When, if ever...

[JM]

...did you find out what you wanted to do with your life?

Did you know from an early age? Did you find it out because of some major event? Or are you still trying to figure it out?

I'm still trying to figure that one out. (Not really in any rush.) Just wondering how it goes for other peeps. :]

[Miluette]

I think it was ever-present in my being.

Well, I didn't ever have some kind of revelation dawn on me. But I feel like I know. I know quite precisely, really.

[griever]

Still trying to figure that one out but I think I have a better idea of it now.

[fesworks]

I think I know what I want... but with the economy... I don;t think I can anymore... I'd need more schooling.. and even then, the already, highly competitive job market for working in wildlife parks, are going to be much fewer in available job numbers....

*shrug*

Other than that, I'm still trying to figure out my "calling" as far as a career goes.

[Databits]

I'm already working in the generalized field I want to be in, but not under the specific focus that I'd prefer.

[Xepher]

Heheh... that question has been of nearly constant pondering to me for the past 10 years or more. I mean it, on an average, I think "what do I want to do with my life?" every 4 hours I'm awake. It's the single most prevalent topic in any of my conversations. Problem is, I've gone to college, gotten a degree that I don't use, worked in various things I don't like, and I get paid really well doing a job that I'm really good at, but bores me to tears. I honestly do the screaming thing at the start of this commercial http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1W3hzJNSkqs

I have, in that time, learned some things about myself that may help me find what I want to do eventually though. Key among those is that money alone is never enough for me, but I do need to be paid enough to live comfortably. I need a job where I can be creative, and feel like I'm accomplishing things. My current job feels like playing an MMO... the endless treadmill of leveling up, even though every level looks the same. I also realize I need a job that lets me work on my own schedule, because I just can't fit myself into a 24-hour day/night cycle, and having to go to work at the same time each day is painful. The problem is that I know of no actual job which fulfills all those requirements, so when people ask me what I want to do... I don't know, I just know it's not anything I've tried so far.


So yeah, you're not the only one still trying to figure things out. I'll be 28 this year, and still no closer to an answer than I was when I was 16.

[JM]

I've been the type that gets really into something, but a few months later it does nothing but bore me.

Since I'm undeclared, I'm taking all the general education classes and I like all of them. But I don't like any one in particular. There's no class that I'm truly happy with. I like natural science, politics, history, art, information technology... pretty much everything.

I just have an issue of finding something and sticking with it for more than a couple months. :\

[Miluette]

I have, in that time, learned some things about myself that may help me find what I want to do eventually though. Key among those is that money alone is never enough for me, but I do need to be paid enough to live comfortably. I need a job where I can be creative, and feel like I'm accomplishing things. My current job feels like playing an MMO... the endless treadmill of leveling up, even though every level looks the same. I also realize I need a job that lets me work on my own schedule, because I just can't fit myself into a 24-hour day/night cycle, and having to go to work at the same time each day is painful. The problem is that I know of no actual job which fulfills all those requirements, so when people ask me what I want to do... I don't know, I just know it's not anything I've tried so far.

I'm kinda like that, too. The day-night cycle of jobness... I like consistency, but it would become monotonous. With the kind of creative field I'm interested in, my job should also be living, breathing, flexible! But no, wanting a job in something creative that isn't web design right now is probably insane. *weeps*

All I want is an in-house illustration job, but no, you need "experience" already. Where do I get mine, huh?!

[griever]

I just have an issue of finding something and sticking with it for more than a couple months. :\

I'm that way too.  In college, it was actually the professors that helped me make up my mind.  I originally thought I'd be looking at anthropology or computer science, but got into psych and Japanese because of 2 professors.  They were very awesome, influential people who made learning in these subjects so much more fascinating than anything else.

[sagebrush]

If college were free, I'd have a degree in everything.  :/

[JM]

If college were free, I'd have a degree in everything.  :/

Hell yes! I want to get a minor in everything. I don't need a major.

[fesworks]

If college were free, I'd have a degree in everything.  :/

If it were free, I'd take my time

[Miluette]

If college were free, I'd have a degree in everything.  :/

Ohhh yeah. I'd go back, take Japanese, the life drawing classes I missed due to time conflicts, do some Biology, anthropology, maybe special illustration courses...

I'd be a scholar for life!

[JM]

Come to think of it, I'd probably just never leave college.

[sagebrush]

My latest idea for "oh that seems like it could be my life path" is going back to school for a B.A. in Anthropology with a focus in Native American studies.  I have absolutely no idea how to justify doing it, though, from a financial perspective.  What I'd want to do would be in research and writing books, including children's books and comics, and building databases for translation and folk remedies and such.  That means I wouldn't be any better off than I am now, financially, since I'm not going to be working for some big corporation doing that.  I'd either be relying on grants or trying desperately to sell books.  My best bet would be getting hired by a university as staff, but since I suck at public speaking, I wouldn't particularly want to teach. 

But I could also get a Masters of Library Science or an A.A.S. in Computer Programming/Networks/Web Design/Security.

So far I already have half a B.A. in Architecture, a completed B.S. in Civil Engineering, an abandoned M.S. in same, and about a year in the US Army in training as a Military Intelligence Specialist (got out on medical).  Successful follow through on a career is not my friend, apparently.

I'm in a major "I don't know what the hell to do" rut.