# How/when did you decide what you wanted to do with your life?



## adenine (Jan 10, 2012)

I have also wanted to do so many different things! I have wide interests and I could see myself in many fields. 

So to answer your question... It took me some time to realize what I wanted to do. I realized in my 20s that I wanted a job in which I can help people and so I got really interested in medicine. I'm 27 and I'm on my first year in med school now. I have a feeling that I have finally found the right thing (though I still sometimes dream about being a writer) !


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## 66393 (Oct 17, 2013)

Go with Astronaut. Use president as your fall-back plan.


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## Ahiko (Dec 20, 2011)

Oh, I forgot to mention. 

My parents wanted me to "be better than a nurse, be a pharmacist", so I went into Chemistry/Biology.

I finished with Public Health Policy because I failed out of Biology and Public Health Sciences.

Now I'm studying my M.S. in Computer Science. I aspire to become a software engineer and then software architect, preferably a mid- to upper-level manager within 20 years after finishing grad school.

I might consider going for a dual MBA/M.S. Systems Engineering in Silicon Valley right after I finish my Master's, but it's a huge maybe and I'm already getting exhausted from school.. I figured a really crazy scenario would have to happen for me to go for that dual Master's program -- get a job offer from my company, have them transfer me to their San Jose campus (where the MBA school is) and get accepted into the program. I'd want to finish this all by the time I'm 30, but time is running out for me and I would need to get accepted right after I finish my Master's to make it in time. 

I wanted to do everything too, just like you @_Modal Soul_. 

The story about you saying one day you might wake up and realize medical school isn't right for you isn't impossible. I've had friends in med school say they had classmates who walked out of an exam 2 years into med school. That person realized it wasn't what they wanted to do and they quit med school after that. Crazy, but it's not like it doesn't happen. :/

I wanted to be a professional flutist, writer and also a newscaster. None of those happened. But I did pursue playing the flute as a hobby with my university band for a little bit after I started grad school. I loved it, but I realized that I was glad I didn't pursue it professionally. I missed being a part of that world. It's magical and beautiful, but it's not a career that would realistically have helped me live the life I have now.

My friend told me that no one can deny a person who is pursuing their passion.

I've carried her words close to my heart ever since.

"Pursue your passion!"

There are many times where I've wanted to quit being in grad school. That finishing a Master's degree at 27 for a woman would be "too old" to get into a very male-dominated technology industry. There have been many mental breakdowns from being exhausted working 47 hours a week doing two jobs while being a full-time graduate student.

But when I talk to my friends who are doing what I want to do, and when I tell them of my dreams, my passions and my goals, it reminds me that I'm pursuing my passion and doing what it is that I love.

Finding a mentor or a role model who is living the life similar to what you want to have will be a great asset to have.

The people who can inspire you like that will help motivate you through the tough times.


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## SugarForBreakfast (Jun 25, 2012)

I still haven't found it either. In high school I was naive, egocentric and thought I was going to be a revolutionary cartoonist or something. 

I tried arts, then psychology, then computer science, and finally just ended up graduating with a liberal studies degree just to have some way of graduating college. 

I still have no idea what my passions are - ones that could be potential careers, anyway - so right now I'm pursuing an accounting degree. It doesn't sound like a lot of fun, but it'll sure as heck pay the bills and there are options within the field that'll help avoid too much public interaction (something I have grown very tired of - customers are entitled idiots.) 

The thing with people like myself, who can't decide on a career and who want a little bit of everything, is that commitment in this sense can be very scary (stereotypically this ESFP trait applies to relationships but for me it's also in job work). I envy those who had a passion and found a way to market it - they chased their dreams and built their own life. Even with my current venture into accounting, I'm nervous about this not working out and the field being totally different from what I envisioned. 

But one could also say, no job is without it's hassles and even starting out doing the thing you love will eventually feel like work once it has deadlines and expectations and routines placed on it. So it depends on your mindset - you can pursue your passions without any pressure on them in your spare time and therefore give it your authentic, pure, raw energy. But just because you have to do something else to pay the bills for 40 hours a week, doesn't automatically mean you have to be miserable. The sense of accomplishment, productivity, feeling like your potential is being utilized - those are different kinds of incentives when it comes to "what you want to do with your life".


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## xisnotx (Mar 20, 2014)

i don't think i'll ever know, i don't really think of it like that. i've been trying to live in the now. i do what i want. i don't know what i'll want to do when i'm 30/40/50. i'll figure it out when i'm 30/40/50...

it's always now. and it can't ever not be now. you know? decide what i want to do with my life? i'll decide when i'm doing it! right now, i'm just doing this. because that's what i want.

i don't want to impose my current self on my future self. i want to be able to wake up at 30 and write a book, fly to antarctica, sail the world, learn to fly...if that's what i want to do then. 

so, yeah. 

how i make money is a different thing all together. right now...i don't lol. but when i get to it...i'll figure it out. i don't need that much money right now. i've survived with less lol. money is meaningless. and i've always found a way to get what i want...even though i don't work as a habit and i've never had a lot of money. i'm not sure why people put so much emphasis on money...

money just comes and goes. i have it, then i don't. then i do. then i don't. and i spend it a lot, honestly. i've wasted a lot of money in my life. last time i had a good amount of money...i blew through it so fast. i don't think i'm the type to have money like that. there's always a way to get more of it lolol 

just live in the now. 

the universe gives you what you need to have. 

don't stress. just go with it.


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