Why is it that whenever I introduce myself to an adult over 30, the conversation always proceeds as follows?
Me: Hi, I'm Daniel.
Adult: I'm Mr/s. Wo/man. Where do you go to school?
Me: I'm homeschooled.
Adult: Cool [not]. So, what grade are you in?
Me: I'm a senior.
Adult: Oh, really? Where do you plan on going to college?
Then I have to repeat my mantra of, "Oh, I'm gonna go to FCCJ [or FSCJ since the change] for a couple of years then . . . ya know . . . yeah." And then they'll start going on and on about where they went to college and scholarship stuff. And it's the same for every adult -- my teachers, my co-workers, even the oral surgeon I just met. It's all the same. It gets really old really fast. Take my advice and just skip 12th grade and go on with your life.
But at the same time it makes me think, "What am I going to do with my life?" I know I want to go to college and where but I haven't figured out my master plan yet. Do I want to get into this field or that one? This major or that? Then I have to start thinking about my future job, car, house, marriage . . . the list goes on. But I do know this: I want to be so successful at whatever I end up doing that I will want to go to work, not have to go to work.
So my question is: Where do you (or where do you want to) see yourself at the nagging age of 30?
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35 comments:
I'll be the first . . .
I loved what you said about wanting to go to work vs. having to go to work. There is so much wisdom in that statement and many will not understand the depth of it's meaning.
When I was deciding what to major in + college + job + car, etc. I knew that certain fields would bring a better paycheck. Surprisingly, I felt like you and thought my top choice had to be the field where I would be the happiest.
Of all the determining factors, I considered my hobbies. I always had an eye for color and design and by high school, had become an accomplished seamstress, sewing all of my clothes along with garments for others. I checked into this further and found there were several colleges with good courses of study.
The other consideration for me was I needed to choose something I could do from my home and still be able to bring income to the household when it came time to start a family.
I look back now on those early years and thank God I made that decision. The knowledge I gained paid the bills so I could stay at home and raise my children outside of daycare. For many years I was a professional dressmaker for several designers in the Jacksonville area.
Things have changed since then... I don't get to sew much because I am a full-time teacher at home as well as a full-time ____________ (fill in the blank with any job that comes to mind.) But I have no regrets about my choice.
Life has a way of changing directions, just when you think you have it figured out. The most important thing is that you follow your heart and make sure your heart is following hard after God.
Chrissy Larson
Mrs. Larson
Psst. I'll let you in on a little secret: I don't know the depth of what I just said either. But if you like it that's cool with me. I never figured you for a seamstress though. Maybe a cook, a soccer mom, or a former gymnast but I didn't see that one coming. Anyway, I have to agree with you on employment. I could never accept a permanent job that payed well but made me miserable.
Well, I know that I'm going to join the Military after college. I'm going to try to get into either the Marines or the Air Force. After that, I will decide if I want to go career, or go to civilian life. If I do leave then I will see if I an join the police force. If I can, I would like to join S.W.A.T.
That is hopefully where I will be around age 30.
Well, I want to do many things with my life..this may take awhile
First (after 12th grade) I hopefully am going to collage to work in a vet. I love animals, so I'd love to be a animal doctor. Since collage would be around 8 years, I want to volenteer at the humane society during collage. Also I really want to be very involved in church activities (such as nursery, extra projects, work days, etc)
After a few years of working in a vet, (or during) I hope to eventully get married and maybe have a few children (NOT as many as my mom!!) If I end up having children, I want to focus on raising a Godly family.
After my children move out and what ever, I really really want to save enough money and go to Africa. It has always been my dream to help the starving children and people there. Also it would be amazing if God choose me to help the people learn about Christ. Not only do I want save them physiclly, but spiritully.
If none of that works out (after all this is my dream life and God will choose to what is planned according to His plan, not mine)
I would love to minister in other ways. I love writing, so maybe I'll be a writer. Maybe instead of working with animals, God will show me new desires. Its all in God's hands.
Through out my whole life, I pray God will use me in a ton of ways. Although we all have our "wants" with our lives, God's the only one who knows for sure whether or not we even live long enough to post our answer!
well i like what you said about adults over the age of 30 its very true what they ask about. Like what grade are you in what do you want to major in and where do you see yourself from now. Where i see myself at the age of 30 i will be in the police departmen and have a very good salary. and a car and a wife of coarse haha and very nice children. anyways my older life will be very successful.
Kyle,
I'd have to be drafted to join the military. I couldn't stand getting trained how to kill something in boot camp then be put on some puffy job with no future whatsoever. All of the psychological torture just so I can receive minimum wage and be a voluntary slave (that is what they are)? No thanks. But if we were in WWIII or something I'd be signing up to be a sniper (get to use a Barrett .50 cal!!!). But if you really feel like that's where your talents lie, go ahead and do it.
