Well its been a year....

kathfisch

....exactly a year to the day, since I found the forums and started posting on dfw!

And I just wanted to say thank you to all of you who make this place so helpful and supportive :kisses3:

Anyway, I thought a little round up was in order... to look back on... so bear with me....

This time last year:

1) I had just got out of a very difficult relationship, albeit still living in the same house :rolleyes: , and this board has been a godsend ever since, there have always been people here to cheer me up.... you know who you all are!

2) I overspent (not hard on a student budget!) as a means of comfort and escape, I gradually learned to find that in other places... still working on it...

3) I was in my final year of university and wondering what to do with my life!

And now:

1) I'm much happier than ever!

2) I'm doing ok with the spending side of things... after a little slip over the summer... and earning a wage as well as supplementing it with matched betting

3) I graduated! :j Still not 100% sure about the 'what to do with my life' bit but getting there....

.... which leads me to what I wanted to waffle on about! Always helps to waffle, sort out my thoughts etc, but any advice is appreciated too!

Well, I received a lot of good advice on a previous thread, about career paths and following what I want. And I've done a lot of thinking since then, of the 'blue skies' type I think they call it And I've come to some realisations. I don't want to pursue a career as an artist. I don't want to teach. There, I said it! :eek:

My current idea its a pretty fixed one but its scary to call it a plan is to train to be a midwife. A whole 3 years more study, another degree etc etc.... and I don't know for the life of me where the idea came from... but I can't get it out of my head. And I've done lots of reading about it, and I know it would be hard to get a place, but it wouldn't be to start until sept 08 anyway... so there's time to try and get some volunteer experience.

The quote in my sig: The most difficult part of using intuition is our need to explain what we do to ourselves in a logical way. was something I found whilst reading up about midwifery, and it seemed just meant to be that I read that and understood it. I'm scared to tell people (hence telling you lot ) because I don't have a logical reason for this idea, i just suddenly knew that it was what I wanted. I totally believe in things happening for a reason, and following intuition etc, but its hard to say to people those are my reasons for doing something!

I could go on waffling all night but I won't... any comments appreciated!

Kath x

Mrs_Sparkle

Hey Kath,

Congratulations on your first year as a DFW! I'm really pleased for you- you've come a long way in the last year.

I've always imagined being a midwife would be a very satisfying career. You go for what feels right to you and I'm sure you will be a huge success x

taxi73

Well done on your first year as a DFW:T :T :T :T If you feel in your heart of hearts(seems like you do)...then go for it!!!:o you've done one degree and could do another...and this time...you also have more money management skills...I wish you well in whatever you decide to do:D

southernscouser

Kath, you know me, I'm a clown and never have anything sensible to say, but;

F*** logic, and follow your dreams.

kathfisch

southernscouser wrote:

Kath, you know me, I'm a clown and never have anything sensible to say, but;

F*** logic, and follow your dreams.

:rotfl:

You're so right though! Who would have thought that would end up being my dream hey?! :rolleyes:

Tustastic - thank you for that link and all the info! I definitely will try and get as much experience as I can to help support my application. I am aware of the 'less-cuddly aspects' as you say, in fact its not really the 'cuddliness' that attracts me, if you see what I mean. I have no illusions (I hope!) is what I'm trying to say. I have looked up the details of the course closest to me and they have some open day type information sessions specifically for nursing and midwifery in January and February... so the plan is to go along armed with some questions and just see how much I can find out!

Thanks everyone

kathfisch

Tustastic wrote:

......lots and lots of people will tell you that they were drawn to midwifery after having their own children.
IMHO, even more people are drawn to midwifery because their own parental urges are getting stronger.
Nothing wrong with any of that; just remember you might need to start budgetting for a little family in the next few years if that's where your instincts are leading you.:)

Ha ha ha, so true! Nothing like when someone else says what's on your mind but you were too afraid to say, hey?!

A number of things stand in my way of having kids though,

a) I don't have a partner and wouldn't want to voluntarily take on the task alone, not until that clock really starts ticking anyway!

b) If and when I do have a partner it will be a woman (IYSWIM) so its still not terribly straightforward.... :rolleyes:

c) I'm only 22, I do want to have some 'experience' of life, whatever that means, before having kids.

All of which makes it look at lot like this is not a career thing, but a maternal thing, I know.... which is why I'm so confused. I really don't know what to think, just didn't know how to say all that in my original post!

southernscouser

I can hear Mrs S plotting something now Kath! Something about bringing up my children with 'our' Ms Right! :rotfl:

Mrs_Sparkle

Oooh Kath that hadn't actually occurred to me. You're right though, you're young with loads of time to do the baby stuff, with or without partner. If you like I'll put you on the babysitting rota for Baby Sparkle and that might control your maternal urges...

kathfisch

Mrs_Sparkle wrote:

Oooh Kath that hadn't actually occurred to me. You're right though, you're young with loads of time to do the baby stuff, with or without partner. If you like I'll put you on the babysitting rota for Baby Sparkle and that might control your maternal urges...

Thank you, no doubt that'd solve the problem!!

Trouble is, if this isn't the career for me and I know I'm suddenly sounding like it isn't then what is?! That's a warped way of thinking about it, I know. I don't mean I want to go into it because there's nothing else, just that I don't have another career idea that interests me, to compare as it were. But then that comes back to trying to justify it logically doesn't it.

I just feel so lost with all this 'whole life ahead of me' thing... I know I'm only young and there's tons of time... but I'm not doing too well at it right now! The idea of being a midwife... I still don't know where it came from... but it really attracts me for all sorts of reasons (as we've established!).

My temp job has now been made permanent, but my life's ambition is not in retail, I like it for now though. I'm almost certain I'll get a job on a summer camp in america, that'd be from june to sept.

Sorry, getting myself all emotional now. I don't really say all this stuff to anyone else x

System

Hey Kath

Firstly, you are what I consider to be one of the stalwarts of the site along with Lynzpower, SS, Mrs Sparkle, PAP, Looking AHead to name a few and you gave much help and advice along my way - thank you. I hear that there is a midwife shortage North of the border - so would be a secure and I am sure rewarding career. Have a good Xmas.

Lenny

Mrs_Sparkle

Kath I think you're being a bit hard on yourself. At 22 I was nowhere near as responsible as you and didn't have any strong career urges at all. Tustastic suggested going to some NCT groups which I think is an excellent idea for you. You could also have a look at some of the baby forums- certainly the one I use has a couple of midwives on there and I'm sure if you asked they'd be more than happy to tell you more about their experience. I use "Baby Talk" on hitched.co.uk.

Does your uni do careers counselling for graduates? I know mine did- I only used the service once but I really should have gone more! But anyway, changing your mind about a career and taking a second one isn't the end of the world. I don't intend to do what I'm doing for the rest of my life- I really want a second career.

Keep us informed x