Childhood Dreams Aren't Always What They Seem

We were all asked the same question when we were kids, "What do you want to be when you grow up?'

When I was young and naive, the answer was easy: "Professional baseball player."

Once I realized that probably wasn't going to be in the cards, I chose what I thought to be the next best thing: a sports broadcaster/reporter. If I couldn't play it, then at least I wanted to talk about it for a living.

My dream stayed the same throughout middle school... throughout high school... and then I took it into college. Whereas the average college student was changing their major three times, mine never wavered: Communication with an emphasis in broadcasting. All the while thinking I would use my education to be the next voice of the Braves or host of Baseball Tonight.

I remember my professor telling our class, "If you don't LOVE broadcasting, then you need to get out because the pay sucks and the hours suck." To be honest, I never really thought twice about it because I just knew I was going to love it.

I worked two part-time jobs after graduating until I got my first big break -- a full-time news reporter in Garden City, KS. It was what I needed, a chance to be on camera everyday so that I could hone my skills and eventually transition to sports (a more competitive area) when the time was right.

But as the title of this posts says, childhood dreams aren't always what they seem.

It took me about six months before I realized that I no longer wanted my childhood dream to come true.

I don't have anything bad to say about the station I worked for or the people I worked with. Rather, there were just some aspects of the job that weren't for me. Some were news-related, but many would have followed me to sports.

Despite my frustrations as a reporter, I stuck with it throughout my two-year contract. I was then transferred to a different department, effectively ending my brief career in front of the camera. (However, I am keeping open the possibility of a comeback if Food Network should ever offer me my own cooking show.)

Surprisingly, I am not disappointed with how everything turned out. I do not consider my education a waste. I used many of the skills I acquired in college as the commercial director at my station.

But most importantly, I learned more about myself in those two years as a reporter than I did in the first 23 years of my life: what I like, what I don't like, where I need to improve, where I excel, and what is truly important to me.

Childhood dreams aren't always what they seem. Sometimes that's a good thing.