"I get knocked down, but I get up again"

What’s your dream job?

My whole life, I’ve wanted to be a Kindergarten Teacher. I love children and even when I was a little girl, I’d set my bedroom up as a classroom and teach younger children everything I knew, bless my heart.

As a teen, I was always involved with kids clubs and after-school childcare, I absolutely loved any opportunity to work with children.

So…I studied at Uni over 25 years (!!!) trying to get my Bachelor’s in Education but every time I got to my last year, my parents would divorce and I’d drop out of Uni to hold the family together.

When I’d go back to Uni, education laws and policy changed over that year off so that I’d have to start at Year 1 again. I did that about 6 times before I just gave up.

I got a Bachelor of Arts in Community Development instead. In the last month of my last year, Alun was attacked in the city by strangers and was in hospital; his life in the balance. I thought “it’s happening again” and that I’d need to drop out of Uni to stay by Alun’s side.

But this time, my friends wouldn’t let me.

“You can do this, Janet. Don’t give up on Uni” they all messaged me. Friends took turns visiting Alun and caring for him while I studied for exams and submitted my final assignments. Because of them, I was able to complete my Degree.

The day I graduated 🎓 wow. It was over 25 years of studying that was finally being recognised and coming to an end.

So instead of being a Kindergarten Teacher, I thought I would teach lessons to children in schools all over Western Australia about recycling, climate change and gardening. I wanted to use my degree to build community centres and run community classes and courses for children, teenagers and computer programs for the Elderly.

I still have yet to do that.

With depression and anxiety weighing heavily on me in the last 5 years, my mentality towards work has changed.

My ideal job right now is to be a writer.

To be paid to write…that’s the new goal.

Until I get that amazing book deal, my ideal job RIGHT THIS MOMENT is to work for a company in the city centre and do basic data entry or to just answer the phone.

I want to do an easy job with just the one responsibility. A job I can do on autopilot where I’m not expected to do sooo much. It gives me time to heal. It gives me energy after work to do house chores and see friends. It gives me time to garden, to dream, to plan. The data entry or switchboard jobs I’ve had in the past are honestly where I’ve felt the happiest and my mental health has improved greatly.

So yeah. If I see a job for either switchboard operator or data input, I’m going to apply and hope I get it.

I’d really like that.