I honestly don't know yet where I will be around age 30. So I really don't know. I would like to go to college and I'm preparing for it right now but I still don't know.
Wow this feel like a "what do you want to be when you grow up" question. Well, by the time I'm thirty, I'd like to hope that I have a nice, secure and well paying job. Preferably as an Illustrator, or Character Design artist for maybe a game company, or an animation studio. To be able to achieve that job, I'll have to go to a good art college. The one I have in mind is Savannah College for Art and Design(Majoring in Illustration and Minoring in Drawing.). Which I'd probably be there for four years(from 18-22). After college I've always wanted to visit Japan, so hopefully I'd get to do that before settling down into the normal adult life of work, bills, and other soul sucking responsibilities. :] That and whatever else might happen along the way, though I do hope to have a family of my own by thirty.
-Alaina
Alyssa,
Whoa... I can't even imagine what you're going to do by 40. I could definitely see you as a vet. God seems to have placed in you a love for animals. Make sure you honor Him with that gift.
Dallas,
Dude, it happened to me again Friday. I was at a function at my church and this guy from the college and career ministry starts asking me school stuff (although, it was sort of his job... but still...). Anyhoo, I think you could be a great cop if you tried. Maybe you'll get Kyle as a partner.
Josh,
At least you know you want to go on to higher education. Be sure to look for schollarships like Bright Futures that pay well (it'll pay 100% if you do well enough in H.S.).
Alaina,
It is a "what are you going to be when you grow up?" question only more fly cuz I managed to sneek "don't trust anyone over 30" in between the lines. Hey, maybe we could start our own comic. I could write, you could draw. If it does well enough we could start our own company called Alainiel or Danaina and rule the comic world. Tell me if you like it.
I can see myself probably an orthodontics assistant at the age 30, because I am training for it right now. I hope that I won't change my mind after all this hard work that I am putting myself through. I also hope to be a great horse trainer, and I hope that all my barrel racing horses will win the shows for me. I can always make alot of money doing that.
Sorry, I'll have to pass. Conflict of interest. Not to mention my kindergarten teacher told me I don't work well with others.
Amy,
I can't bring myself to speak positively about orthodontists. I just start thinking of me in the orthodontist's office with those stupid lip spreaders in my mouth and my teeth about to explode. But, I think you would be a great horse rider as you seem to have a great knowledge about them.
Alaina,
That's fine. Have fun being self employed.
Well, as I said in last week's blog, I really enjoy writing, and I use it as one of my outlets on many occasions.
Something I would really enjoy doing with my life would be to become a writer of some sort. I think it would be perfect for me, since writers don't necessarily have to know anything about math (which is what God has used to plague me and bring me closer to Satan).
Really, I would be totally chill going into any field of art (minus sculpting, if they even have that anymore).
Wow, dude? Slaves? That's a great thing to say to people who risk their lives so you can get on the computer and dis the military.
Now I'm not getting on your case, but just asking you to watch what ya say. I have yet to meet a voluntary slave. (For that matter I have yet to meet a slave. Maybe because the President used the Military to set them free.)
I understand it is not a calling for everyone, but this is my home and I will defend it. I'm not questioning your patriotism now. I know many people would die for their country. But give some respect to those people who go beyond that, and offer to kill for their country.
Nathan!
You're the one person whose destiny I could automaticly pick. I guarantee that you'll be writing some E.A Poe-esque story while managing a coffe shop on the side when you hit 30.
Music is a major part of my life so Lord-willing, that is what I am going to college for. Still, there are so many questions (which college to attend, scholarships, etc.). I am pretty much set on Piano Pedagogy (a degree for teaching piano). However, I've thought of other music degrees that deal with piano but are not exactly for one instrument, if you know what I mean.
Anyways, I would like to see myself teaching piano and ministering to others (inside and outside of church) with music in some way. Lord-willing, I would still be involved in the praise band at church. However, maybe I could do some sort of music ministry thing, like having a band of my own...
Also, I would like to be married, hopefully to a musician, but maybe not a pianist. Plus, I want to have several kids, and hopefully, I would homeschool them or at least be a stay-home mom.
Well my plans for college are to go to FCCJ and hopefully become a nurse. So by the time I'm 30 I hope to have a job working at a hospital and also be settled down with a family. :)
Kyle,
I wasn't trying to insult the military or anyone tied to it. I was describing the type of life I would most likely be given if I were in the service. I can't stand having my life micro-managed and that's why I called soldiers "voluntary slaves" (also known as indentured servants).
