5 Things I Want To Be When I Grow Up

What do you dream of being when you grow up?

I don’t care how old you are.  I ask you to take a moment and really think about that question.  When you were a kid, did you hope to be an astronaut, a model, a painter, a princess, a cop, an army man, a mother, a father, a lawyer or maybe a doctor?  What was it back then?

As kids we often act out the things that we dream of becoming.  We play house or we imagine ourselves as rock stars.  As we get older, these dreams often seem silly and completely out of touch with reality, so we put them away.

But, should we?!?

Instead, maybe we should pull out our old dreams again, dust them off and look at them a little closer.  However, this isn’t always easy.

Why I’m pondering what I want to be when I grow up

I recently bought The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity by Julia Cameron.  This book is a comprehensive 12-week program designed to help you recover from a variety of creative blocks.  Basically, it helps you unblock and rediscover your inner artist, but I am hopeful that my unleashed creativity can be used in a wide-variety of settings.

I’m just getting started with the program, but one of the first assignments is to think back to when you were a kid and to name five things that you wanted to be when you grew up.  I believe the intention is to help you open yourself up to your dreams from childhood.

How your Censor stifles your dreams and robs you of a better life

However, there is another interesting thing that arises in doing this exercise.  You start hearing from your inner Censor as Cameron calls it.  As I started recalling a few things I wanted to be, I heard the Censor in my head say things like:

• “That’s ridiculous, you can’t make a living doing that.”
• “You can’t sing.  Your voice is terrible!”
• “Are you kidding?!?  You’d never be brave enough to even try it!”
• “You can’t do that now.  You are too old!”
• “That’s totally unrealistic!  You’re foolish for even thinking about it.”

The odd thing is, apparently, I’ve grown very comfortable with my Censor.  Generally, I don’t even recognize he’s there lurking around.  I have to really tune into my Censor to consciously hear his whispers.

This process was very revealing and kind of scary at the same time.  In what ways is my Censor holding me back as I try to live life to the fullest?  I have to admit it is in bigger ways than I probably want to acknowledge. 

In addition, it is obvious that if this simple exercise of just recalling my dreams from childhood can aggravate my Censor, then he is likely to be working overtime when I’m really wanting to step out there and be creative!

Therefore, it is time to defeat the Censor!

The 5 things I want to be when I grow up

I don’t want my Censor to hold me back!  I want to overcome the doubts and fear that he constantly stirs in my mind.  Therefore, I’m going public with my list of things that I want to be when I grow up! 

I’m going to show my Censor that I’m not too afraid to step out there.  I am going to express my creativity and dreams whether they make any logical sense or not.  This is my act of defiance!

Here are the 5 things I want to be when I grow up:

1.  A fighter pilot

I love the movie Top Gun.  I know it seems kind of corny, but that movie fires me up for some reason.  Real fighter pilots have to train, discipline themselves and work too hard for me to dream about being one of them, but a movie star fighter pilot?  That’s right up my alley! 

I want to be launched off an aircraft carrier and roar into the wild blue yonder!  I want to kick in the afterburners and feel the power behind the rocket sled that I have strapped to my body!  I want to perform graceful acrobatic moves in the sky with no limits or boundaries!  I want to wear that cool helmet with the dark visor!  I want to be a fighter pilot when I grow up!
Photo by Lietmotiv

2.  A race car driver

Zooming around a track at hundreds of miles per hour has always intrigued me.  The feeling of speed and power must be intoxicating!  In addition, it has got to feel pretty dang fine standing in Victory Circle being hailed as the winner of a great race like the Indianapolis 500.  That’s the way to live!

I imagine that most boys have dreamed of being a race car driver at one point or another in their childhood.  It is just too alluring with the roar of the engines and all the excitement.  Racing is a sport of pure adrenaline!  I want to be a race car driver when I grow up!
Photo by Ford Racing 

3.  A country music artist

Who hasn’t dreamed of being a performer on stage?  I’d love to entertain a crowd like Garth Brooks used to do.  Brooks has been named the Academy of Country Music’s Entertainer of the Year an incredible six times!  I want to know what that kind of adulation feels like!

I always envisioned myself on stage with a microphone and guitar with thousands of screaming fans hanging on every note.  The emotion and thrill from pleasing that big of a crowd on a nightly basis has to be truly exhilarating!  I want to be a country music artist when I grow up!
Photo by TheAlieness

4.  A starship captain

Okay, okay, I admit this one is pretty geeky sounding, but I idolized Captain James T. Kirk back when I watched Star Trek.  Kirk was amazing in his ability to think his way out of impossible situations on faraway planets.  His macho bravado as Captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise was the stuff of my dreams!

I loved the confidence that Captain Kirk displayed no matter how unfamiliar or ridiculous the challenge was before him.  He commanded the respect of his crew and proved he deserved it over and over again.  His accomplishments were well-known throughout Star Fleet!  I want to be a starship captain when I grow up!
Photo by Foxtongue

5.  A writer

Finally, I dreamed of being a writer when I was kid.  I thought it would be incredibly cool to publish a book.  My best friend and I in the eighth grade had an idea for a science fiction book that we were going to co-author.  We should have done it!

I admire authors!  I have a friend that has published several fictional books.  I am often amazed at her creativity!  I sometimes wonder how she can dream up entire stories that fill hundreds of pages.  The cool thing is that she does it over and over again!

Writers get to paint pictures and steer people’s imaginations with their words.  The pen is mightier than the sword!  Of course, I actually get to live out this dream in a small way as I write this blog!   However, I still want to be a writer when I grow up!
Photo by mkosut

Dream about what you want to be when you grow up!

As an adult, it is often hard to let go of reality and logic for a few moments to really dream about what we want to do with our lives.  I’ll admit it made me a feel a little silly and uncomfortable writing this.  It is easy to imagine others being quick to judge me.

However, I strongly want to silence my inner critic because I believe he robs me of greater fulfillment and achievement in my life.  I want to unleash my creativity and let my imagination run wild so I can live life to the fullest!

What do you want to be when you grow up?  Leave a comment and let me know!