7/30 - Dream Job

What is you dream job and why?

Um, this question causes me some stress lately. With only 6 weeks left of grad school, real life and finding a job are both looming down on me and I’m a tad freaked out.

But, I’ll answer anyway. 

I have multiple dream jobs with varying levels of realistic possibilities. Let me tell ya about each of them. 

#1  -  My most realistic dream job that I will hopefully be able to accomplish soon is to be a Marriage and Family Therapist (MFT). I love, love, love working with couples using emotion focused therapy (EFT). I’m pretty good at it and really enjoy seeing couples learn to find emotional safety and security in each other. It’s fantastic.

I also really want to get involved in medical family therapy (MedFT). There are a lot of different possibilities with that, so I’m not sure exactly what my dream is in that area. But I want to help individuals, couples, and families deal with the struggles of having a chronic illness. It’s an area very close to my heart because I know how hard it is to live with a chronic illness and how much it automatically affects family and friends. There’s not enough mental health help for people struggling with never-ending illness and I want to help make that more readily available.

#2  -  My very-much-a-dream job would be to play the french horn professionally. I would love to play in the Orchestra at Temple Square in SLC; that was my first French horn dream. Then, as I became more enamored with movie soundtracks (which let’s face it, the quality of the French horn in soundtracks is really what determines if the music is phenomenal or not – true story), I decided I wanted to be in an orchestra that focused on playing the background music for movies. Seriously, that would be amazing. Finally, I realized that the thing I would love doing most is play in the pit for Broadway musicals. Have a live performance every night? Yes, PLEASE!

Every time I hear a good French horn it literally hurts inside. I miss it so much. Because good horns cost at least $3,000, I never got one; I always used one from the school, whether high school or college. So, it’s now been 5 years since I last played. Winter semester of 2008 was the last time. Gosh, I was so good. Now, not so much. It would take a long time to get back to where I was. I will never live any of those three dreams. But, someday I could be in a community orchestra. I would be okay with that.

I just need a horn. Once I have a job and am making money, a horn is what I will save up for and buy first. I can’t wait. If I were ever to get engaged, I would prefer a cheap ring and a French horn rather than a big, expensive rock for my hand. Granted, I’d love to find myself a sugar daddy who could get me a big rock and a horn. But that’s just more dreaming. 

#3  -  I’ve mentioned this dream job a few times and it is the reason I started this blog. I want to be an author. I want to write for a living. You know, and read.

I feel like this dream job fits in the middle of the realistic continuum. It’s not something that will be easy, that I’ve gone to school for, that I am on the path for. But at the same time, it’s not as far-fetched as playing in the pit for Broadway plays. I truly believe that with lots of work and determination and excitement, this is a dream job that can eventually be mine. It won’t be immediate (which is honestly a very hard thing to accept), but I think it’s possible. It might take 5 years, 10 years, 15 years to get a book published. But I will do it. For the first time in my life, I have something to work for that I feel good about, that I have tons of excitement for, that will be beneficial to myself AND to others, that I don’t feel will slowly wear me down. Obviously I’ll need to have other jobs to make money before I can hopefully get to the point that I can write fill time. But this is something I think I can do. Something I’m motivated to work towards.

And goodness, I am excited.

My first novel is coming along – I have a lot of the plot mapped out, characters are starting to develop (though I am completely stuck on naming them – it’s a lot harder than I expected!), I’m coming up with scenes that I am stoked to write, but have just written the outline for. My plan is to have the plot planned out as much as possible before graduation. Then once I’m done with school and taking my 6 weeks off before starting work, I’m going to write my little heart out as much as possible.

I can’t wait.

(This is what it often looks like when I'm working on my novel - writing in my notebook, with Pinterest open nearby. Please note the two Avengers pins and the book sign. :) I don't know what that goat-boy is, other than weird.)