When I grow up...

I just got off the phone with one of my best friends. She's having a little life crisis. Her birthday is this weekend and although she thinks she's old (um... girlfriend, you're 2 years YOUNGER than me... if you're old, what am I???) she's having a hard time answer the kindergarten question -

What do I want to be when I grow up?

After consoling her as best I could and telling her that happiness is the key to a good life (I know this because I walked away from a good paying cushie job to be my own boss and work with my hubby 2 weeks before my wedding), I began to wonder -

What do I want to be when I grow up?

If someone where to ask me, "Colleen, what's your dream job?" I honestly don't know that I could answer. I went to school with a starting major of biochemistry (dork, I know), but I had great intentions to find a cure for cancer. After a year of college chemistry and a summer internship with just my professor and a beaker with a chemical that I was trying to separate the atoms in, I decided maybe this wasn't my calling. I switched to a business major (aka, the "you can do anything with a business degree" route) and finished with a BS in Business Administration and a concentration in finance. But I never really thought that was my calling. It paid the bills for the first few years and put a good dent in the student loans that I owe. I threw around the idea of working on a college campus, but now I think I'm old and that wouldn't be as fun as I used to think. They kids would probably annoy me.

So now that I'm stuck wondering what it is that would make my life have purpose, I wonder how I could make a job out of my interests. Here are some thoughts...

1. A personal shopper - I love love love shopping and have a great time shopping with my mom, sister, mother-in-law, friends, etc. Spending someone else's money is great fun. But why would someone pay ME to pick out clothes that THEY have to pay for???
2. A personal travel agent - I get so annoyed when people don't shop for travel bargains and have been "hired" a few times (without pay of course) to help people get the best out of their vacation budget. I really love this kind of stuff. I wouldn't want to work for AAA or anything though. I guess people like me are called Orbitz, Expedia and Hotwire.
3. A weight watchers restaurant owner - I have books and books of meals that I think are really good and I know the points for all of them. I don't think people go to eat though with the intention of eating well. Plus I think people would see me and wonder why I don't get back to weight watchers.
4. A tri coach - except most days I feel like I need a tri coach and I don't think that tri coaches have tri coaches. Isn't that kind of backward?
5. Maybe a spin instructor. But I pant when I spin. I would be pathetic huffing and puffing and trying to tell someone that kicking your own ass is a good thing. They'd probably walk out.
6. A party planner - I loved planning my wedding. I think that kind of stuff is fun. I'd get a bridezilla though and hate it right away. I can see it now...

So, all in all, I guess I should just stick with what I'm doing. I love being my own boss. I love working from home. I love seeing my husband day in and day out and having my dogs around to keep me company and bark at everything that moves outside of our house. I love being able to train morning, noon, or night depending on the weather or how I feel. I love being able to be the chair of a great event for a great cause without the hassle of telling the boss man that I need to leave every 2nd Friday of the month for a few hours. I love that I can travel. I love that I don't look at carpet walls 9 hours a day. I love that I'm a woman, a business owner, a marking exec, a customer service person, THE account payable department.

There isn't a price tag on my happiness.

So my dear friend, as the next few weeks or months go on and you strive to answer what you want to do when you grow up, just remember what I told you.

You only live once.

Be happy. Enjoy finding yourself and you passion. You may never grow up to find out what you want to be, but grow up being happy of what you are! :)