Is 30 Too Old To Be Asking 'What Do I Want To Be When I Grow Up'?

Because the whole princess thing hasn't panned out...

Nothing makes me more envious than people that have always known what they wanted to do as a career.

Little boys that say they want to be dentists and actually become dentists. Or girls that grow up saying they want to go to college to study education and really become teachers.

Do they all know how lucky they are??

When I was in the first grade my teacher told my mom I had impressive writing capabilities for my age. Based off of her professional input I had decided I'd be a writer when I grew up. (I mean hey, Mrs. Daly said I could do it!)

In third grade I received a lot of praise for being the only student who memorized my lines and opted to use an accent in our class production of 'Titanic'. So naturally, I decided being an actress must be my true calling.

In fourth grade I said I wanted to be an FBI agent on career day because that's what my X-Files obsessed crush chose and I desperately wanted to be the Scully to his Mulder.

Fifth grade required me to do a report on Grace Kelly which is when I learned it was actually possible for a girl from Pennsylvania to become a princess. Imagine my excitement!

By high school, MTV's 'The Hills' had me believing that I needed to be working in fashion for Teen Vogue or working the red carpet for a PR firm. So I could sneak my friends into Hollywood parties and drink free cocktails a la Heidi Montag, of course.

By the time graduation came around my head was spinning with career choices. If there was one thing I did know, it was that I was not about to put myself in student loan debt for a degree I would undoubtedly change my mind about.

I thought my safest bet was going to community college for an Associates Degree and hopefully I'd figure it the eff out during those two years.

Welp, two years later I was still as clueless as ever. But I had started working at a local salon and day spa as a receptionist. My girlfriend worked there first and said it was a fun job with a very generous employee discount. Sold.

8 years later, I never transferred to a University like planned but I was still at the salon. I had worked my way up to Marketing Director/Manager. The salon was my life. My coworkers had all become my best friends, my owners were truly like family. But 8 years in I felt stuck. I loved it there so much that I couldn't imagine leaving but I had also hit a ceiling.

Even though I've always been all over the map with what I've wanted to do professionally, I have always been very clear on what I'd like my life to look like. I want to travel. I want a beautiful home. And I never want to be roadblocked from living the lifestyle I want because of money. Sadly, my career at the salon was a roadblock.

In my twenties I thought that was okay, that I had all the time in the world to transition into something more profitable. Then my 30th birthday crept up and I. FREAKED. OUT.

Where had all my time to 'grow up' gone? It suddenly seemed as though everyone around me had been doing it all along without me noticing!

Three months before my big 3-0 I ran into a friend. She had once worked at the salon with me and in the months since I'd seen her, her career had taken off like a f*cking rocket! I was in absolute awe of how she had completely transformed her life. I took the opportunity to grill her on what her secrets to success were - and because she sensed how genuine I was in asking, she told me.

The law of attraction.

I was like okay, I've seen 'The Secret'. (Although truth be told, when I first saw it I thought it made zero sense.) I decided I'd revisit it. She also sent me a YouTube video that she said really motivated her.

That was the start of my decent down the rabbit hole.

The video, which is linked at the bottom, introduced me to 83-year-old Bob Proctor, a world-renowned motivational speaker. He's adorable. He's like the cute kind of grandfather that would just sit and drink tea with you as he shared all the secrets to life.

Now I will say this: If you aren't in a headspace where you are in need of hearing this, you probably won't like the video. It's dated and long and you will think I am crazy for reacting so strongly to it. But I watched right when I needed to.

The video has countess share-worthy quotes but my first major aha moment came from this one:

To change your life, you have to change your life.

So simple and yet so profound.

It made me realize I didn't have to necessarily make the right career change, I just had to make a change - if for nothing else than to prove to myself I could. If my new next job worked out, great. If not, then at least the momentum would have been created.

Luckily it did work out. :) One month later I was starting a new position at a professional beauty supply distributor...that offered an equally fantastic employee discount!

Am I making the money to live the lifestyle I envision? Not yet. But I have room to grow in my position and now I'm not afraid to keep goin'!

XX

A.