If you dreamed of a different career, what would it have been?

I wanted to run a pre-school with a concentration on learning how to learn and interpersonal communications, teach creative writing at the junior high level, be a set-designer for stage productions because I love building and creating, or be a casting director (no couch, of course!) - As it turned out, I did manage to work in fields that let me at least dabble in these things.

I also dreamt of being a geologist and archeologist, but only got to dabble in these on rare occasions - mostly through taking college classes.

One thing that I thought about long ago was designing prosthetic devices because of people I knew. Now that interest is renewed as I am watching the thread on AI humanoid robots! (hmm...maybe it's not too late!)
 

Prima Ballerina for the Bolshoi. I did take ballet classes until I was in my forties. I did have the feet and legs for it but I started way too late.

Architect for houses. I did take drafting at a technical school, was disappointed at all the tools I had to draw, but I loved my drafting table and T-square and drew plenty of floor plans for fun.

Super Housewife like June Cleaver. I did get to keep house, but I married someone who thought I should also go out and earn the money like Ward.

If I had a second chance I think I would like to help the mentally ill somehow as either a psychologist/therapist/or psychiatric nurse. I majored in psychology in college, but I'm glad I didn't get to be a psychologist back then, trying to make some poor schizophrenic dredge up the past through his hallucinations and fear, when what he really needed was some medication to straighten out his brain chemistry.

That high school aptitude test said I should be a forest ranger. I can just picture myself up in a tower, lost in a novel, while the forest burns down.
 
Della said:
Prima Ballerina for the Bolshoi. I did take ballet classes until I was in my forties. I did have the feet and legs for it but I started way too late.

Architect for houses. I did take drafting at a technical school, was disappointed at all the tools I had to draw, but I loved my drafting table and T-square and drew plenty of floor plans for fun.

Super Housewife like June Cleaver. I did get to keep house, but I married someone who thought I should also go out and earn the money like Ward.

If I had a second chance I think I would like to help the mentally ill somehow as either a psychologist/therapist/or psychiatric nurse. I majored in psychology in college, but I'm glad I didn't get to be a psychologist back then, trying to make some poor schizophrenic dredge up the past through his hallucinations and fear, when what he really needed was some medication to straighten out his brain chemistry.

That high school aptitude test said I should be a forest ranger. I can just picture myself up in a tower, lost in a novel, while the forest burns down.
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Hi Della. Great response! I only laughed because of your last line and the irony on those tests. I was told that I should be a mechanical engineer - Didn't anyone notice my totally crappy math scores, huh?
 
I wanted whatever job would let me travel around the world. Didn’t get that.
Also wanted to go into the military but that was not at all a career suggested for women in the late 60’s. I was strongly discouraged.

My first career was in social work. But by the time I retired I had worked in a lot of totally different areas. My last job was as a research assistant in a university lab.
 
Sliverfox said:
Growing up on a small farm,, thought I would like to raise purebred beef cattle.

In high school meant my future husband.
Once out of High school we married. Tried to buy the family farm but my father wouldn't sell it to us.
Became a stay at home mother.
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From the family farm growing up, I was dreaming of heading to Hollywood ... :ROFLMAO:

Met my husband in high school too, and those dreams took on a different path.
 
I wanted to be an Interior Designer but I was told 'I had a head for numbers' so did the accounting thing ( no machines in those days)
coz way back then you did as you were told by the elders.
My art teacher was very disappointed that I did not pursue it as according to her I had a flair for design ahead of my time.
Ah well in my next life......
 
I wanted to be an airline pilot, also people told me I had a great radio voice. Instead, I became an Engineer.
However, I did a stint as a DJ on the military Far East Network
I did get a Commercial pilot;s license later in life. I used it to fly for Angel Flight West, taking patients to and from distant appointments.
All told, I am happy the way things worked out, :)
 
Looking back, I think I would have made a good James Bond, but the powers that be would likely have told me that I was either too handsome or far too ugly. 😊
 
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Many people (including several schoolteachers) have told me I should be a comedian.
They're probably right. After seeing some comedians, I sometimes think, "They're not very funny; why are they so popular?"
 
I wanted to be an architect. Like @AnnieA I used to draw house plans when I was a kid. I still have them. I took Architecture in Junior College until I decided to change my major to Business Administration. I learned there was much more money in commercial architecture, and that didn't interest me. Also, I was better at the technical rather than design aspects.

I wouldn't change a thing in my career path at this point, but I would have probably been a lot richer if I'd been an architect.
 
