As I mentioned in my first post, I went back to school to pursue teaching thinking that I could fix my broken feet before entering the field as an elementary school teacher. However, I was derailed and my feet/legs are more broken than they've ever been. Thanks, Universe! I spent a year trying to find a teaching job, in denial that I wouldn't be able to walk/stand throughout the day and I still could not even find a substitute teaching job. The teaching field is a dead end right now in California, a heavily impacted field with no job openings due to budget cuts and layoffs. The districts use their laid off teachers as substitutes and rehire them the next year.
The last year or so, while looking for other desk jobs in education and sending out a million apps with no response, I was also trying to come to terms with what else I could do. I was working part-time, telecommuting as a transcriptionist for an IT marketing agency. I wasn't very enthusiastic taking up the job, but I needed the money and could work from home. I soon found out that with my fast typing skills and my voyeuristic tendencies, I loved being the fly on the wall in people's conversations, learning new things about the hi-tech world. I met with a fellow colleague for help with my equipment (foot pedal issues) and she was raving about how she just finished school for court reporting, passed the state exam, and was on her way to being a professional court reporter. She told me the pay was fantastic, you work your own hours/schedule if self-employed, and it's a highly in-demand job (probably because it's nearly impossible to pass the state exam!). She's now working part-time while being a new mommy and making the same money as a full-time professional. It piqued my interest and I started researching the idea, shopping around at private trade schools -- way too expensive at $12k per semester, for 4 semesters.
Finally after a year of mulling it over, thinking about the what-if's of court reporting (what if I'm not good at it, what if I can't pass the exam, what if my pain gets in the way of jobs, what if I hate it?...) and mourning the loss of a would-be teaching career, I've taken the step of pushing all of my fears aside and going for it, via community college of course. The transcription colleague, who now offered to be my mentor, said you can get the same education from a JC that you could get from a private school because it all depends on how often you practice your speed-building skills, which is mostly done at home. Practice, practice, practice!! I'll be registering for classes on August 5th.
I'm very excited, motivated, and feel like I have a new lease on life. Purpose! I've come to realize that I can still have a career rather than resign myself to a life of collecting disability (for which I wouldn't even qualify because I wasn't granted the opportunity of working an actual career, therefore, I don't have any salary history). I'm motivated again and eager to learn a whole new world of stenograph machines, shorthand, and other shop-talk terms. I have always been interested in investigative stories and watching court cases play out, so I'm also excited to learn more about law. Also, with court reporting, you're not just limited to the court room; you can also do behind-the-scenes work in the entertainment industry in closed captioning or work in universities, captioning for the hearing impaired. I think I want to tale a similar route of my mentor and be self-employed, working in depositions.
My fear is that I'm thinking too optimistically rather than realistically, just as I did about teaching, and I'll be derailed once again. Although I love learning, I don't love referring to myself as a "professional student." It's a little embarrassing for me already to be 27 and when people ask what I do, having to say, "I'm in school...again." But, alas, I need to build a bridge and get over it, and move on with my life. Onward and upward!
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