In January of 2009, I was at a pretty low point. The “Great Recession” had just happened, I had been laid off from my job, and (for a whole host of reasons) my husband and I had recently moved in with his parents.
I wasn’t depressed or anything, I just wasn’t sure where my life was going. I read every book under the sun about “how to find your purpose” and I spent a great deal of time talking to people older and wiser than me about how they figured out where they were going and what they were supposed to be doing, and the only advice they seemed to be able to give was “the right path will find you” and other equally enigmatic (and, I felt at the time, useless) advice.
Fast forward to April of 2013. I am working on getting my degree in Accounting at the University of Colorado, Denver, my husband has just passed his final certification on the road to becoming a financial planner, and … best of all, I have found my calling.
My calling? I am a managerial accountant.
I could (and possibly already have) relate the story of how I realized that I wanted to study accounting. When I first decided that accounting was the thing for me, I had visions of helping various and sundry with their taxes, or maybe working for some crime-fighting team as a forensic accountant. But what I have realized over the last two semesters, is that managerial accounting is the thing that lights me up inside, that fills me with delight at the endless possibilities that are out there. And if that’s not a calling, I don’t know what is.
Managerial accountants, for those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, help businesses plan (i.e., budget) for the coming period/years, and work with the management of those businesses to help them incentivize and motivate their employees. Managerial Accountants also help people see that they can realize their dream of starting a business of their own, for example, which is exactly what I am in the process of helping my sister do. I have never been more jazzed-up and exited in my life than I am to sit down with my sister tomorrow night and help her figure out how to make it working for herself.
It’s currently after midnight and I’m writing this because I couldn’t sleep. I’m so keyed up and excited about the fact that I just spent the last 45 plus minutes on the phone talking to my sister about whether or not she’s really able to quit her job in the next few weeks. I am absolutely convinced that she can, and while she’s terrified of the thought, I think she’s starting to see it, too.
If someone had told me in January of 2009 that I would be sitting up after midnight, just four years later, too excited to sleep because of about how excited I am to be able to help someone take the first steps toward a new and brighter future… I’m not sure I would have believed them. I would have been cautiously optimistic, but I’m not sure, in my heart of hearts, that I would have really believed they were telling the truth.
I’ll say it again… what a difference four years can make. 
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