You’ve probably been asked so many times, “So, what would you like to be when you grow up?”. My family and I used to read this Barney & Friends book which had a picture of Barney dressed as an astronaut in space and as I was looking through the book I would point at the picture, look up at my mother and say “I astronaut, I astronaut.” My two year old mind wanted to travel up the stars and live on the moon. What a life I had planned for myself, huh? I’m sure when you were in kindergarten you probably had to draw (poorly of course) what you wanted to be when you grew up. I remember drawing myself as a ballet dancer on a stage knowing at the age of five that this is what I was going to do for the rest of my life. Little did I know what life had in store for me.
As years went on I was involved with gymnastics for about ten years which made me want to be a gymnastics coach. But that all changed when a lacrosse stick ended up in my hand at the end of sixth grade. Then I wanted to be a teacher just like my mother. I loved playing school with my little sister and my neighbors. But then once I got into the middle school I believed I wanted to continue with my teaching concept but I wanted to teach art because of this eighth grade art class which taught me the basics of art and so I thought this is it; this is what I want to do with the rest of my life.
Art has always been a passion of mine. Every since I was little I loved to paint and draw. I loved being creative in not only projects but even writing my name in class at the top of my paper would turn into a swirly bubbly version of the word “Caitlin”. During high school I took all different types of art classes until my senior year when I decided to take AP (Advanced Placement) Art. During this class I had to send a certain amount of paintings to the AP board who judged my art and gave me a grade which could transfer credits over to college. With art on my mind I had this plan of designing album covers for music. I have been brought up into the music world since my father has been playing music like Pink Floyd since I was pretty much born and would rock me to the beat of the music which would make me fall asleep. So yeah, music has been such a big part of my life that I figured I would combine it with something that I love which was art. Anyways, so I graduated high school with an art scholarship and was ready to go into the art program at New England College.
Once I started my freshman year at NEC I took Composition 101 which is where I met a professor that changed my life and I don’t think he even knows it to be quite honest with you. My professor told me that I was a pretty good writer and told me to consider majoring in creative writing. I looked at him as if he were crazy and told him I was an art student here. He asked me if I was interested in anything else and I told him my favorite subject in school was science. My professor looked at me very seriously and asked me the question that changed my career path to the max: “Is your name out in the art world yet?” I told him no and he shook his head and said “You should consider going into the health field, you’ll do better there. Keep art within your life but go into something that has to do with health.” I left his office thinking how could he tell me that I wasn't going to make it into the art world? How could he just shoot down my life plan just like that? Well, eventually I took his advice, changed my major to Kinesiology (Exercise Science) and BOOM, my new new journey began… until I changed my mind again.
I went from Kinesiology (not knowing what the hell I was doing with it) to Health Science thinking I was going to be a physical therapist. I thought it was impossible. Through multiple mental breakdowns just because I couldn’t pass a quiz to even crying over my roommate stealing my pencil. I was done. But I wanted to stay within the health field. I thought I was going to be a nurse… nope. Wrong. I thought I was going to be an athletic trainer… nope. Wrong too. I had no idea what to do, so I went back to Kinesiology to see what I could do.
Finally, my junior year of college, it hit my like a bus (kinda like the one that hit Regina George in the movie “Mean Girls”). I am going to be a health/physical education teacher and coach girls/women’s lacrosse. I have never felt more confident in what I wanted to be before. I am majoring in Kinesiology and minoring in Sports Management. I have been fighting this ever since I was seven years old but I can’t fight it anymore because my passion for the subject and the feeling of knowing I have helped a child become more knowledgable in something so important in life is all I can ask for.
Okay, so you’re probably wondering why I just explained my life story of how many times I changed my mind of what I wanted to be when I “grew up”. Well, it’s quite simple really. I want to let you know that it is okay to change your mind. It is okay if one day you want to be a nurse and then the next week you decide you want to be a lawyer. Or if you have a summer job as a waitress and then a day later you decide to take a CPR class and become a lifeguard at a beach. A career is not all about how much money you make; it’s about how happy you are getting up in the morning to go to work everyday. If you enjoy what you are doing than it won’t feel like you’re going to work at all. So, the next time that you change your mind about what you want to be or what you want to do don’t be afraid of change. Just go for it.
