What They Don’t Tell You About Choosing Your Career: How I Went from Librarian to Calligrapher
Choosing your career is a funny thing. Everyone puts so much emphasis on it, especially when you’re young. “What do you want to be when you grow up?” is asked of every kid almost from the time they can walk, it seems! I have always been someone who has several interests and no idea how to hone in on just one thing, so as I got older, these types of questions were always difficult for me. Choosing your career always seemed to be so urgent, but I have a secret for you. In this post, I’ll be sharing a bit more about myself and my background and really getting into how I went from librarian to calligrapher – and why that change is okay and even good.
Childhood Influences
My favorite things to do growing up all involved art, books, and language. I was the kid who was always doodling in class, writing my own name over and over in my notebooks, trying out different letter forms. Art was my favorite subject, and I loved not only drawing, but also playing with letters. I was an avid reader and always had a book with me. I would always be sneaking in a few pages between classes. I’m also a bit of a serial language learner and lover of linguistics. From the time I could take my first foreign language class in school, I was hooked and haven’t stopped learning since.
When I was 12, I learned that my great uncle is a calligrapher and got to visit his studio. I was intrigued and knew I wanted to learn how to do it, too (but never thought it was something viable as a career – who knows why! 
Great Uncle Bob was doing it successfully!). For Christmas that year, I got a calligraphy themed daily flip calendar. It included about 3 or 4 different scripts, and each day had a new word to practice in one of the scripts. I faithfully wrote the new word each day, but once the year was over, I soon gave it up and stopped practicing.
From College to Grad School
Fast forward to college. I never knew what I wanted to do when I grew up. I always had an answer (doctor, artist, architect, teacher, librarian), but when I got to college I realized I never really knew. I took *ALL THE QUIZZES* trying to figure it out, but I honestly never really liked the results. In response to the ubiquitous “if money were no issue” question, I’d probably say artist, book reviewer, or tour guide, but I never saw those as *realistic* options. I never really understood how to get those types of jobs or what jobs were even available for artists.
I ended up switching from major to major probably every semester before finally deciding on Spanish my junior year. I’ve always loved language, and I figured a Spanish degree would make me “marketable” for whatever job I got after school (which I still had no idea what I wanted to do). After a stint teaching English in Guatemala, I came back and applied to grad school for a Master of Arts in library science. (Because when you don’t know what to do, more school is the answer, right?) To be fair, I did consider librarianship while I was in college, but I never thought I’d do it because I didn’t really want to go back to school. (Did you know that librarians are required to have a 2-year Masters degree?)
When It All Clicked
It wasn’t until I was halfway through library school that I realized what I really wanted to do: own my own business and work for myself. I was working a public library job in the circulation department, where a lot of what I did involved checking in books people returned. I kept seeing “The Magnolia Story” by Chip and Joanna Gaines come through, and as I liked their show, I decided to give it a read.
It might sound cliche, but it all clicked when I read that book. It made me realize that Chip and Joanna are just regular people doing their thing. They really were just ordinary people who took chances on various ideas until something stuck. It opened my eyes to the fact that anyone can start their own business – you just need to start. I knew from then on that I wanted to have my own business one day. What business that would be, I still didn’t know. I had (and still have) a lot of ideas.
A year later, I was working my first job as a librarian, and I decided to learn calligraphy like I always wanted to. I checked out dozens of books from the library and followed all the authors/calligraphers on Instagram. That opened up this whole realm of calligraphers and artists who were making money from their craft with their own businesses! I finally saw people doing what I wanted to do. I started learning, practicing, and then posting my own work on Instagram, and then in fall of 2019 I opened my business.
What They Don't Tell You
So what they don’t tell you about choosing your career: it’s a process. You change, you grow. That’s okay. If you don’t know what to do, take time off to figure it out first! I know I wish I would have. I think it’s even good to struggle through this process BECAUSE it grows you.
For me, it’s still a work-in-progress. This calligraphy gig of mine isn’t the only thing I’ve got going on. Along with being a wife and mother and living my life outside of work (because as much as I love calligraphy, I also don’t want my work to consume my life), I still work a part-time job as I nurture and grow my business to where I want it to be. There is also a huge learning curve with running the business side of things, from managing a shop, to marketing and website building. (Looking back, I almost wished I would have majored in business, marketing, or graphic design.)
At the same time, so much of what I learned while in school or while working in other fields (including libraries, which is surprising to a lot of people) is actually directly applicable to what I am doing now! The skills that I gained from these other experiences have set me up to be successful as a calligrapher. (I would go into specifics, but that could become a whole other blog post. 
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Building my business has been slow going, but sometimes that’s just what it takes – consistency, commitment, and follow-through. So that’s what I’m doing. Slowly working towards my goals to get to where I want to be, one step at a time!
Questions? Looking to get in touch?
Do you relate? Have any questions about this post or choosing your career? I’m a pretty open book and I’d love to hear from you! Just hit the button below to send a message!
