The Job that Changed My Life :: Personal Narrative essay about myself

The Job that Changed My Life    My grandfather was a police officer when he was younger; he would tell us stories of he and his buddies on motorcycle patrol and the life of a cop. The stories that he told were so interesting, that ever since, I wanted to have a career in law enforcement. After I graduated from high school, I enrolled in the law enforcement program at Spokane Community College where I planned to fulfill my dream of becoming a cop. I started the law enforcement classes at the college and came to the conclusion that law enforcement was not the career for me.    It takes a special breed of person to be in the law enforcement/corrections field, a person who can withstand the stress and unhealthy surroundings that come with the work. Before you go out and do something that is as drastic and life changing as a career choice, you need to know what your getting your self into, so do your research and make sure that is what you want.    The corrections program was similar to law enforcement, so I switched to the correction alternative because I still wanted to be associated with law enforcement. I was hired on at a juvenile detention center as a juvenile correction officer. I thought that this was my opportunity to do something to help these kids, don't get me wrong I did not think I could help or save the world, I just thought I would or could make a difference in one life that it was all worth the hassle. Well I was wrong, my first day of on the job training we had to restrain a kid who was out of control, it only got worse from there on. It seemed like an everyday occurrence in this place; the kids were ok most of the time, but it only took one kid in a bad mood to set the other 40 kids off then it turns into a big problem.    This job was physically and mentally demanding of my energy. I worked anywhere from ten to thirteen hour days; my stress level sky rocketed, and my school work started to suffer, eventually I dropped out of school because I was miserable at this job; the stress was so high; I had major mood swings, and I did not know what to do.