A story from my childhood.
A devastating scarlet fever epidemic hit most children ages 6-12 in my home town Cluj in Romania. It was s brutal cold January and I just turned 7 years old in September. I was one of the worst cases. I had to be hospitalized in a separate room for 3 weeks battling with scarlet fever and my parents were deeply concerned.
As I spent all my days and nights in bed, isolated in the old hospital room, surrounded with a few books, crayons, paper and my little wooden doll, it’s needless to say that I felt like a grown up and too serious for my age. There was no television or radio or any type of interaction or amusement.
My only refuge was keeping myself busy.
I thought about happier moments; movies, theatre, ballet, running, going to school, shopping at the farmers openmarket, building a snowman with the local kids, having wonderful home made chicken soup, and picking cherries.
I missed my parents and friends terribly. No one was allowed to visit me. The nurses covered from head to toe brought me food 3 times a day right after my daily shots and the check up time but they too left within minutes. A couple of Doctors came to see me once a day and I still remember the look on their faces; I was pretty ill and totally weak. I could barely make it to the bathroom and back to bed.
There was no one to have conversation with.
I was in a world of my own. So I began to keep myself busy writing and when I got tired I got occupied with thoughts and hope. Going back 5 decades I’ve come to an amazing realization that my main focus and dream at the age of 7 was to write books and one day produce a movie from one of my manuscripts.
The movie would be about feelings, experiences, emotions, people and children. I loved going pretty often to the movies and afterwards go to the local coffee shop for hot chocolate and chestnut or chocolate pastries. The movies I was accustomed to watch were mostly from India.
They were deeply emotional and always about family, love and challenges involving children. I absorbed the painful stories and they stayed with me for a long time. It was a life I was familiar with.
Fast forward 50 years.
I am a freelance journalist and an author of 12 books; and who knows one of them might become a movie script. I meet hundreds of people from all over the world. I am no longer isolated and I have huge opportunities to connect and share my work and introduce my childhood passion. A couple of weeks ago I have had the privilege to speak with Nicole Williams. She is a LinkedIn Career Expert. Nicole shared with me the LinkedIn research data about childhood dreams turning into real dream jobs. There was a huge WHAA in my heart. I could totally relate. Going back 5 decades, I felt at home.
The survey found that the top childhood dream jobs for men in the United States were:
- Professional or Olympic athlete 8.2 percent
- Airplane or helicopter pilot 6.8 percent
- Scientist 6.8 percent
Women in the U.S.said that their top childhood dream jobs were:
- Teacher 11.4 percent
- Veterinarian 9 percent
- Writers, Journalist or Novelist 8.1 percent
- Doctor, nurse or emergency medical technician 7.1 percent
- Singer 7.1 percent
“The dream jobs we aspire to as children are a window into our passions and talents” said Nicole Williams. Identifying and understanding those passions are key to improving our performance and enjoyment of the jobs we currently do, even if they are not specific to the careers we dreamed of as kids.
For me personally, that old dream became my reality.
I am thrilled to have the career I have. I love what I do and yes; passion converts tomorrow’s illusions into today’s reality!
Do you remember your childhood dreams?
Ana Weber is a blogger for JenningsWire, a blogging community created by Annie Jennings.
