I’ll just go out and talk about a path that I never thought I’d be in if it were a decade ago.
Which leads me back to 2006. Sixth grade. Probably the peak of my aspirations to become a famous author of a book series about teenagers for teenagers. Frankly it was something I’ve always wanted to write about as someone who grew up with the Stoneybrook gang of babysitters and the Wakefield Twins who were total opposites of one another. Back then, I would collect notebooks and write a lot of characters in different plots, all occurring in an alternate universe where things happened the way we’ve always imagined in our dreams at night.
Somewhere during that timeframe, I often said to myself that I’d want to be a features writer for a teen or fashion magazine if my bestseller dreams don’t pan out. Maybe that was why I spent much of my free time back then buying magazines, flipping through the features and practicing writing Vogue-style. Maybe that was why I tried out for a year-long apprenticeship with my favorite publication back in sophomore year (without luck, unfortunately) and joined the school paper for two years. Wait, scratch that maybe part. Everything I did pen-related was for the sake of knowing and doing what I want. It was not because doing so would guarantee me a spot in the editorial team or bring in a thousand bucks and reviews just for my work about a modern-day version of The Hare and The Tortoise, research and flowery language and such.
Each time my teachers and friends asked me what I would be a decade from now, my answer was a simple yet blunt one: “I want to be a writer.” The same went when grilled about what degree (not course just as I learned in two years ago) I’d take in college: journalism was all I said, much to the surprise of no one.
And as the old folks would say, some things are inclined to change. What you liked or wanted to be in freshman year may be something you strongly spite now. The people whom you called your “friends for life” are now merely people whose name you could remember – nothing else, nothing more than that estranged connection you once had with one another. Even what your dreams, yes, what the elders asked you about at least once or twice a school year, can change in a decade.
Fast forward to ten years after having declared that I’d built a fortune from writing about sappy love puppies and wannabes gearing up for a battle against the queen bees. I became a production assistant, literary writer, marketing and events staffer, layout artist, blogger, video editor, director, screenwriter, essayist, accounts executive and now social media community manager in the aforementioned span. All this time, I came to the realize what it truly means whenever they say, “What a difference (insert number) year/s make/s.”
I am now spending my weekdays hitting the backspace key every ten seconds in an effort to craft copy for the tech-savvy generation. Five days a week, nine hours a day. 70% of my day in the life involves strategies and adjustments as to provide timely, compelling and innovative digital content that even your mom would shed her tears for. Times are indeed changing, and so did my career path as it led to somewhere I never could’ve imagined when I was in elementary.
Writing continues to be a passion of mine, but one day I just woke and realized that maybe I am just not cut out to be a bestselling author or a features writer. By then, I have fully realized that you can’t always get what you want. Sure, I can try my hand at either of them and maybe I’ll end up working shoots and editing articles at a magazine sooner or later. However, at the same time, I’m basking in the glory of the present as my current role allows me to write and integrate it with the new skills I’ve discovered and developed along the way. And I love it.
Looking back at my past experiences, these served as training grounds to help my career be on the right track. Thankfully, my current role aligns with the present landscape we’re living in: advanced, convenient, hungry for information, social and always in the know.
I guess it’s time for me to envision 2020’s next viral web campaign and what to pitch as the next article topic for Acme Incorporated. It’s never too early for that, eh.
