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To live and enjoy every day to its fullest, use my gifts to help others, I travel to wherever passion finds me.

What Will She Paint?

So many friends I met here...!

Thursday, July 08, 2010

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?


 ~~~~~~~~~~
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.)

13 comments:

rainfield61 said...

I did not actually know what I would like to be, just like a flowing water.

But it is shaped.

crochet lady said...

I was just asking myself that very question the other day. I told a friend recently that I still feel sometimes like I did the day after I graduated from high school, wondering what in the world I was going to do. I'm almost 40 and it seems like I should have that figured out, but I don't.

Irene said...

I just wanted to be a grown up and in charge of my own life and not be dependent on the crazy adults that peopled my life. I hardly got the chance to grow up. I was married and had children before I knew it. Now I'm becoming a grown up. I want to be a writer.

Jeannette StG said...

Rainfield,
Just thinking about it today - to be a flowing river would be beautiful!

Crochet Lady,
There's a great book of Roger L Gould, "Transformations" that describes the different stages in adult life (an old book, published by Simon and Schuster, New York) -if you have the chance to read it, I think you'll like it...maybe I'll do a post on it:)

Irene,
You definitely have writing talents! Looking back, I think I was a little too quickly married too, but on the other hand, then I wouldn't be free right now to pursue whatever I want...:)

Cezar and Léia said...

Bonjour chèrie!
This post is so adorable, you are a wonderful woman and your words always brighten my day, thanks so much!
I've worked with different themes in my life but now I'm enjoying the pleasure to be a student again.
Good question!
hugs
Happy weekend
Léia

California Girl said...

I studied art, then switched to literature, graduating with a BA in Lit. But no plans to be a teacher altho' writing held an interest tho' not enough to pursue via creative writing or journalism or what have you.

33 years in advertising & broadcast sales and I still want to write. I write about writing all the time. This is the second comment on the subject this morning. sigh. I need to go for it.

Rudee said...

This is a great post, Jeanette.

I always wanted to do just what I'm doing. I was born to be a caregiver. Too bad it took me so long to find hospice, but if I had rushed the journey, I'd surely lack the skills I have today.

Thanks for the opportunity to ponder the path I've taken.

Jeannette StG said...

Leia,
You are welcome! Forgot whether I asked you before, what is the subject that you are studying?
But...what is your dream to become??
Yes, you have a great (relaxing?) weekend too!

California Girl,
What can you lose? Me thinks that you need to find out if you really like writing by doing it...
Since you have been in advertising, you may be a few steps ahead of many writers in selling your book!
Is the heatwave still going on? Another of my blog friends posted a snow pic to cool herself off (giggle)

Rudee,
Thank you, friend! For some reason hospice is not very well known by people who advise about careers. It's intense, but I loved it!
It seemed you came back so quickly. Hope that you took off long enough to recoup?

Midwest to Midlands said...

I'm still waiting to grow up:) I think the great thing about careers today is that you can have many occupations throughout life, unlike our ancestors who were mainly in one job or profession throughout life. There are things I love as a hobby but not sure I would want as a profession, unless I could get paid to read other people's blogs!

Jeannette StG said...

You mentioned a few posts ago that you started working? Is it a part time or full time job?
I read one a blog of someone who has a teen, that right now people change careers 6 times in their life time!

Kat Mortensen said...

Jeannette, Where in Asia did you parents come from?

I know what you mean; I have a degree in English Lit and floundered around for ages trying figure out what I should be doing. I'm not making much money as a poet, but I LOVE it!

I wanted to be a Naturalist when I was a kid - was always taking books on animals out of the library.

Kat

Jeannette StG said...

Poetikat,
Indonesia, where I was born too (it was a colony of Holland before 1950).
Maybe you just needed a reason to go to the library:):) Next to school that was the place I was most! But I understand, for a poet it is more difficult to make headway quickly!

Four Seasons in a Life said...

Dear Jeannette,

When growing up I always wanted to be an artist but also an archeologist or airplane pilot. I even started attending Civil Air Patrol when I was 16 but when they discovered I was non-American, that ended my flying hopes.

The 30 years spent as a graphic designer and commercial photographer were creative many times over but now I am doing or trying to do what I wanted since the age of seven, be an artist.

I wanted to write you and did to say thank you for visiting but the email address I have bounced my letter to you back and I have no current email address of yours.

Wishing you all the very best,
Egmont