I've been thinking a lot lately about what I want to do when I grow up. It may seem a bit late in the game to be asking this question, but somehow I never asked it all that seriously before.
When I was in high school I asked where I wanted to go to college.
When I was in college I asked what I was interested in studying.
When I was out of college I asked who would employ me with the degree I had.
None of these are bad questions, of course, but I think it's time to insert into the mix: what kind of career do I want to have? What do I enjoy doing? What skills do I bring to the table?
Picking a field based on what is fun (or easy!) to read about in college is more than slightly myopic. But what happens when you have a college degree in something that was fun to learn about but maybe not a great career choice for you? What next?
One thing I've been running up against is that my values have changed since the early part of college when I was making some decisions about what to pursue. Specifically, we've chosen location over career. There is lots of potentially interesting environmental work out there... if you're willing to move around to places that are under-served, or are particular hotspots of environmental activity.
But say you've committed to a small Southern town with a major university and a glut of eager young environmentalists? What next?
Yeah, I don't know either. But I'm thinking about it!
