I’m Very Confused About My Career Choices

Sometimes, I’ll rather just be a housewife.

One of the things that keep me up at night is the thought of what I want to do with my life and that mostly includes what career I want to venture into.

Over the years, I have hopped from one career option to another. From randomly daydreaming about one career to waking up at 2 am and saying to myself “this is what I want to do” just for me to lose interest in the morning.

It has been very difficult.

As a Mass Communication and Media student who learns about ALL sectors of Media and Communications (which includes, Print media, Broadcast media, Public relations, Advertising, Film, social media, etc.), there has been quite an internal battle with what path I want to follow.

What are some of the careers I’ve gained interest in over the years, and why did I pick them?

1. Psychologist

This cracks me up every single time I think about it. No, I never truly had a passion for psychology. I just read a fictional story about a psychologist and I liked it and I thought “why not?” I ran away from that option when I found out I had to write a Biology exam in my JAMB if I wanted to study Psychology at the university.

2. Filmmaker

This option came about because I used to write fictional stories and I wanted to turn my stories into movies one day. I was pretty stuck on this option for a while and I just had a change of heart at the beginning of my third year of university (2020). I think I still have a bit of interest in this and I might still pursue it on the side later in the future because I have stories that I still want to tell.

3. Photographer

It was the year 2019 and I was a bit obsessed with the idea of photography and I even bagged a certificate in photography and cinematography LOL. I wanted to get a camera so bad but some unfortunate incidents happened and I wasn’t able to. Do I still have an interest in this? I’m not sure.

4. Public relations specialist

This is what I’m currently stuck on LOL. I gained an interest in Public Relations because of a module/course I did in my third year of University. I still have great interest in this because I have a passion for it.

5. Advert Manager/Copywriter

I also have quite an interest in this but not as much as Public Relations. I do amazingly well in my advert courses in school and I think it’s something I’ll excel in but doing it long term? I don’t know about that.

6. Development Communications specialist

This is also under communications but a specific type. My interest in this came about through a course/module I did back in my third year of university, Development Communication. I enjoyed the idea of coming up with communication strategies to solve problems.

7. Journalist

This is quite funny because one thing I always say when someone mentions the career option “journalist” to me is “God forbid”. I don’t even watch, listen, or even read news stories. But I feel like if I want to venture into the world of journalism, I’ll probably be an arts and lifestyle or culture journalist. I love writing articles and I’ve gained quite a bit of experience as a blogger but being in the hard news sector is not just for me. I am open to writing articles for online and even print publications and I see myself as a Vogue journalist one day but I want to write about something I’m genuinely interested in and to be honest, journalism in Nigeria is not of interest to me.

8. Author

If you’ve been here from the start of this blog, you would have noticed that I used to publish short stories regularly. I dreamed of being a published author one day but I’m not so sure about that now, to be honest.

9. Content Writer

This is something I already do, alongside blogging and I see myself doing this long term. I love writing for myself but I also want to venture out into writing for other people’s online publications, writing scripts for podcasts, YouTube videos, other types of videos, and so on. Just general online content and I’m just waiting to be done with University so I can fully dive into this and learn more.

And this has all been in the space of 4 years.

Honestly, I do not know what I truly want to do, but what I’ve always known, right from when I was in primary school, is that I want to go into something that has to do with the media.

Sometime last year I worked as a content developer/manager for a media company and I enjoyed it.

Going forward I think I want to go into Corporate Communications, Marketing, and Public Relations.

Why? I just really enjoy it. I’m really invested in learning more about that sector and I find myself reading books and articles about it and even following communication and digital marketing experts on social media, just to learn more from them.

While I was in secondary school, my favourite school subject was Marketing but I never thought of Marketing as a career option till recently, although I bagged my certificate in Digital Marketing in 2019, I just wanted to learn more about it then, and I never really put it into full practice.

So, right now, what do I want to do?

I want to go into Corporate Communications, Marketing, Public Relations, AND Content Writing.

But if that doesn’t work out, next option? Iyawo Oga

What other crazy career option will I suddenly gain interest in, in the future? We’ll see.

The career you envisioned yourself going into years ago, are you currently doing that?

How did you pick your current choice of career?

What you studied in the higher institution, are you currently pursuing that career path?

Do you believe in having multiple careers and multiple sources of income?

Let me know down in the comment section!