General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Professor: ‘Follow your dreams’ is cruel advice [View all]bhikkhu
(10,713 posts)Instead of going to college I went to work fixing cars. My reasoning was that I needed something to pay the bills that didn't occupy too much brain-space, as there were a number of more intellectual things I really wanted to pursue, but that pay very few people's bills.
So I opted out of the college path that might have been better for me all around, and might have put me on the path of making a living at things that truly interested me. Who knows how that would have gone.
In any case, 30 years later, even though I've never really even liked cars, I find that long practice has made me good at what I do. I'm paid well, and I've always been able to find work. Changing careers was always a hope (still paying college loans for an education degree), but once you have the blue-collar label stamped all over you resume, not likely. I suppose its silly after all to be good at something and not enjoy it, so I'm more or less at peace with my job now. And it does still leave me with plenty of time to pursue other interests.
Still, I do wonder what it would have been like, what I might have been like, if I chose my passions over security...