WHAT DO YOU WANNA BE WHEN YOU GROW UP...?

When you were young, what did you wanna be, when you grew up? 
I guess I didn't have a clear thing in mind. I just wanted to be an adult so I could do whatever I wanted to...yeah right! 
But certain things did steer me in the right direction. 
I loved music, so I begged for a guitar, and later music lessons. In my undergraduate work, my minor was..you guessed it, in music. 
Nevertheless, even though I had plenty public performances and entered competitions  in my teens, music always remained a hobby. 
At that time, I didn't have anyone to direct how I should go and what it would take to become a musician.

This little boy plays his father's drums every day for a few minutes. 
No requirement...he does it whenever. 

But when his dad plays the drums, he dances to the rhythm...oh to be a child again! If this little boy is not a musician later, for sure he'll play some kind of instrument.

During my Elementary School years I doodled on the wall by my bed, by the phone, on the phone book, on every blank piece of paper I could find. Fortunately for my parents, they had only one child who did that!

I had read several books of Freud, Jung and other psychologists before I was eighteen years old. So it's no surprise  psychology was my major in college.


Then there was the rector (principle/headmaster) of the Lyceum (high school) who was an excellent teacher. When he replaced the history teacher, my grade sky rocketed. 
He spurred me on several times to pursue my art, and promised that whenever I came to the place that I had made some paintings, he would hang it in the halls!
It never came to that, because I was in another country when I thought my paintings were good enough to hang. 


Both art and psychology I pursued after I lived on my own, because both directions were out of the question for my Asian-born parents. Besides,  they were World War II survivors, so anything that would not be a sure thing for earning a living was believed to be out of reach. 
Looking back later, I definitely hung on to the rector's supportive comments and that of others when I doubted myself and thought I was wasting my time.

for security, deleted some info

My Bachelor of Arts in Psychology was nice, but one can't do much with that - especially not in Holland. So, I muddled along, till I attended a seminar of two American psychologists who later became my professors in graduate training. I was wildly enthused about the concepts they presented, because at that time helping people was my mission. 
Two years later we went to the USA with our three children to go for my doctorate and the rest is history.
My parents wanted me to marry a doctor, but I'm a child of my time. I didn't marry a doctor, I became one myself.

Finally  I "became" part of what I wanted when I grew up. Both psychology and art materialized when I was in the second half of my forties. 
For you who are approaching your thirties or even forties and fifties, there is hope!! 
Actually, life experience is very much valued when you have a doctorate of any kind. It is much easier to get internships when you have already proven through your life that you are a stable individual, or can connect with the ones who later become your colleagues, and have some authority with one's clients. 

What did you want to become "when you wanna grow up"?
Did you pursue things on your own, or did you have a role model, or someone who spurred you on?


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PS Since I'm still a kid, I'm playing again with blog backgrounds...hope you don't mind:)  Surprizingly this color does not have as much effect on my pics  as I thought (having to adjust the colors, etc.)