By Marissa Stipek, Opinion Editor
"What do you want to be when you grow up?"
We hear this question dozens of times throughout our lives. As the years go by and our interests shift, our answers change.
I remember in kindergarten, each child got assigned a week to be the "star student." When it was my turn, I eagerly brought home the questionnaire and listed off my favorites: color, food, animal, hobbies. And, of course, there was the age-old question - "What do you want to be when you grow up?"
"A baker!" my six-year-old self said excitedly, sitting at the kitchen table as my mom wrote down my answers on the sheet of paper.
Now, I don't specifically remember enjoying baking when I was younger, so I don't know why this was my go-to answer. But, for a while, it was. Maybe I just wanted to wear an apron and a fancy white hat.
Throughout my life, I contemplated many other future careers.
Sometimes, I spent long afternoons lining up my dolls in front of a chalkboard in my basement, or my "classroom," as I thought of it. I made name tags and completed fake worksheets, only to go back and grade them myself, putting stickers on the best ones.
When I watched Law & Order: SVU, I wondered if I could be a defense attorney, or maybe even a detective. When I watched House, I contemplated becoming a doctor.
Fifth grade was the first time I became seriously interested in writing.
I used to cut out sections from magazines and glue them to sheets of printer paper, creating my own monthly publication.
I would play around on Microsoft Word, using the "word count" tool, testing myself to see how long and descriptive I could make a sentence before it became a run-on.
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I started countless "novels" that never made it past a few pages in length.
When it came time to go to college, I remember looking at the list of majors Miami offered, hoping one would jump out at me. Political science? Environmental science? Kinesiology? They all sounded exciting.
I chose journalism, but that wasn't the end of it. I was then told I had to select a co-major, or two minors, but that I could pick those later.
As I went through my classes, I tried to notice which ones drew my interest - which ones were most engaging. Junior year, I finally settled on two minors: sociology and gerontology, the study of aging. I still didn't know what I wanted to do, but at least I was taking classes I enjoyed.
Last summer, at 21 years old, I was asked everyone's favorite question yet again. I was sitting in the administrator's office at the nursing home where I work over breaks.
"So, what do you want to be when you grow up?" the administrator asked. He had offered to let me shadow various departments within the facility to see if I might be interested in pursuing any of them as a career.
"I don't know!" I sighed, wishing I had a better answer.
After all, I was a year away from graduating. "When you grow up" no longer referred to some far-off time, but rather a deadline that was rapidly approaching.
"You know, me neither!" he said with a laugh. "I don't know what I want to be when I grow up, either."
I was confused to hear this, especially coming from someone I considered to be grown up. This man had worked as a Licensed Nursing Home Administrator (LNHA) in the same facility for 20 years. He was married with two kids. It seemed like he had his life pretty much figured out.
But, maybe he didn't. Before earning his LNHA, he worked as a Registered Nurse in an emergency room until he decided he didn't like it anymore. And maybe there were still other aspirations he was considering pursuing later.
People make career changes all the time. Gone are the days that someone secures a job right out of college and stays until they retire.
In 2012, Forbes reported that the average worker holds a job for 4.4 years, and that 91 percent of Millennials expect to stay in a job for only three years before switching to a new one. This may be because of the higher value this generation places on personal fulfillment. If they are not satisfied with one job, they will not hesitate to find another, more enjoyable alternative.
So, maybe I don't have to know what I want to be when I grow up just yet. Maybe it will take a bit of trial and error.
Maybe I'll love my first job, or maybe I'll hate it.
Maybe nobody ever quite figures it out until they get there, and maybe that's okay.
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