How CVS Helped Me Realize I Could Have a Career as a Journalist
When most people think about CVS, they associate it with being a simple drugstore where you can pick up medicine, cosmetics and other various items at your convenience.
To me, CVS is so much more than just a pharmacy.
(Photo Credit: Johnathan Weiss via Shutterstock)
While most young girls spent their weekends shopping at the mall, I spent my free time frolicking through the aisles of my local CVS. Yep, you read that right.
Now it wasn't like I didn't have friends to hang out with or anything like that. I was simply young and couldn't drive myself anywhere, so when my dad wouldn't chauffeur me to the places I wanted to go, I would walk around the corner to CVS.
It was one of the few places my dad would let me venture off to without his supervision, so I felt like a mature adult every time I strolled on down to the drugstore.
Every time I stepped through the automatic sliding glass doors I immediately hit up the cosmetics section. But of course having very little money to my name, I would buy the most inexpensive makeup products I could find. When I was feeling like a real big spender, I'd sometimes purchase a mascara or a lipstick that was—wait for it—more than $3. So lavish, I know.
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Next I would make my way to the greeting card section for a good laugh from some hilarious cards. Fun fact: I went through a four-month phase where I wanted to create greeting cards for Hallmark when I was in the fourth grade.
After reading a handful of greeting cards, I then moved on to the magazines. This is a key part of why my relationship with CVS is so important to me, but I will get to that point in just a bit.
Anyway, I would spend hours reading every single teen type magazine in CVS, taking quiz after quiz to discover if Nick Jonas was truly my soulmate or if Demi Lovato and I could actually be besties IRL. Still waiting on both of those to happen though…
After reading all of these magazines multiple times, I'd choose one to purchase and then make the trek back to my dad's house.
As I grew older, my relationship with CVS became somewhat estranged. I didn't visit as often, and when I did, my trips weren't the exciting ordeal they once were. But every time I visited, I still made sure to pick up a new magazine or two.
Fast forward to one very important visit to the drugstore when my whole life changed for the better.
I was feeling lost and unsure of what in the heck I wanted to do with my life, especially because that was the day I decided that being a veterinarian wasn't for me. Anyone who knows me, knows I had planned on being a vet my entire life. When that all fell apart, I had no clue what my future held. Disheartened, I drove to the nearest CVS to purchase a tub of ice cream and, you guessed it, a magazine.
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The moment I picked up that magazine is something I will never forget. In that instance I had a major epiphany. I kid you not, a huge lightbulb appeared above my head and I could hear a choir of angels singing a melodic tune.
That was when I realized I should pursue a career in journalism. I had always enjoyed writing and reading entertaining magazines, but it never once crossed my mind that this was a passion worth turning into a job.
I did it though, and here I am today writing to you all about why CVS is the single most important store in my entire life.
The lesson here is so cliché, but inspiration can really strike in the most unexpected of places. If you're at that point in your life where you're trying to figure out what you see yourself being in the future, think about what you thoroughly enjoy doing and find a way to make that your career. It will only make life that much more enjoyable, I promise.
Maybe you're more of a Target fan than CVS. If so, you should read THIS girl's heartwarming love letter to the store.