You know, when I was a kid, I didn’t really think very hard about professions. My parents didn’t put any pressure on me to become a doctor or lawyer or anything like that, so I had quite a lot of freedom to choose what I wanted to be. At first, I thought I wanted to be a ballerina. That was when I was five and taking ballet lessons. I liked doing the stretches in class, so when anyone asked me what I wanted to be, I just arbitrarily answered that I wanted to be a ballerina. Of course, I didn’t continue with the ballet classes for more than a year, so I quickly forgot about that dream. 

When I was in third grade, I decided that I wanted to be an editor. I liked reading fiction, so I thought it would be fun to read people’s writing and correct their mistakes. That idea lasted until about fifth grade when I started playing guitar. Suddenly, I wanted to become a singer-songwriter! I practiced guitar and wrote my own songs, but started getting discouraged in college. Everybody else was so much more talented than me. Maybe I didn’t have what it takes to become a singer-songwriter… 

In the end, it seemed I was destined to have way too many interests to choose one thing to pursue in my life. The truth is that I like music, I like reading, I like writing, and yes, even dancing! But starting when I was thirteen, I realized that more than anything, I love language. I love learning languages and talking about languages, and for the past fourteen years I’ve always had at least one language to study! In a way, my third-grade dream came true. I’m not an editor exactly, but I do get to read people’s writing and correct their mistakes. Even better, I get to talk with people about language every day! And who knows? Maybe I’ll find another passion later in life. I hope that I do!

Vocabulary:

put pressure on someone: （人）に圧力をかけて
freedom to do something:　何かをする自由

do stretches:　ストレッチをする
something lasts until sometime: 　～まで続く
get discouraged: 　気を落とす
have what it takes to do something: 　〔～するために〕必要［不可欠］なもの［資質］を持っている
to be destined to do something: 　《be ～》～する運命にある
even better: 　さらに良いことに

*The definitions are mostly taken from the online dictionary, 英辞郎

Do you like learning expressions like these? You might want to try my Idioms Lesson, where you can learn all sorts of fun and flashy idioms. Pull them out in conversation! Impress your friends!