A Lightbulb Moment: When You Finally Realize What You Want

Posted February 15, 2019 by Amie Grosshans

How did I get here?  I’ve asked myself this question a lot the past few weeks.  I’ve spent the last fourteen years as an administrative assistant for an accounting firm.  It’s not what I was planning on doing with my master’s degree in art history, but life doesn’t always take you on a straight path.  I always thought I’d move on and find something else to do, but I didn’t know what I wanted.  So I stayed, got comfortable, and saw myself continuing with the firm for awhile longer. 

But then, an unexpected shakeup left the future in doubt.  My plan to stay with the firm when the younger partner took over was no longer feasible.  For the first time in awhile, I had to seriously think about what I wanted for the future.  I started thinking about the things that I love–books, organizing, helping people–and what jobs would fit that criteria.  I thought being a librarian would be perfect, and browsing through Simmons’ website, I knew I was right.  I read the program and course descriptions, and thought, yes!  THIS is what I want to do.  Before that, I couldn’t really articulate what I wanted.  It was just a nebulous idea in my head, but now it had form.  And when I read about the archives concentration, I was completely on board.   

So here I am, going back to school again, only this time, I’m approaching it from a completely different angle.  With my previous degrees, I took classes in the hopes that I would get some kind of relevant job afterwards.  Now, I know that I want a job in working in an archive, and every class I take will help me get there.  While I’m a bit nervous, I’m also completely excited to learn everything I can, ask questions, and get my hands dirty (maybe literally?) with an internship.  It feels amazing to finally realize what I’m meant to be doing, and I can’t wait to find out what the future holds.