What Do You Want to be When You Grow Up?
Thursday June 10, 2010
So, I get these emails every so often from a site I read and one came in the other day with this question:
"What did you want to be when you were little"? Or, I guess a different way of putting it: When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?
With me talking about "defining myself" this week, I thought I would throw this question out there too!
There were the typical doctor, lawyer, teacher and such. I picked a few answers to show the imagination we had as a youth.. or maybe even just dreams that could be real life or not. It is funny how we start out dreaming & imagining & somehow that gets stifled in a lot of us as we age...then it starts to come back when we hit mid-life & older as we realized we may have "settled".... like my mom that went back to acting & singing classes in her 70's before she passed away. Check out some answers to the question below & then come back to read more here later. There are 129 pages of answers!
What did you want to be when you grew up? Did you have big dreams? Did you realize them or modify to make the dreams part of your reality in some way? Did you settle & are now trying to "unsettle? Share your thoughts!
Do you think imagination is more important than knowledge?
PS: If you missed reading the post by Dr. J yesterday, give it a read. Some very powerful points made by Dr. J!
So, I get these emails every so often from a site I read and one came in the other day with this question:"What did you want to be when you were little"? Or, I guess a different way of putting it: When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?
With me talking about "defining myself" this week, I thought I would throw this question out there too!
There were the typical doctor, lawyer, teacher and such. I picked a few answers to show the imagination we had as a youth.. or maybe even just dreams that could be real life or not. It is funny how we start out dreaming & imagining & somehow that gets stifled in a lot of us as we age...then it starts to come back when we hit mid-life & older as we realized we may have "settled".... like my mom that went back to acting & singing classes in her 70's before she passed away. Check out some answers to the question below & then come back to read more here later. There are 129 pages of answers!
- a mermaid, then a Radio City Music Hall Rockette (I still want to be those)
- An operative. As a result, I know how to say "I love You" in 16 different languages; dabbled in martial arts, and I pride myself at being a good cyber-spy! Ha!
- I wanted to be my mom. She was a strong stay-at-home mom, who had to tackle everything on her own when dad was out of town. As a child, I had to help mom fix our TV antenna and bake cookies within 20 minutes. Knowing she could handle almost any situation have my sister and I quite the shoes to fill. I did become a mom, who works as a teacher. It isn't the exact goal I had in mind, but I id grow up to be self sufficient, hard-working, resilient, creative, and a take-charge kind of gal. So in a way, mission accomplished!
- Every other summer from the age of 7, I would visit my mom's family in England. They lived in Colchester - England's oldest recorded town. Because of the living history I encountered, I wanted to be an archeologist. It seemed so intriguing to dig and find treasure with a history attached.
- I wanted to be a one armed Indian. I don't know if I was referring to a Native American or if I planned on changing my nationality. And to this day, I don't know what my plans for my other arm were. My parents were routinely mortified anytime someone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up.
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I also wanted to be wonder woman. I got an A on a college paper that asked who was your favorite person. I probably should have picked Mother Theresa or something, but there is something very noble and altruistic about super-heroes. That and the magic lasso had a whole world of possibilities and still does.
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For the longest time I wanted to be a horse, but eventually realized that was impossible. When I was about 5 years old I saw a man working on a tractor (a backhoe specifically) and I knew that's what I wanted to do. It was hard to break into construction and after working for years at jobs that brought me no satisfaction, I eventually did break in and for the next 30 years lived my dream of operating heavy equipment. (My favorite remained the backhoe). Now I've retired and I really miss working with the machines and the great group of guys who worked with me and mentored me.
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From ages 4 to 7 I wanted to be a trapeze artist and clown, at the same time of course!
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I wanted to be the first woman president or first woman astronaut.
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I wanted to be a cow girl and ride on the range on my trusty Palomino named Cloudy. I liked the idea of being with my horse and all those cowboys!
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I wanted to be a horse. We lived in Florida and there were no fences between the houses and I could run like a horse (on all fours!) all the way down the block!
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A (mad) scientist or an absent minded professor. Am a professor now - and can claim to be absent minded.
What did you want to be when you grew up? Did you have big dreams? Did you realize them or modify to make the dreams part of your reality in some way? Did you settle & are now trying to "unsettle? Share your thoughts!
Do you think imagination is more important than knowledge?
PS: If you missed reading the post by Dr. J yesterday, give it a read. Some very powerful points made by Dr. J!
Posted by truth2beingfit at 6/9/2010 9:00 PM 
Categories: Challenges, Motivation/Support, Life, Life Experiences, Happiness, Inspiration
Tags: acceptance challenges defining you inspiration imagination Happiness brain power Dr. J life experiences passion Believing dreams children
Categories: Challenges, Motivation/Support, Life, Life Experiences, Happiness, Inspiration
Tags: acceptance challenges defining you inspiration imagination Happiness brain power Dr. J life experiences passion Believing dreams children
What an absolutely incredible post. I love this! I think that imagination is extremely important I don't think it is more important than knowledge. You really got me thinking this AM...What did I want to be when I grew up? I didn't have anything specific OTHER than I didn't want to be ME! Never quite thought about it that way until now.......
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I wanted to be a billion different things growing up. Funny that I still want to be a bunch of different things. Maybe I haven't grown up yet?
On my list:
Archeologist
Cosmetician
veterinarian
musician
writer
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I wanted to be a music teacher for as long as I could remember-the whole tone deaf thing stopped me. If I could go back in time and choose all over, I'd become a physical therapist. That would be a really rewarding field.
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I first read that picture as, "Magic-cation!" I need one of those
As a kid I wanted to be a doctor and an artist. Well, and maybe Mighty Mouse
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Dr. J, I like Magic-cation better!
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I have a few people in mind I'd like to show that picture to. Mainly those who think just because you have a bazillion letters and titles after your name you know everything and are the best person for the job. Forget people skills, creativity, etc. etc. Great post!!!
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Oh, and like Dr. J I always wanted to be a doctor and still intend on making that dream come true. I also wanted to be a skydiver, which I am proud to say I did over 300 times
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Great post, Jody! I cycled through a bunch of dreams when I was a kid, but as an adult I've wanted to be a writer and to own my own business. I'm chasing both of those now.
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Good post...I think mine were typical girly dreams...teacher, nurse and Mom. I got to mom..who also has to be a teacher to her kids and a nurse..so in a way mission completed!
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I wanted to be a teacher or to have my own day care. Having my own children took care of that need.
I think it is good to have imagination and knowledge.
I don't know what I want to be after my kids leave the nest. That is still up in the air!
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Great post and I am new to your blog (but I've seen you leaving comments elsewhere
I wanted to be a ballerina. a veterinarian, and a truck driver. In 8th grade, my English teacher told me I had a way with words and from then on, I wanted to be a writer. And I am lucky enough to be living that desire. Not that it hasn't been without detours...
The basic story is here if you're interested:http://kclanderson.com/?p=443
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