Growing up, who remembers when adults asked us ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ My answers were a singer, an actress, maths teacher, and a roadie. Quite varied! I did get accepted for a music course (singing) but I turned it down as it quickly dawned on me that I would be singing in front of a lot of people. No, thank you! As for being an actress, I can’t even keep a straight face most of the time, okay… well, all the time.
I think the ‘maths teacher’ choice came from my love of maths at school, again this turned out to be a bad idea because I hated speaking in front of people. Ever since my first concert, I’d always wanted a job of some sort working backstage or setting up for a show. But as my disabilities have surfaced, I’ve realised that I wouldn’t be able to be a roadie. I mean, let’s face it, I’m in bed by 10pm!
I didn’t really have my heart set on one specific career or a goal I wanted to achieve during my life, until I became disabled.
As cliché as it sounds, it does put everything into perspective. I’ve learned a lot about myself during the past few years and I now know what I’m aiming for. I would love to share thdm with you…
To support patients during their time in Critical Care and their time after discharge.
This is due to my time in Critical Care/ICU. During the times I was on my own, all I wanted was someone to talk to (albeit I couldn’t actually talk), or someone just to hold my hand so that I didn’t feel lonely. I was not prepared for the flashbacks and the nightmares after being discharged. I would like to have had more support with this, which is why I want to help other patients who are going through this. For their loved ones too, support is fundamental at times like these. I don’t know how to pursue this but it’s something I would really love to do.
To raise awareness of my disabilities
If you’re a regular follower, then you will know I’m passionate about raising awareness. As my list of chronic companions has almost hit double figures, it’s made me determined to educate others and share my experiences of living with my disabilities. I plan on doing this for as long as I can.
To break down communication barriers
Many people find it difficult to communicate with me, even after explaining how to. It’s very simple to speak slowly and very clearly, if that method doesn’t work then I suggest using my tablet or phone to use the ‘Speech to Text’ function. This is an issue close to my heart and I’m hoping to talk about this more on my blog.
Career – Weddings or Charity
I’m incredibly eager to work within the wedding or charity sector. My passion for volunteering started when I was 15, from my work experience and it really is an awesome experience working for a charity and I hope to keep volunteering for as long as I can.
My love for weddings obviously comes from planning our wedding – yes it was stressful at times but I would definitely do it all again! Amy, from Sassy Cat Lady, and I have a project in the works and we are super excited about it! Gosh, I’m so excited about this, can you tell I’m excited?!
To be a Mum
This one is really personal. During my time in hospital, I convinced myself that I would never be a good mum because I can’t physically look after myself, let alone another human being. But I have a lot of love to give, and the thought of having a little Avenger in our life makes me smile. Ewan has wanted to be a Dad for as long as I’ve known him, and I know he will be an amazing Dad.
I’ve accepted that there may be alternate methods involved, and I’m honestly OK with that. I just really hope there’s a chance for us to become parents one day.
What did you want to be when you grew up? Has it changed since becoming an adult? What are you hoping to achieve in your life?
This is a lovely post and some wonderful goals, I have every faith you’ll smash them all! I used to want to be a vet and to be honest it’s now my biggest regret that I didn’t pursue it – all because I didn’t do very well with maths and science I dropped them both as soon as I went into A-levels. I sometimes wonder if I had pursued it whether or not my OCD would still have developed having to do deal with blood and poo etc! It’s all worked out alright though as I’ve found my passion of writing! Looking forward to unveiling more of our secret project soon too 😊 xx
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I take my hat off to vets, I could never do what they have to do! Thanks for reading 😊💚
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I vowed I would never be an English teacher because I loved English so much and so many English teachers were such grouches. Then as life unfolded I became an English professor at an art college. It turns out that they had had mostly had grouchy English teachers too. Together we had fun, informing and deeply connecting discussions about English literature. So I ended up loving my work.
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Aww that’s amazing! Its bizarre how things turn out isn’t it? 💚
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I love that you know what you’d like to do! I hope you get to do everything on your list 🙂
Also I wish more people were comfortable adjusting their speech or using tablets in order to communicate with a variety of people. I hope you really break down those barriers 💛 great read !
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Thank you so much! ❤
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I qualified as an English teacher a few years ago after going to uni at a later age. Unfortunately, a bad experience with one of the teachers at a school I was on placement at dented my confidence somewhat and I ended up finishing my degree, but then not going into teaching after all; but returning to work in admin instead. At the time I thought I was doing the best thing for me, but later on regretted it and then just ended up continuing working in admin as it paid the bills. A couple of years ago though I ended up working as a Support Worker in an after-schools club and loved it so would probably go back to that if I could rather than teaching now as I would need to retrain, though I could do a post-grad course. We shall see though, never say never, I suppose! Thanks for asking. 🙂 x
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I have found quite a few English teacher vacancies which are online! Maybe this could help rebuild your confidence? 😊 x
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A really interesting post, Ami. Thank you for sharing your life goals with us. I am sure you will achieve them all and will help a lot of people along the way.
My life goals are to return to work with kids in some capacity as I had to give up my last job because of chronic pain and just to do as much in life as possible, I guess! x 🙂
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Thank you so much! What sort of work would you like to get back into? 😊
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