I was on a very different career path in life.
I was very young while watching the news one night around dinner time and the reporter announced that more people had died of heart problems that year than murders (and in New York City for murder to NOT be the number one killer/taker of lives that is quite rare indeed!).
I marched into the kitchen and told my mother quite matter-of-factly that I wanted to fix hearts when I grew up. (As I also had a passion for horses and was also sure I wanted to be a cowgirl, I'm sure she was amused to say the least). I told her about the news story, and she told me there was different types of doctors who worked on the heart, some that diagnose and others that did the surgery to repair it.
Childhood happened, but my interest in medicine never really waned and eventually she took me to the library to read up on Cardiology and Cardio-Thoracic Surgery. In high school I even got the chance to sit in on the actual Gross Anatomy class. I watched as adults ran off and puked their guts out and wondered how on earth they'd become doctors if they couldn't handle that class! I wasn't allowed to do anything but observe the first year med students on the first day of this class and for some reason I didn't feel nervous.
Later on doing the frogs in anatomy class in school was a breeze for me. I got to work on bigger animals in a College Course I took knowing that this was all leading me to my dream of becoming a Cardio-Thoracic Surgeon someday.
But College was a whole different ball game, and various circumstances forced me to switch majors and I went from being a Biology Major with a minor in Psychology to a Mass Media Communications Major.
And from there a chain of events was set in motion:
(1) I interned for a Newspaper
(2) I took my first Television Course
(3) I interned for a local cable television show
(4) Became a film critic for a local paper
(5) Got to head up a science section as an Editor for the same local newspaper (My reporting skills led to a beloved community doctor getting additional exposure in various outlets until he eventually re-gained his practice, I have to say this was the moment where I personally felt just how powerful one voice and one simple 'human interest' assignment could be....)
(6) Freelanced for one my favorite magazines
During that process something else happened. Communications classes forced me out of my shell. Unlike my science labs, which on ocassion did have me partner up, communications classes were all about partnerships on deeper levels, especially the courses for Televison. I learned what being a fish out of water felt like. This wasn't my strong suit, with the exception of the writing. My love for writing was always there all along, but it wasn't coming out as much in the sciences in the same way it did when I switched to communications. It gave me the confidence to enter writing contests and when I took home first prize and cash for a writing contest in College just after I changed my major I must admit I felt quite validated by my decision!
A recent totally random conversation on my bus ride home this weekend (ironically from a blogging related event) got me to talking to the bus driver. His daughter is studying to be a nurse and I told him I wanted to be a Doctor when I was younger but life sort of 'veered me off course'.
For a very brief moment I did feel #SwitchersRemorse. I know I would have been a phenomenal Cardio-Thoracic Surgeon, I am a good listener, I am compassionate and I am a problem solver and lover of 'puzzles', I could see me being a fantastic diagnostician and physician!
MY TAKE:
And while random moments have often made me wonder what my life would be like now had I pursued my original goal of Medicine, I do know that Communications changed my life in ways I am eternally grateful for. My creative writing found it's way to the light, and in the writing community I have found my tribe. In managing Social Media campaigns I have utilized every single thing I learned in Mass Media Communications courses. I sometimes have pangs of #Switchers Remorse, but I have absolutely no regrets, I am doing what I was meant to do, coach, inspire and help people, just in a very different way than I originally intended.
There are tons of quotes out there on the topic of Remorse:
Have YOU experienced #SwitchersRemorse? Have you often wondered what your life would be like now if you had done just one thing differently in the past? If so, what was it? Would you change your path and go back and change something if you could?
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FTC Disclosure: This is a paid post for Verizon's #SwitchersRemorse campaign. If you switched away from Verizon and are regretting it, don't worry. They're making it easy for customers to come back. For more information, click here or head over to your local Verizon Store, all opinions are 100% my own! I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission 16 CFR, Part 255 - Guides Concerning the use of endorsements and testimonials in advertising, you may check our Giveaway and Disclosure Page for additional information regarding Ascending Butterfly Disclosure.