The Marine Biologist Theory

The fine people over at BlogHer are hosting National Blog Posting Month 2015 (#NaBloPoMo) and their suggestion for today was:

What did you think was the coolest job in the world when you were younger? Do you still feel that way now?

I’m pretty sure I’ve brought this up before in another post, but I wanted to be a marine biologist when I was a kid. You see, my parents had this random issue of National Geographic with a fold-out poster full of different dolphins and porpoises. After flipping through it, and reading all about the wonders of the ocean, I was sure that the only thing I wanted to be was a marine biologist. I had no idea what such a job entailed, what kind of education I would need, or how many swimming lessons I would need to take. I was convinced that I was going to swim with dolphins and make documentaries like Jacque Cousteau. I would become The Octopus Whisperer, known to all the world for my daring aquatic adventures. As you can see, I had no idea what a marine biologist actually does.

When I grew up a bit (and also failed Red level swimming lessons because I can’t sink to the bottom of a pool while holding my breathe even though I’m pretty sure that’s the opposite of what I should be doing) it became obvious to me that I wasn’t going to be a marine biologist. I had already set my sights on a few other professions anyway… like lawyer, teacher, nurse, author or artist. At least those jobs seemed more attainable.

But people always seem to ask “what did you want to be as a kid?” which is when I developed “The Marine Biologist Theory”. Whenever I tell people about my childhood career aspirations, I am almost always met with “ME TOO!” It’s usually just girls, but inevitably, at some point in their life, 90% of girls seem to have dreamed of being a marine biologist. It’s a weird phenomena. It’s such a specific thing, and yet we all seem to have dreamed about it.

So what about you? What job did you want when you were a child?