Once you have scored your dream job, what comes next? It is a position that I thought I would be in one day — perhaps in my late thirties or early forties. But at 26, I think I have achieved my dream career and it concerns me. I’m not asking for sympathy or anything — just maybe a few ideas about where to go next.
Phnom Penh isn’t, perhaps, the most likely of cities for dreams to come true but my long-term ambition has been to become a yoga teacher and a freelance journalist. In less than two months in Cambodia, I have achieved it — last week I was offered a full-time yoga-teaching position. I had it down on my list of “things to do” as a goal that would take maybe two or three years to pull off. So — what next? I guess the pessimist in me believes it won’t live up to my expectations. Why? Well, let us have a look at my career history.
About 15 years ago, my dream job was to be a marine biologist. I like swimming and fish, so it seemed like a natural progression. Unfortunately, I am scared of going underwater and, bizarrely, I get really upset (and border on hyperventilating) when I have to wear flippers. In my job as a journalist, I barely ever have to wear flippers. However, as a marine biologist, I think the problem would have come up more often. It was clearly a career no-go.
Next, I decided I would make a brilliant lead singer and guitarist. I liked English rock bands and wore a lot of black eyeliner: What else would you need? I wasn’t concerned about the fact that my singing voice has been (regularly) likened to the whining of a tortured animal, nor the possible setback that I couldn’t strum a single chord and was only half interested in learning to. I could still swear that being in a rock band was my destiny — because I looked so utterly cool, holding my Les Paul replica in front of the mirror.
Unfortunately, I never got around to becoming the next big music sensation and, instead, started a journalism degree in London. During that time, I was lucky enough to work for some of the country’s biggest and best magazines. It was then that I decided I wanted to be the editor of one of the bestselling women’s glossies.
However, after a few years of working long, difficult hours and feigning an interest in fashion (OMG — she looks so last season), I realised that if I did achieve my goal, I would have a truly glamorous life. However, the hard work wouldn’t be over. I would work longer hours and the stakes would be higher. It stopped sounding like my dream job and started sounding like a sentence.
So now my dream job is to have fun with what I’m doing. I enjoy writing and yoga, so to be paid for them is an incredible feeling. But what next? You always need a goal, right? Knowing myself, I worry that my next career move will be an early midlife crisis and I will attempt to become Phnom Penh’s answer to Courtney Love. In fact, I think that’s exactly what this city needs.
