Thursday, December 10, 2009

If You Could Do It All Over Again...

What would you be?

While I think being a therapist is a very good professional fit for me, if I knew what I know now, I would have become a nurse. I think for a helping profession style person (which clearly I am) nothing offers you the same schedule flexibility, job opportunities, and pay scale that nursing does. I wish I had known about that when I was in undergrad when I could have easily gotten my RN and gone on to get my MSW afterwards. I'd have so many more options now. My cousin is a nurse and I have always been envious that she has been able to stay home during the week with her kids and still make enough working weekend shifts to support her family.

Ah well... better luck next time.

So if everything in your life was the same.... same spouse, children, location... would you choose another line of work?

Mr F told me the other day he wishes he'd become an architect.

I think it's interesting that we both wish we had done something within the same kind of genre as the career we did choose. Mr F, I think, for creative purposes, and myself for practical ones.

18 comments:

wootini said...

That's interesting. I have often wished someone had given me the advice to take lifestyle and the family-friendliness of a career into consideration when planning (though I guess, the 80s were the decade of women 'having it all'. yeah, right).

That is something I definitely plan to discuss with my kids.

Sometimes I think if I could go back I would become a certified nurse midwife.

Mrs Furious said...

" I have often wished someone had given me the advice to take lifestyle and the family-friendliness of a career into consideration when planning"

Exactly. Though it is very hard when you are 20 to conceive of how important that will really be. It is my plan to go to community college and get my RN once we're settled some place. It'll take me two years but after that I'll actually make more money starting out that I could with my MSW now. While it isn't the job I dreamed of... I think it is a good fit. With all of Kid's issues I know that a good nurse makes all the difference and I'd like to do that for others. I just need Baby to be in school so I can go to school without needing childcare.

Elizabeth said...

I sometimes think about/wish I had a 'more reasonable' career. Something that paid more respectably and had more reasonable hours.

However I really don't know what in the world that will be. Many of my interests are academic related, but I don't want to teach. I don't really have other options skill wise.

The problem is that (despite the CRAZY BOSS LADY *jazzhands*) I can't figure out what I'd like to do other than this. I have to make things or I'll explode.

I have NO idea how/if this will work if/when I have kids. Lots will depend on future mate. It does worry me

Andrea said...

I have alaways wanted to ba a nurse I just lacked the motivation to finish when i started nursing school back when I was 18 oh how i wish i wouldve it would make all the difference now but Ive looked and I only have to take a few classes and some I can do online so next year this is what I will be doing Im scared to commit to school in the evenings for fear my children wont be cared for like only I can care for them their father will just buy Mcds every night for dinner and that scares me.

Mrs. Smitty said...

There are some community colleges that offer accelerated nursing degrees. If you really want to do it, look into that. I don't know if its just a Michigan thing or not. I have a friend with kids who decided to switch careers, was done with school in a year and now happily working as a nurse in a local hospital.

Brenda said...

I love my career choice, but would I love it so much if I hadn't had perfect timing and managed to turn it into part time work when I had my boys? It's hard to say. In my dreams I'd be a writer, which I think still pulls from my creative side. BTW, My sister in law got her nursing degree when her kids were young also, and now works as a school nurse, which seems like the perfect gig...if only I didn't get nauseous at the site of blood!

Michelle said...

Singing...

I'm your private dancer.
A dancer for money.

HA HA!! I couldn't resist.

Anonymous said...

Your reasons are EXACTLY why I chose nursing..flexible hours, decent pay, helping others. And there are so many types of nursing that you can never become bored. Even if you decide you hate people, you can do the insurance side and chart audits. I was one of the weird ones who knew that I wanted to have a family and be able to choose not to have daycare. (maybe from coming from a 2-parent full time working family?). Anyhoo...love my line of work, but if I HAD to choose something else my second choice would have been something in accounting.

Andrea-my mom actually went back to school when I was 10 or so (with a 7yr old sister and 3yo brother). My dad had to pick up the slack and yes, the house was not as tidy and McD's or BurgerKing was the debate of the night, but in the end I don't think any one of us was any worse off. Plus, seeing my mom go through college imprinted in me how important it was to pursue education. So even though the short term is a lot of compromising (and BigMac's!) its still worth it in the end!!! (and thats from the kids point of view)

gooddog said...

