The Accidental Careerist

Today, I was walking through the newsroom with a precocious summer intern that is still in high school. As we passed the desk of my very first editor, I stopped to introduce them to each other. I began working for the editor when I was seventeen at the beginning of my senior year in high school. I thought I was going to be the next great American author back then. As editor of my high school's literary magazine and newspaper, I was steered toward a good paying after school job at the local newspaper. That was almost twenty years ago. Over the years, we both found ourselves at the larger paper we work for now.

I told the intern (who is also seventeen and about to start his senior year) today to be careful of accidentally having a career choose him. Who knows what will happen if he hangs out with us newsies for long. Yesterday my advice for the day was to not let being in love with some adorable drug addict ruin your college education/life.  if he learns one thing at all this summer, let it be this one. Of course, we are teaching him all sorts of important photographic things about apertures and f-stops and giving him an entrance into places and situations most people do not get to venture in. Such as Yankees stadium, a fashion shoot, a murder scene. He breathes it all in and wants more. If I squint my eyes and cock my head juuuust right, I  can remember  that breathless youthfulness.

I've got to thinking about all the jobs I've thought were possibly right for me over the years. If I hadn't fallen into my accidental career.

Librarian at the New York City library
Dancer for Madonna tour
Ornithologist
Actress
Writer
Massage therapist
Chef
Celebrant
Lunch truck lady
Documentary filmmaker
Forensic photographer
Police detective
Gardener
Realtor
Tour guide at the Hearst mansion
Park ranger on the Olympic Peninsula
Talk show host
News radio announcer
Soap maker

There have been times I have desperately wanted to do something else. I've done considerable research on several of the professions above. I wonder if I'll ever make the leap. And which one I would ultimately choose. Does my list of professions tell something about me or have some common thread that I can't see for myself?

Did you choose your work? Or did it choose you? If you could start over what would you be?

Comments

[joan]

The list of jobs I HAVE done is probably longer than your list of possible jobs... maybe I should take stock of that one of these days!

Okay, what I would have been had my life been different

Performer with Cirque de Soleil
Advertising
fashion designer (project runway...sigh)
Architect
Actor
cartoonist
Sculptor
Window Dresser
set designer
Writer
Art therapist
and so on and so on!

I'm not certain of a thread with your list Rach, but ALOT of it is very creative :)

oh yea, I'd DEFINITELY be a dancer right along side of you for the Madonna tour... I took dance lessons for 12 years :)

And, I think you'd be a FABULOUS Chef...
oh, I wanna be a sous chef for Bobby Flay!!

This was a great post, it really gets you thinking... and Rachel, you still have plenty of time to make the leap.

Your tenacity is truly an inspiration for me.

so glad you like my beams!

xoxoxo

[rebecca]

i'm sure your intern can learn a LOT from you. he's lucky to be at your newspaper. i feel the same way, about desperately wanting to do something else. being a librarian was in no way accidental, it was very much planned. the professions on your list have a lot of differences as far as whether you'd work alone or surrounded by people. but in the end, it seems that the one connection that i find amongst them is creativity. in each, you have to have some level of creativity in order to be successful at them. oooops, just saw that joan came to the same conclusion.

[lisa]

from my fifth grade memory book:

Q: What do you want to be when you grow up?

A: Jamie Summers

Yes, that's right. I had my sights and dreams firmly set on becoming the Bionic Woman. And really, at age 11, I should have known better.

[Rachel]

Joan- how could I forget fashion designer? That
was something I was so interested in doing in high school and my mother discouraged me from following a path in art or design. She pushed me to focus on writing which was a strength she felt was more versatile. I do love Project Runway now.

Lisa- Jamie Sommers. She totally rocked. Although i was partial to Wonder Woman.

[linni]

Seeing your list.. which adds to mine... I once heard Dr. John F Demartini speak about what is our soul purpose in life. And how do we know that what we are doing is 'the thing' we should be doing?

He said: "if you feel excitement rise in your body, you enjoy doing that, but when you feel gratitude in your heart while doing something, that is where you are meant to be."

I also remember a few years back I did not want to go to sleep, because I suddenly realised that there are still a million things that I want to do... of which skateboarding came up at the top, which I have not tried, and still wanted to do! My husband just looked at me, smiled, and told me to start... cause he is going to bed!:-)

I would say... just do it all!That way you have experienced it all, and one day when you are 'big' you can choose which onces you enjoy the most! What an exciting life! xx