...going.
Tuesday marked the first day of classes for me and, in the larger picture, the first step towards my goal of getting my CPA. It was a long-winded journey for me to get to this point, filled with a lot of twists and turns and getting a little side-tracked. My parents have been telling me this is what I should have done all along and that I shouldn't have fought so hard to go against it. They think I'm finally stepping up and making the right decision.
The truth?
I would say this is less of a "right" decision than the "best" one. To be perfectly honest, I'm more excited about moving forward and finally having a goal to work towards than the goal itself. Let's face it - accounting was and still is is not my dream profession. However, it is a good and solid career. While it may not be the most glamorous, you have the opportunity to branch out into other realms of the business world. Plus, the money doesn't hurt. So does that make me a sell-out? Am I settling for something that isn't my dream job? Am I being too materialistic? I'm sure some would say so. However, let me put it this way.
Looking into the future, I want a pretty big family, maybe 3 or 4 kids. I want to live in a nice, spacious house in a beautiful, family-friendly neighborhood with lots of great schools nearby. I want to drive my kids to whatever sports or recreational activity they choose in my nice, hopefully hybrid SUV. I want my family to go on a nice vacation to a different destination at least once a year, and maybe go a romantic retreat with just my husband every now and then. Most of all, I want to be able to ensure that their happiness, safety, education, and health will never be compromised by a lack of funding.
All of the above requires money, there's no two ways about it. So I asked myself, how can I go about making that dream a reality? How can I go about making that kind of money? To take it even further, what kind of career offers me that kind of money
AND enough time to enjoy all of that
with my family
AND would I be willing to do for the next 30 or 40 years?
So this is where my questions have led me...on the path of becoming a CPA.
I'm not saying that accounting is the only profession that could fulfill my dreams, I'm saying that it is the one I would be best suited for and it's the one best suited for me. I know it's going to take a lot of hard work and a few sacrifices. The first few years will be tenuous, back-breaking and frustrating but I am more than willing to endure all that to get to where I want to ultimately be. People ask me, "But what about
you, what about what
you want...don't think about your future family, this is the time to put
yourself first, to do what makes you happy." They are right. As an unmarried woman...okay, it's weird calling myself a woman...as an unmarried girl in her mid-20's, this is absolutely the time in my life to be a little selfish and
do me. But when I think about my future and envision that (hopefully!!!) happy and healthy family of my dreams,
that is what makes me happy and
that is what I want to work towards.
I'm not saying that I prefer money over happiness, that's a little much. Just because I don't
love accounting, it doesn't mean I hate it. In time, I know I'll learn to love it. How do I know that? I don't have very far to look; my father is a great example. His dream was to become a lawyer but because his family had 8 kids to put through college and money wasn't as plentiful as he would have liked, he "settled" for accounting. Today, with some hard work and dedication, he's made it pretty high up. Somewhere along the way, he made it into a career that he loved AND one that he excels in. He and my mom have provided my brother and I with everything we've needed and (most of everything) we've wanted.
So, again I ask, is this the "right" decision? I don't know and I won't know until later on in my life. I will say again, though, that this is the
BEST decision I've made in a long time when it comes to ameliorating my current situation and fulfilling my future dreams.
Wish me luck.
