I'm supposed to decide what to do with my life?

[iheartcoco]

So I'm 19, and I feel as though I've already missed out on a lot of things. I guess that sounds silly since I'm still young, but let me explain. When I was younger I wanted to be a professional piano player. For years it was the only thing that made me comfortable, and I was determined that this was my calling. Then life happened, my family started moving around, I lived in several different continents, my parents divorced, and my mom and I were working to support ourselves. Needless to say money for a keyboard, let alone lessons were not our top priority. A couple of years have passed, and I am now finishing up my first year of university with no idea what to major in and I feel as though I have no chance of making my dream come true. I guess it comes down to the fact that I feel as though I've missed out on the one thing I truly loved to do and now I'll have to settle with an office job when I complete my B.A.

 

[Estrios_Vega]

Go back to the piano. If it was your first love, then like an old friend you will get reacquainted! Try your best and always look forward. I know. I KNOW that you'll find your way. This is only a little bit of encouragement but I am sure you can do it.

 

[raimey]

Maybe an office job will be enough for a while?

You have your whole life for your dreams to come true. Work toward it with baby steps and wait for it. You'll see.

 

[Kataphractos]

What's your major in?

I say work a summer or two in construction. Yes, the housing market's down, but if you can find work on a site, the pay is decent, and you'll stay in shape (or get in shape in a hurry) and develop a sense of work ethic. I remember working for two summers with a bricklayer between my freshman/sophomore and sophomore/junior years; it was backbreaking at first, hauling around 80 lb bags of mix and 40 lb tongs of bricks (one in each hand) all day will do that to you until you find your groove, then it's nothing to sling a literal ton of building material around in a day (moving a 40-bag pallet by myself across one site in 20 minutes one day...awesome). But even with the labor, 90+ degree cloudless, breezeless days and having to scrub the lime dust from my skin every night, I found my work ethic and looking back at it now, I'd do it all over again, easily. And the pay was vey good; there aren't many summer jobs that pay $20 an hour...that and I regularly got 15-20+ hours of overtime per week.

 

[Brian]

Maybe an office job will be enough for a while?

Listen to Raimey.

Dude, as long as we don't anchor ourselves willingly, life has a multitude of paths.

Right now I'm 23. I'm a Basic EMT with a rural ambulance agency. Working towards Paramedic, want to be a Firefighter, goals of Fire or EMS management.

But a DOZEN other ideas float around in my head and I could pursue any of them at any point along the way if I want to. There is no end until we lay down in our graves or cement ourselves too solidly with a family, house, and kids (even then, there are ways).

On any given day I am contemplating what I want to do for a 4 year degree, or if I should prepare for a change to a career as a pilot somewhere along the way, or if I should try and become an astronaut. I contemplate if I should really try to get on with a fire department, or stay on where I'm at...watch the place grow, grow with it as it does, become Captain one day and maybe even Chief.

I'll never settle. Neither should you.

I gained my first 'real' employment at 18 working as a forestry technician, thinning trees and clearing underbrush all day long, chipping and piling and burning, sucking down smoke in the fall and getting stung by bees in the summer, working through the haze of allergies in the Spring. You know what? That seemed like the end for a while. Thought I'd be stuck there 'til I was 25. But I found my break. ...No, I -made- my break. Every bit of my advancement was by my engineering. I pursued qualification, networked with the right people. Found my shot. It didn't last long, but it also got me here, in the end.

I worked as a Janitor for about 8 months between then and now. A PART TIME, minimum wage, School Janitor.

I'm 23 and still working on my 2 year degree. Almost done, but the point still stands.

Don't sweat the small honeysuckle, don't drop your dreams, and always dream up new ones along the way.