Getting to Know Myself

Hi November! Although graduating high school feels like yesterday, I do think my view of myself has changed, a lot. If we go back to June 2021 Ivy I had just graduated high school and moved to Florida soon after. I didn’t know a single person and I had no clue what I was going to spend my year doing. I thought I wanted to be a business marketing major and minor in psychology but that has slowly started to change. I think when we get put into new environments where we lack aspects of our old life we begin to realize how important or unimportant those aspects were. For instance a large part of my life before moving was working with children. I would nanny, babysit, tutor every chance I could and I loved doing it. This past summer I was fortunate to find a summer nannying job quickly and spent a couple of days a week hanging out with the sweetest kids. As soon as it ended I missed it. Over the past couple of months I have been working/ interning full time in a boutique and I have really enjoyed it. I will say I don’t feel as fulfilled as I wish I did. At first this worried me, I kept asking myself “am I wasting my year doing something I don’t love?” When really I should be looking at it as “because I tried this career path and realized it wasn’t for me I can now spend the rest of my year figuring out what career would be more fulfilling.” Instead of going through business school and finding that it wasn’t for me, I am fortunate enough to have a year to try different career paths. I now know that my career has to interact with children, whether it’s a teacher, pediatric psychologist, pediatrician, etc. I have always loved science and once spending months not interacting with any form of science I can’t imagine my life without using my brain in such ways. My view of myself has changed due to these realizations of what I find important. If you asked me on my graduation day if I cared if my career had a heavy involvement with children I would have said “probably not.” Whereas now I can’t imagine a career without it. I of course can still consider a career under the business umbrella that interacts with children but it honestly will be a journey of me finding what career options there are and what works best for me. This is how my worldview has changed. I think growing up we are only told about a few careers, as we grow up we are introduced to more but I seriously had no idea how many different career opportunities in the medical field alone there were for working with children. Opportunities are endless and each of them are important in their own way. I think once you know what you find important and what truly interests you a whole new world opens up for you to involve yourself in. I love that I have gained a deeper insight into myself in terms of my future and what steps I should now take for months to come.I have become more open minded and realistic when understanding my worldview and how it affects me. I am excited for what is to come.