Astronaut, Engineer, or Elephant Trainer? The Wild Dreams of a Five-Year-Old Me!

When you were five, what did you want to be when you grew up?

“Astronaut, Engineer, or Elephant Trainer? The Wild Dreams of a Five-Year-Old Me!”

When I was five, the world was a grand carnival of possibilities. I was convinced that I could become anything—except, perhaps, the man who shouts at people to fasten their seatbelts on a bus. That job seemed far too serious for a five-year-old dreamer like me.

First Ambition: Astronaut – The Starry-Eyed Misadventure

Like most children, my first dream was to be an astronaut. The idea of floating in space, waving at the moon, and sipping juice from a tube felt like the pinnacle of existence. I spent days jumping off sofas, pretending I had zero gravity, and nights squinting at the stars, wondering which one would become my weekend getaway.

The only hiccup? I hadn’t quite grasped the science of space travel. My homemade “rocket” (a cardboard box with holes) suffered an unfortunate failure when my dog decided it was his new chew toy. My “space helmet” (a saucepan) was too tight, and my first “moonwalk” in the garden ended in a disgraceful tumble into the rose bushes. Houston, we had a problem!

Second Ambition: Engineer – The Great Lego Catastrophe

After my space mission was rudely aborted, I turned my attention to becoming an engineer. I was certain I could build bridges, towers, or at least a giant biscuit factory. Armed with  bricks and unwavering determination, I set out to construct my magnum opus—a castle with a drawbridge.

Unfortunately, my architectural genius was undermined by my clumsy hands. The drawbridge refused to draw, the walls collapsed faster than my patience, and my frustration ended with me hurling the entire project across the room. In hindsight, I believe this was my first introduction to “creative destruction.”

Third Ambition: Elephant Trainer – A Pachyderm Problem

My most ambitious career choice was inspired by a visit to the circus. The elephants, majestic and wise, seemed to have life figured out—gentle giants getting snacks for merely lifting their trunks! “That’s the job for me!” I declared.

I began practising my elephant-taming skills on my unsuspecting pet animals, who were, as it turns out, not an elephant. The experiment ended in utter chaos, with me sporting a few scratches and my grandmother declaring, “You need a new dream, and the animals need a holiday.”

The Ever-Changing Dreamscape

As time marched on, I flirted with other professions—detective (solving the mystery of the missing chocolates, which, shockingly, were always in my pockets), magician (my tricks mostly involved making biscuits disappear), and even a poet (writing an epic poem about a missing sock).

Looking back, those childhood ambitions were nothing short of spectacular. While I never became an astronaut, an engineer, or an elephant trainer, I did become something even better—someone who can still dream like a five-year-old.

And if life has taught me anything, it’s that the best careers are those where you can still, on occasion, jump off a sofa, build a Lego castle (even if it collapses), and admire the wonder of elephants—preferably from a safe distance.