WheatenLover said:
What were your dreams about career possibilities from childhood onward? I had a few, but this is not to say that IRL I could have achieved any of them.

I wanted to write and give speeches (not write for someone else), to write books for children, to be a Special Agent in the FBI, to be a surgeon, to be a spy with the CIA, to be a homicide detective, and to be a farmer's wife. I briefly flirted with being a drill sergeant in the Marines (I took their test at age 18, and that's what they wanted me to be), owning a restaurant and catering business and being a chef, being a famous pianist (alas, no piano), and with being a veterinarian (one that didn't involve animals being in pain -- ain't gonna happen).

The farming idea came from children's fiction books set on farms in which all animals are clean, there are no bad smells, no manure, no flies, and every farmer has cows, horses, goats, sheep, chickens, dogs, children, delicious food, no poverty, a wonderful, big strong husband who was also a great handyman/builder of things, and no actual crops to speak of. Hardships included waking up to a cold house and once in awhile, outhouses and chamber pots. The hard work of farming was never all that evident. I had seen historical movies set in NYC and there was zero problem with manure.

I was in my mid-30s before I visited a farm. It was then I discovered that the animals don't get baths every day (not that they did in books, I just assumed that of course they would). Around that time, I found out that farmers who grow crops don't always have a wide selection of farm animals as pets. Then I moved here, and discovered what hard work actual farming is.

I loved mysteries and thrillers, hence the interest in the FBI, CIA, and being a homicide detective. I was worried about becoming a dead spy, though, so I preferred the FBI.

I loved reading and always wanted to write, but didn't have time. My childhood dream was to own a big house on a big hill in snowy New Hampshire. It would have a 500 acre lot, on a lot of forested land, totally fenced so my pack of highly-trained German Shepherd protection dogs (who were very sweet, although could be lethal) wouldn't run loose, long extended family visits on holidays, someone to take care of the land, someone to clean the house, and a cook. Meanwhile, I'd sit back writing best sellers to support my lifestyle, books that would just flow from my brain and fingers to the pages. I had no idea how writers really work. I would use a pseudonym and not give interviews or have any public appearances. (I liked J.D. Salinger's books and he was big on privacy.) Still, my personal safety was important, and so was my anonymity. I don't recall a husband or children in this dream of mine, or anyone except family visiting on holidays. What was I thinking?! I hate snow and I don't like the idea of living in isolation.

Being a surgeon would be fun and that was inspired by loving to read books about the field, watching St. Elsewhere and Quincy, M.E., and always being curious about what the insides of human bodies look like and how the parts function together, plus having spent a lot of time in hospitals when I was a child. Neither of my husbands was at all supportive of me going to med school (to much time away from them), and I didn't have the money or want huge loans. Anyway, being a surgeon can easily lead to a major varicose vein problem, and probably back problems too -- but I didn't realize that then. Plus maybe it's boring, doing the same operations over and over.

When I was a child, I thought wives read all day, eating bon-bons, so wanted to be one, as long as the husband didn't leave his socks on the bedroom floor (like my dad) and didn't have false teeth (like my aunt). My mother didn't do that, but then again I was either in school, reading in my room, or outside playing most of the time. And she did like books and chocolates very much. By the time I was home from my endeavors, all I saw my mom doing was cooking. I knew she cleaned because the house was *always spotless*.

Today, I am glad I'm not a farmer's wife, a CIA spy, a surgeon, or a speech writer/giver. I'm not sure speech writer and giver is an occupation, except on street corners. I'm not the street corner type. I can think of only three jobs in which street corners play a part, and I'm not interested in any of them (Independent speech giver, drug dealer, street walker). Well, I guess school crossing guards would be the one legitimate occupation.

Being an FBI agent would be cool, though.
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I wanted to transfer to the FBI Office in Washington one time, so I would be home more, wanted to be an FBI Agent, I had an Accounting Degree , they wanted someone with a Law Degree. thinking of how many shoes I wore, Deputy Sheriff , U.S. Marine , Treasury Officer, Movie Director , Shoe Salesman, Writer, House Painter, Grocery Store Bag Boy, Cabinet Shop Worker .
 
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Don M. said:
I had dreams about becoming an Air Force or Navy fighter pilot....then, I had to start wearing glasses in my teen years...and that ended that dream.
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Don M. sorry to tell you, but Navy pilots need an acuity of 20/60 to fly. Without glasses, you might have been able to squeak by.
 

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