Just like every other kid, while growing up I had a handful of lists of my dream jobs that changed with time and life encounters with different people, although one thing stands out between my dream job right from a tender age and that of other children around me, because while most of their dream jobs revolved around pilots, doctors, engineers, politicians, and several others, mine, on the other hand, revolved around vocational skills acquisition and application, which was a big challenge as my parents didn't buy the idea of such.
I remember the very first time I was asked a question about my dream job; it was during my primary school days, and before it got to me, my classmates had mentioned many notable jobs, from petroleum engineer to writer, politician, nurse, and the like, and on getting to my turn, I told the teacher I'd love to be a hairdresser. Immediately I said that, I noticed she paused, and I can bet she tried as much as possible not to laugh out loud because it was an unexpected response; in fact, my classmates laughed about it and used it to make fun of me after outside the classroom.
Well, she tried to convince me about it, like making me choose something within the notable jobs, but I'm just not fascinated by them, but despite my love for hairdressing back then and the passion I showed towards it by learning indirectly from a neighbor, my parents ended up being against it, and that's how the passion gradually faded away, as I didn't want to disobey my parents.
You would have taught me maybe, since that was out of the way, I would now see things in a new light and renew my interest in the jobs deemed reputable by my community, but no, instead the next job I had a passion for after that was fashion designer/tailoring; I was so engrossed in the dream to grow up in the fashion industry, making clothing designs that would make it to notable red carpets that I've seen on TV, to the point where I started learning without the knowledge of my parents, but one thing led to another, and I was found out once again, and I had to quit.
After which I was enrolled in a computer school to learn how to operate the computer and the value of literacy skills in it, and trust me, I fell in love with this. Even though my love for fashion design was still strong, I enjoyed every bit of learning at this computer school, and it broadened my desire to want to become a computer professional when I grew up, as there are many professions in this field. I didn't really have one of mine, but I was hoping that when I got to the university, I'd know depending on which one I enjoyed the most.
Things went south during my admission to the university where, rather than the computer science course I applied for, I was given computer science in education, meaning I'll mostly be taught what's good enough to make me become a computer teacher, operator, or instructor. It wasn't a pleasant experience, but as I was tired of standing at home, I accepted the admission, and that's what I learned and graduated with, and to make matters worse, one of the jobs I much despised while growing up turned out to be my present job.
Yeah, you read that correctly. Even though I'm a teacher presently and love my job, I can't forget in a hurry how I used to despise this profession because my dad used to be one himself, and during his days as a teacher, I couldn't help but notice how underpaid they were, not forgetting how the state sometimes owed them up to eight months salary, leading many of them to depend on loans to survive. As I don't want the same for myself, I used to despise teaching and every other job that revolved around depending on an employer to pay you.
But then, that's life for you; it works in mysterious ways, and I can't help but be grateful for where I am. Even though I didn't use to like the job, now I'm focused on improving myself as a teacher by getting valuable knowledge and skills that'll aid and improve my teaching and learning process, acquiring helpful gadgets and devices that'll stimulate learning and easy comprehension of students, such as projectors and the like; those are my goals for now in developing my present job since that's where I make ends meet.
All photos are mine.