A few weeks ago, or maybe more, I'm not sure, I took a career test. Actually, I wouldn't call it a test, but rather tests, because it was about much more than careers and there was most definitely much more than one test. There was a lot in there about personality, who I am, and as I mentioned before, career and the future. Anyway, I did the test and sent it off to a fellow who's been in the counseling business for some time now.
So, a few days ago I had an appointment with him. His insight was incredible. He knew me better than anyone has ever known me and was able to explain the way I am in every aspect better than I could dream of doing myself: why do I look at school the way I do, how I approach work, my social habits, the value I put in different aspects of life. Mostly stuff that I knew was true, but didn't have a concrete way of expressing. And that was only the beginning.
He continued to tell me what I was going to be and how I was going to get there and in doing so I was flattered like I never have been before, but ironically, he said that that's normal, he expects a person like me to, "slip through the cracks without being noticed." He said that it's likely that no high school teacher has or ever will think much of me, but to not let that discourage me, although, with my character, he suspects--and he's right--that I couldn't give a rat's ass if high school teachers think much of me.
I'm rambling, but this is my personal space--that's why I'm selfishly writing about myself, duh!--so I shall ramble on. Just thought I should warn.
Anyway, I should clarify what all that, "slipping through the cracks" means. In clarifying, I think I should also jump back and say a bit about this guy's methods. First, he is very, very well-respected in the counseling business. His main competitor in the area said that when she gets stumped with a patient she sends them to this guy. Not that this is an indicator of his brilliance either, but this guy's written loads of books as well. Enough of why he's awesome; I need to spell out his methods the best I can. What he does is take the questions that I answered and matches the answers up with other people who have taken the same kind of tests, and I should mention that the people he matches answers with are people with careers. Oh yeah, I should mention too, that this guy's seventy-four I think, so he's got a large backlog of data he's working with. Anyway, so in doing so he finds what college would be best for me to attend, what career path I should take, etc.
So what did he find? Well, essentially the most flattering ego-boost I've ever received from anyone. He first told me something along the lines of--not a quote since I don't want to get a word wrong--I'd be very surprised if in fifteen years you were not teaching at the college/university level. He had clarified this previous by saying that I am an absolute academic and that I would not be happy doing anything that everyman considers useful. Instead, my career lies in discussing things like philosophy, literature, anthropology, and eventually writing both fiction and nonfiction. He also said that I should most definitely not have an orthodox education, instead, I should go to Earlham College (or a very similar liberal arts school, but he recommends Earlham), spend two years there and either transfer then or go far away to do something interesting like hike across God knows where or become, you know, a monk, or something; most of all I should at some point do something very interesting and out of the ordinary. Then, after that, I should eventually finish school and become a professor. Oh yeah, and all in between be writing a whole bunch. He said that what's key for me is to have many experiences so that fuel of experiences will turn into writing. Apparently, I "cannot be taught to write," I will instead, "learn to write."
So, my big question would have been, uhm...that's all well and good, but I kind ‘of suck at school and all the indications point to me being, at best, slightly above average intellectually. To this idea, he said that my high school grades are no indication of my intellect, and that he is sure that I am in the top five or ten percent intellectually, but with my character, it would be very possible to never know that. He said that I'm perfectly capable of straight A's, but that it's not in my character to strive for that, and that that's OK, because if it was an option, the best thing for me to do (in his opinion) would be to skip out of high school now as a junior and go on to college, because for me, my diploma will be pointless.
This probably all seems pretty weird, and it is to me, too, but this is the path he says I should take, the path that will most likely lead me to success, yes, it so happens that I guess I will have an interesting life along the way, but his methods aren’t for finding how people should go through their lives to be happy, his methods are for finding out how people will succeed, and it just so happens that my track for success will needs to be filled with these interesting things. He’s not trying to map out a fun life for people, but one of success; it just so happens that the way to success for me looks to be a fun one, or at least it looks fun to me.
That is all for now on my career test adventure.
To change topics entirely, I bet whoever isn't reading this could never guess my motivation for writing this overlong post. It was because I got a new wireless keyboard (and mouse) and it feels way good and I wanted to type something long on my lap. Anyway, he recorded the half-hour meeting and is sending us a CD of it. And, since this is my personal blog and I can do what I want on it, I may transcribe the meeting onto the this space sometime. Hey, if this were for other people I would tag things in my posts so people could find it, but it's not, it's more like my journal, or something similar that someone from my school would also call homosexual, or some such.
That is all for now.
