What Do I Want To Be When I Grow Up?

 Most people ask themselves this question when they are small or in their teens, but I found myself asking this question again a few years ago when we were told that the Space Shuttle program was coming to an end and the software engineering job I’d had for most of my entire adult life would be over. Now I was going to have to decide who I was and what I wanted to do with my life.

I have many talents from software to jewelry making, from web design to organizing social events to Reiki healing, but when I asked what I wanted to be the immediate answer that came to me was “I want to do something that feeds my soul.”

Now, I had been offered the chance to stay at the space center, but I decided that the job just didn’t feed my soul any longer and I needed to do something else, so I volunteered for the layoff that would follow the final shuttle mission.

In July of that year, 2011, I watched Atlantis roll into the Orbiter Processing Facility for her final time as a space-worthy ship and I knew both of our careers at KSC were done. So I packed up my desk and went home to start thinking about how I was going to parlay my talents into a livelihood.

As it happened, a friend was enrolling in the FIT entrepreneur class and, since I really didn’t know how to run a business other than making custom jewelry, selling a few products and helping with my parents’ businesses, I decided that I would take it also, to prepare myself.

The class helped me get over the fear of some of the business end and made me do some research into what I really wanted to do.

I finally decided on a healing center and discovered that if I wanted to touch people, for reflexology and so forth, that I would need to be a massage therapist, so I enrolled in massage therapy school in September. I graduated in February 2012.

I credit the entrepreneur class with getting me to decide not only what I really wanted to do but also for pushing me in the direction I needed to go to get there.

I created a Vision Board. For those who don’t know what a Vision Board is, I take a meditation class every week and every January we make vision boards for the upcoming year, representing what we want to work on or to have the year bring into our lives. I knew 2011 was going to be a year of many changes for me, so I came up with one to represent my dreams and as an inspiration for change.

For instance it said “Live your best Life” and “Change looks great on you”.

I kept it above my desk at home for several year, and, when I got tired or discouraged like when I was studying for a test or juggling my schedule, I looked at it and knew that I really can “Live my Best Life”, in fact, I’m doing it now by pushing toward my dream. I’m helping people every day and it’s great.

Shortly before my layoff from the Space Center, someone gave me two Dove candies, the ones with the messages in the wrappers. Those messages were “You’re invited to relax today” and “It’s OK to live without the ‘big picture’ in mind.”

I still keep those around to remind me to relax and not stress over everything so much because even though I may not always know exactly what I’ll be doing or what it will look like, I believe I am prepared for whatever comes and I’ll live my BEST LIFE.

A quote from Douglas Adams, author of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy that I keep around reminds me of that too:

“I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.”