The five things I want to be.
This is the first article I write about a personal topic such as my long term goals —and I mean long— term. It’s very much a “Dear Diary,” kind of post.
I have the intention to sketch a simple outline of my mindset and my objectives the way they stand in my early twenties. I’ve been known for always carrying a turmoil of ideas… it’s been like that since school. But having finished my studies, as I start to face the reality of life, I begin to reflect on how my interests may be linked together on the path to bigger goals. So at the age of 24, here are the five things I want to be in life.
Hang on, why write about them?
There are three reasons why I want to write them down.
- Putting things in writing requires focus and clarity. If you manage to do it, then you know your ambitions have a definite shape. This means you are able to realise the long-term objectives for yourself.
- Finding the bigger goals lets you identify your short and medium term aims. Now that I know what I want to be, I can do a far better job at focussing my energies and time into worthwhile experiences.
- My hope is that people who are young and creative will be encouraged to think about what makes them happy and fulfilled. Perhaps they will go farther than imagined — or maybe the reachable scope won’t be as large as they thought. Still, the reward will be there.
In the future, I want to be…
i. An Engineer
The Brain
— Even though this is the only ambition I have achieved so far, a career in engineering is not what I had in mind. Sure, I used to enjoy geeking out over LEGOs and computers, but I’d never thought of studying engineering at university until the end of secondary school. In fact, I was all about arts, staging and creativity, but later I took a real interest in Maths and Physics. Six years on and I’m a software engineer at one of the ‘Tech Giants’, which I honestly love. Writing software is definitely for me. But it’s not all.
ii. A Playwright
The Hand
— There is little in this world I enjoy more than a dazzling story. It’s one that grows wide and elaborate, that weaves intricate plots of events, disseminates loose ends and pertinently ties them back up. A good story unveils characters who are neither good nor bad, but rather have plans and desires, weaknesses and aspirations, and are driven by them.
I really like to write stories. I’m not good at it already, but I want to get better. Plays, in particular, make stories come alive with the dialogues and the spoken words of the characters, and allow them to drive the plot forward with their character and personality in a myriad way. I know one day I’ll be typing “Curtains.” at the end of a play because one is under way.
iii. A Father
The Heart
— This is the most personal and the most dear aspiration of all. Parenthood has been on my mind since I patched things up with my dad. But I know being a father won’t be about me, it’ll be all about them, my children one day. First I thought of the eye to represent this, but being a parent is not a surveillance duty. It’s a loving and trust endeavour. I think you must teach them, you empower them, then you trust them to do the right thing.
Having children would be a dream for me. I strive to be supportive for whatever they are and I mean it. I hope this will become a reality one day, one to share with another beautiful soul. And after all, the house of Reaver needs to live on, doesn’t it?
iv. An Entrepreneur
The Guts
— You may believe this is not new. When I was six, I opened a greengrocer’s in my parents’ living room. Three years later I was in charge of the schedule of a brand new TV channel. Those were my first experiments at running a company. Since then, it’s been ideas after ideas, and even more so in the last ten years. That’s when things started to get serious.
My belief was that everybody wanted to be an entrepreneur, and that it coincided with being the CEO. No. Being an entrepreneur is a major and committed push for a plan, a plan you believe will be of service to others and to the world we live in. It calls for an incredible amount of work, perseverance, dedication, and risk. Like actual risk. Yet I’m convinced that this is my ultimate path, my big pursuit, so I set things in motion.
v. A Speaker
The Mouth
— I thought acting was my thing. Then came my obsession for phonetics. But the more I think about it, the more I realise that what appeals to me is the ability of having mastery and control of your voice and using it with purpose. I started to grow the dream of working with my voice and in the future become a presenter, a voice actor, or a good speaker. There is no obligation to become the next Dermot O’Leary or a younger Roman Kemp, let alone a new Obama. This is not about making a career from it, it’s about mastering a skill that to me, trust me, almost feels like a superpower.
These are the five things that are on my mind. However they are not set in stone. I can’t guarantee they won’t change in the next few years. More than that — I would love to see them overwritten, given that it’s great to have ambitions and ideas to drive and motivate you, but it’s equally important and exciting to be prepared for life to take you on new, unexpected paths.
