When Life Throws You Curve Balls

I say, when life throws you curve balls, get out your mitt and practice catching. It's time to learn a new skill.

I don't think I ever thought of myself as a career girl, but I've always loved writing. I assumed for a long time that it was all I'd be doing. From my earliest days scribbling stories about ponies to posting work on Fiction Press, from writing for a start up youth magazine in high school to studying writing in college, I assumed the trail I was blazing for myself would continue. But in the back of my mind I always thought about all the other things I wanted to try.

I liked majoring in Print Media, it gave me a chance to try graphic design, photography, and public relations. I started liking this concept of juggling multiple tasks and not just writing. Writing would always be my first love, but my "jack of all trades" personality kept drawing me to new and different things.

I never was involved in organized sports as a child, that is until I was 12 and had the chance to join my school's basketball team. Then I discovered that along with a love for reading and writing, there was also a love for sports. I sort of knew it was there all along since I grew up watching [and acting out epic scenes from] "Hoosiers," which was my favorite movie after "The Black Stallion," and since I saved up money to buy my own hoop to play on with friends.

Over time I developed a love for things like art [drawing, painting, crafting, and scrapbooking], photography, doing hair and makeup [my own and my friends'], singing, acting, blogging, and general DIY projects. Anything I could do myself, I would. And I still do.

In college my love for basketball [and various other sports] continued to grow when I played on the team freshman year. After that I had to quit so I could get a job to pay for school, but what better place to work than the gym? I could still be in the sports culture, even if I wasn't playing. So I signed up to run the score board or shot clock during games and worked at the front desk on the other days.

After college I actually got into my "career field" relatively quickly after getting hired as a reporter at a small town newspaper. It wasn't my ideal writing job, but I was happy to be doing what I loved. I worked there for several years combined, moving from a reporter to a digital editor, another opportunity to try something new. And this position wasn't one that college really prepared me for [past the writing and the editing], as I picked up many of the skills on my own from using social networking sites and sitting through webinars.

Along the way I've also worked in healthcare, food service, a factory, a church, and a distribution center. Not always because I wanted to, but because sometimes I had to catch a curve and do something different. And now I'm doing something totally new: working in retail, which I actually really like. It's bringing together all the things I love about clothes and fashion [an interest I developed after college] and helping women build their self-esteem through the shopping experience.

At each job I've had, I've learned something about work and humanity. I've picked up new skills and new perspectives on life and the workforce. Would I like to be a "career girl"? Sure, some days it sounds divine. But at the same time, I wouldn't trade these experiences for anything. I've gotten to do what I've always wanted: different things, some totally outside my comfort zone. And I've built for myself a resume of time and experiences, of opportunities and connections, that I wouldn't change one bit.