So interesting, Mrs. F. I am a counselor and think about going back and getting my nursing degree almost weekly. I still may! I would love the extra job opportunities it would give me in management and in psych. Plus, sometimes I think it owuld be nice to help the PHYSICAL and not only the emotional side of people. The WHOLE person.

Mrs Furious said...

I'll be back to comment later... today has been a busy day.

but..

gooddog,
That is interesting. I actually applied to the RN program in MI when I was pregs with Kid... but then I had her and I didn't want to go to school when she was a baby. And yes... I'm thinking there could be some fast paced ladder climbing with the duo degrees... in either field. It can't hurt.

Kiki said...

Professor...of Art History, or a Cartographer...b/c I love maps! I will do it, one day soon!

Kinder said...

I am happy with my choice, but then I was 32 when I decided to go to school. Having babies at 20 makes it hard to have an education/career (or at least it did for me).

The only thing that I wished I knew then, that I know now, is how long I would be in school. At first I was just trying for a 2 year diploma, then a bachelors, and now onto my masters (if I get into the program). If I had known when I started how long I was going to be in school, I contemplate whether I would have choosen something with better pay. But that being said, I love the fact that I love & feel passionate about the field I am going into. I do believe I found not a job, but a profession.

inkelywinkely said...

I still have the same dreams I always did..even though I don't have any idea how it would work with a family.

I wanted to be in the peace corp...very simple, I know.

I honestly cannot see myself doing anything other than being a mommy, though..it is my biggest dream...I wish that could somehow work hand in hand with the peace corp- that would be awesome. LOL

inkelywinkely said...

I still have the same dreams I always did..even though I don't have any idea how it would work with a family.

I wanted to be in the peace corp...very simple, I know.

I honestly cannot see myself doing anything other than being a mommy, though..it is my biggest dream...I wish that could somehow work hand in hand with the peace corp- that would be awesome. LOL

Alexandra said...

I am an attorney. If I could do it again, I would have done graphic design or nutrition/health/physical therapy type of work or archeologist. So wildly different than what I do and from each other.

Now my dream is to buy a farm and save the animals that don't get adopted.

Shirls said...

currenlty corporate paralegal - if I could do it again - I'd be a cop. I love rules, seriously, and I like people to follow them ;0)

Oddly I think this falls into the same thing you discoverd, same type of work, different job, they are both "law"

Mrs Furious said...

Elizabeth,
if you love what you do (bitchy boss not withstanding) then I think you'll find a way to make it work.


Andrea,
Do it! If only so you can tell me how hard it is to juggle the kids and nursing school ;)


Gigs,
Maybe it's indicative of where I'm at these days but I want blood... clean it up... move on. Plus I've always wanted to wear a uniform.

Mrs Smitty,
Oh wow that is awesome. I'm going to look into it.


Marie,
I also kind of dig accounting.

"Plus, seeing my mom go through college imprinted in me how important it was to pursue education. "
Good point.


Kiki,
Do it. You've been talking about for years. Go back to school and live it.


inkelywinkely,
interesting. My mom & her husband just applied to join the peace corp!


Me, Myself & I,
"I do believe I found not a job, but a profession."
That is what is awesome about social work. I will love to hear more about your journey and what kind of work you end up doing.


Shirls,
That is very interesting! I sometimes want to be a detective. Which I think is still kind of in the psychology range of careers.
"I love rules, seriously, and I like people to follow them ;0)"
LOL


AT22,
hmm you are bucking the trend. So what made you go into law?

kenady said...

i went to school to be a writer. i wanted to write the great american novel and someday be studied in high school, or perhaps, college classes. i also thought that with an english degree i could become a high school engligh teacher. as you well know, neither of those is the career i now possess. i'm 34 years old and i still don't know what i want to be when i grow up:) i guess i'll keep chuggin' away at the Gap until i figure it out...

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