I really never knew what I wanted until I was in a career I believe that I wanted only to realize that I wanted something else. Choosing a career indeed put me in crossroads.
No one knew but when I was in mid-grade school, I wanted to become priest, or become the Pope, and saint. I didn’t knew why.
Before high school graduation, I was so sure that I wanted to become a veterinarian. It made me smile to imagine myself assisting farmers in our community with their farm animals.
Later, I saw myself dropping out from the university because of homesickness, leaving behind my desire and the bright prospect of becoming a veterinarian.
I opted to another direction. My readings about business motivated me to study marketing. Then, I peered into the distant future of becoming the man behind "the all-popular brand". I saw myself betting all the marketing strategies of global companies! Those things remained a tale because after two semesters in the college of business, I shifted to mass communication.
"Why?” My mother asked adding words that shifting courses more often would likely lead me to leave school without a degree.
"I think this is my call." I answered back. My seemingly cool and spirit-moving answer sealed the issue; although members of the family sometimes talked about the risks of media profession which implied something I understood.
Great challenges really came after college graduation. Armed with confidence, and tinted with shade of idealism, I aimed to get in local broadcast stations and then in metropolitan dailies. However, something weakened my will and determination to get into the mainstream of mass media. I had served as novice reporter in a period shorter than I expect to be.
My decision often made me pause and think which brushed pale shades of disappointments and uncertainties. I went through another shift. I was, once again enticed to explore sales - a redo of my shelved ambition.
Then, I began to view career as an opportunity to earn besides "just" fulfillment, an idea I seldom entertained before. In my career in sales and marketing, I took every possibilities to grow personally and professionally.
I might still in the stage of self-exploration but more than just experimentation.
I went through another shift of direction. I went back to school, not to take another course but to serve as college instructor.
Then, I went back to my student routines as a graduate student. I took teaching as a job and my MA studies as a requirement.
In not so long after my first class, I found teaching fulfilling and eventually, I believed that teaching was really my call. After all, I realized that my subconscious mind lead me into teaching because it refreshed my best teaching-related childhood experiences. I pattered after my first and best teacher - my mother. Her dedication and commitment to her profession always inspire me.
Then, I considered teaching as my career, profession and vocation. My daily professional activities gave me a sense of fulfillment, dignity and honor. I saw myself as an instrument in shaping minds and transforming lives. I told my mother, "I love teaching."
Were you in a situation where you enjoy doing something, yet you still seemed to look for something else?
After years in teaching, I seemed to hear unrecognizable whisper. Something followed. I began to see thin tint of change. Gradually, it became vivid, and finally, a very clear desire zoomed in, waiting for a decision.
I made a crucial decision. I left teaching. I made a sure decision with uncertainties of what lies ahead. My decision might make or unmake me. But when I decided, I was ready for the consequences.
Now I see the bright prospect of my career. I am fulfilled. My tasks give me boundless opportunities to explore, to discover, and to learn.
Shifting is so challenging.
