Humans of IMSA: Aspiring Teacher

This edition of Humans of IMSA features an inteviewee who shares some recently-realized career ambitions. The interviewee has asked to remain anonymous. -Acronym staff

I started wanting to be an architect, and I thought that was what was right for me because that was always what I wanted to do. I went to college for all of two months before I realized “Ayyyyy, No.” I thought I was gonna be an architect; I bought my T-square and everything. I was so down to be an architect and I enjoyed the classes and then I actually went out and I did it. And that was garbage, dude. I went and it didn’t click, you know what I mean? I was so set, since my junior year of high school, like “This is it, this is it.” And it wasn’t. And that’s good. And I’m glad that happened, because I knew it wasn’t for me instead of continuing my career, being miserable and wasting all of that money.

That’s my biggest advice: do it. Don’t just go, “Oh I’ve been studying for this, oh I should do this.” Go do it first. Because you don’t know if you like something until you try it. If you like it, then it will give you more of a gift to continue that as a career. If you don’t like it then you realize you wasted your time doing something that wasn’t for you.

And other people say, “Oh blah blah no one likes their job.” Well you know, I don’t believe that. I think those people that do not like their jobs either got pushed into that off of situation and circumstance, or they thought that is what they wanted, and never wanted it.

I actually think I want to be an English teacher. I have always excelled in English. Every teacher I have ever bonded with was an English teacher. School was too “school” for me. I enjoy learning; I do not enjoy being lectured. I do not enjoy being talked at. But if you talk to me, that’s fine. And I feel like that’s what I can bring to the table. I wanna give my “flavah” to the school.

If you feel like you wanna do something, just make sure you try it first. Because you never know. Some people know whether they try it or not, you know what I mean? Like some people know. I’m not going to say that your intuition is wrong. If you know what you want to do and you know that this feels right, then it feels right. But for some people, it doesn’t and you have that doubt. That’s why you gotta go, try it out, see if that’s what’s right for you. Don’t YOLO it. That’s the rest of your life. Don’t YOLO it.

I’m an alternative teacher. People will be like, “Oh you have to know what you wanna be by blah blah time.” You’re not gonna know. Even when you’re in college you’re not gonna know. You’re not. And some people die without passions. To me, it’s all interest.

Keep that not knowing. You know what I mean? Don’t settle on nothing. If it’s something you wanna do, devote time to it. But don’t let it monopolize your time and end up being something that falls flat. And then what? You just spent two years of your life doing this, and it was not for you. You gotta wise up.

That’s my 22 year-old advice.

My whole family is either medical or military. And I don’t wanna do any of that. I don’t know what I wanna do. I think I’m going to be an English teacher.