Wow

I don't even know how to describe today.

Do you believe in signs??

I don't know that I do, but today seemed like a big sign that fell in the middle of the road, and then I hit it with my car. Or something like that.

I had my career counseling session today. The lady with whom I spoke was amazing! She was so nice, so understanding, and shared a bit of her background so that I knew she had been through a similar situation.
That situation would be the one where I just up and decided that I didn't want to continue with my current life goals, career goals, or really anything that I had been planning, or even considered planning. Yep, that one.
So, I took this Strong Interest Inventory. It sounds kind of stupid because I should know what I am interested in, right? Well, there wasn't anything too surprising on there, but it did confirm these thoughts and feelings that I have been having about what to do with my life.
I have been struggling to find a balance between this corporate world that we live in and my personal values. I think I will always struggle with this. But I didn't want to give up everything that I believe in just for a secure job.
Today, I found out that I don't have to.
My "strong interests" lean almost completely toward the social and artistic. To expand a little, I like to work with people, I don't care as much about money as I do about making a difference, and I like to be creatively challenged. This is what the test told me. And it is true.
But what does this all mean??
Well, let me tell you.
I should be in education.
Not because some test told me to. But because that is where my passion is.
I just didn't know what kind of education jobs were out there.
But, lucky for me...
there was a meeting today with a panel of non-teaching education workers who met with a group of students to answer many questions and provide wonderful contacts.
And,
I just happened to find out about it a half an hour before it started.
Sign?
I think so.
But there was just so much that I figure out today. I am still crazy confused as to what to do, and totally scared to get started, but it feels right.
Editing and publishing just felt like what I was supposed to do.
This spark, this passion for education, has been growing since last semester when I volunteered at the high school. And now I realize that this is really what I want to do.
I don't know yet if I want to teach.
I'm not even considering more school right now. I need a break. Maybe someday I will be my MA in teaching, I'm not going to rule it out.
But I have slightly different plans right now.
I want to be a grant writer.
I want to help non-profit schools obtain enough of an income to fully educate its students. I think that I have the skills to be a technical writer. I have been writing research papers, forming arguments, and learning persuasive rhetoric for the past four years. And the thing is, I love it. I love research. I love the boring, dry crap that everyone passes up. I like to find ways to make it interesting to other people. I like to try and change people's opinions.
I talked with a PSTL administrator who was on the panel, and he gave me his email. I'm going to send him my contact information and a copy of my resume, and he is going to send me contact information of a grant writer that he knows, as well as some information on paid internships for grant writing.
The best part about this new career path is how wide it is. Even if I, for some reason, am not capable of becoming a grant writer, there are other ways that I can contribute to obtaining the funding for a school, or there are other areas of interest that I have in education.
I am so excited!
:)