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It’s funny how your perspective changes throughout the stages of your life.

The other day my coworkers and I were chatting about our jobs and how we ended up here. Most of us are not in the profession that we would have predicted for ourselves. I was one of the few who actually got my Bachelor of Science in Business, which made sense here at an Advertising Agency. I then remembered something from my childhood that I shared with them. I found it quite humorous, and ironic at the same time.

In third through fifth grade, I attended a very small country school. In fact, it was so small, that all the grade levels studied together in the same room under one teacher. Seems unheard of these days…Anyhow - every Christmas we put on a program for our parents, and one year, we got to write it ourselves. We decided to make the theme around an elementary school reunion, where we would all come back together after twenty years.

We each got to design our “roles” around ourselves and what profession we dreamt of being. One of the kids became a farmer because that is what his father did and he assumed he would take over the farm. Another girl became a rock star. And I am almost embarrassed to say that I was a “beach concessionaire.” Seriously, my dream was to live in a tropical place, selling refreshments and souvenirs from a stand on the beach. The costume consisted of a swimsuit with tank-top, shorts, and flip-flops.

What an innocent mind I had back then to think one could make a decent living selling dacquiris and t-shirts on a beach. I doubt my parents would’ve been too pleased to put me through four years of college to end up doing that! But when I think about it seriously now, I see something much more profound in the “naive” thinking of my fourth-grade self. My dream was not about making six figures, climbing a corporate ladder, or living up to anyone else’s standards. It was about being happy.

While my current profession is about a thousand miles from being a beach concessionaire (literally and figuratively), one thing has held true - I am happy at my job! After changing my major three times in college, I finally found a degree program that I saw potential with. My business degree allowed me to learn about many different aspects of business, which opened up a wealth of career opportunities. In the end, I’ve been able to obtain a fabulous job at a great company where I look forward to going to work every day. It may not be a tropical beach, but I’m happy, which is the most important thing! I will just have to get my beach fix on vacation!