The Fork was a Spoon!

A little over two years ago I made a career decision that was in the opposite direction of what I "wanted to be when I grew up."  You may remember I spoke of that fork in the road when I made the decision to teach rather than design.  But within these past two years, I have learned so much about myself, things I probably never would have learned had things actually gone my way. 

See, when I graduated college, I knew exactly what I wanted to do:  residential interior design.  And my mind was set.  Suddenly, these golden doors opened and the perfect job presented itself to me.  And the first few months on the job, it was perfect.  But slowly, it fell off its pedestal, snail-like at first, until it finally just plopped onto the dirty floor.  And in that descent, I began to doubt myself:  Was I a good designer?  Should I have just been a nurse, or a teacher, or a maybe an accountant, or anything else?  Each day I dwelled on those thoughts until they consummed me and I was convinced.  I found myself at that afore mentioned fork in the road:  continue designing, which I'm not sure I like or I'm good at, or select a new career. 

As my faith has taught me, I prayed and prayed and prayed about it, until I felt like it was time to change careers, dragging my feet the whole way.  When I was much younger, I wanted to be a teacher, just like my first grade teacher.  She was wonderful and made me feel so at home in a new school.  Who wouldn't want to be like that?  So I figured I'd revert to my first love and seek a career in education.  What I realize now is that I was the one making the decisions, not the One I thought was, but perhaps that was the plan all along.  I wanted out of my job and was convinced I wasn't any good at it, so I needed to do something different.  I did all the necessary schooling to become a teacher but in the end, it wasn't right.  I couldn't deny my passion for design and after I got away from the unhappy work environment I realized I was good at design and had some really great ideas of my own. 

Now, I know what I want to do:  have my own little place to sell things that I love making, and hopefully at some point in the future I can have that.  I'm going back to school to get my graphic design degree.  I was given the amazing opportunity to renovate the little house I'm living in, which I hope you have enjoyed the posts about that.  I set a design resolution for myself, and with the exception of this past couple of months, that has been a great motivation to accomplish projects I've been wanting to do, and to get my creative juices flowing.  All of this has been proof to myself that I LOVE design, that it is in my blood and my soul, and when something is a part of you like that, you can't just turn away from it.

As I look back on the path that brought me to that realization, I see the fork and the direction I took, and see how it looped around and brought me back to the original destination.  Funny how life works out.  Or, as they say in one of my fav movies, Sweet Home Alabama:  "It's funny how things don't work out'.  'It's funny how they do."

I've got lots of catching up to do so look for a new {Spit*Shined}, a post on a baby shower I just threw, a sewing project and a couple others I think.  My camera is full of pictures!


ttfn....