.