Tina,
I hope God gives you great success in your talent. I could only wish to play an instrument (can barely read music). Whatever you play, make sure it is first pleasing to Christ's ears before it's heard by man's.
Christy,
From what I hear, nurses are in high demand but few want to enter the field. You should have no trouble at all finding a job.
Hmm..I've thought about everything that I want to do in my life. However I have no set in stone plans yet. Here's what I'm thinking.
At the age of 30 I will have graduated from whatever college I have decided to go to, with whichever degree i have decided to get. I will have a Mustang. I will be married, I hope. (If not, then I'm afraid it's too late for me by then. haha)
If I am married, I better aready have some kids. At least 2.
Also...by the age of 30 I will have a stable steady job, doing whatever I decided to go to college for {see the above information :-) }
I think that about covers all of it.
Shay,
Sounds like you and I have about the same non-descript plan. Except your dream car is a Mustang and mine is a Corvette.
I see myself at age 30 as either a medical doctor or a doctor of meteorology.
NOTE: Daniel knows all this already, so I am not addressing him but you, the other reader.
I got the same silly questions umpteen years ago. I didn't know what I wanted to be either. Unlike Mrs. Larson, I was never talented as a seamstress. Like her, though, I did consider my strengths when choosing a college major. My only forte was English, but I knew I could not make a living simply writing short stories. Becoming a teacher was out of the question (sort of ironic now).
I decided to major in journalism and anticipated being the next Lois Lane. I never made it to the "beat" but instead became an editorial assistant for a state denominational weekly. That means I did everything but report, but learned some valuable skills in the process, such as typesetting.
That skill enabled me to get another job in the graphic arts field as a typographer, which supported us while hubby was working on graduate degrees. I essentially stopped working "outside the home" after Daniel was born. (I did work part-time for a couple of years in the church preschool, and then freelanced another couple of years proofreading.)
So, I have come full circle. Who knew that the Journalism 101 class I took at the University of Alabama more than 30 years ago would lead me to this point? You can thank that teacher's assistant who constantly, tirelessly trained and drilled us in finding mistakes. She's the one who taught me how to use a red pen!
Demetri,
Maybe you could combine your goals and become a doctor that predicts when people will get ill. You could have nightly forecasts telling people to take precausions for the flu front coming in on Monday.
Mom,
Ah, yes, I remember that freelance work quite well (even though I was 4). You used to get your work from that brick building on University in between that Mexican bar and Radio Shack. Weren't you around 37 then? That's right, reader, if I'm 18 that makes her...
Well I dont want to join the military I would really hate that I dont really care for any country enough to die for it. At this rate I will probaly be a hobo.
Hunter,
If you're going to be a bum don't be one in Jacksonville. It's a horrible place to be a hobo. I recently heard that the city council passed a law that makes it illegal for someone to handout food to a homeless person.
Funny rant. And it'll keep happening. Once you get into college, the standard questions will be: "And what are you going to major in?" or worse, "What are you plans after college?"
I remember clearly the day that I stopped trying to answer it and instead, turned it around. "Not sure what I'm going to do. What did you do right after college?"
That question elicited much more interesting responses, some of which I can still clearly remember. (note, I'm over 50 now)
My favorite was from an elderly very distinguished neighbor of my parents who I always knew as "The Ambassador". He had been our ambassador to a number of countries.
He answered the question by first sipping on his drink (we were at a cocktail party in honor of my return from the Peace Corps, which is btw, how I dealt with getting out of college), then looking around to see who else was listening, and then answering...
"It wasn't really like that for me. My college was interrupted by the War and I went back on the GI Bill and with the ambition to be the next great American writer... I was going to be Hemingway 2."
It turns out he spent until his early 30s taking courses, trying to write, and mostly, as he admits, tending bar. He only got involved with the State Dept when he needed a job otherwise, his girlfriend's dad wouldn't let her see him anymore.
Truth is stranger than fiction.
Here's my $.02: Find a way to turn those questions into an interesting conversation. Start with the premise that those dull adults are more interesting than you think and it's a challenge to get them to share some of it.
Black Belt,
I'll be sure to keep that in mind. It'll be hard though. Most of the time there's a huge age gap between me and the other person so I don't have anything in common with them.
well.. at the age of 30, i'm not sure. but i am (hoping/ praying) about going to a Military college and going into the Military as an officer. i'm not sure if i will stay in for 20 years but it all depends on how the age i'm at when i hopefully get into a Military college and how old i am when i get out. but hopefully i will get through my years in the Military and come home to just be with my family and get a good job.
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