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I'm just curious, but how many of ya'll out there knew what your "calling" was? I am in college and think there are a few jobs that I could enjoy and do well, but am not sure which is truly my passion. I only have a few more months before I must make a choice, but am really having a hard time making up my mind.
It is very difficult, and I doubt you will find out what your true calling is in college. Sad, but true. Many people get degrees in areas they have really no interest in.
I have always been interested in law, and the police, and I have a huge military family. I naturally fit the pieces together, and am pursuing the area of law enforcement. I am majoring in business so I have something to fall back on though.
I'm just curious, but how many of ya'll out there knew what your "calling" was? I am in college and think there are a few jobs that I could enjoy and do well, but am not sure which is truly my passion. I only have a few more months before I must make a choice, but am really having a hard time making up my mind.
one door opens an another closes.
e.g. play hi school football, 1st time out ever sack the quarterback 4 times.
everybody in bleachers screaming my name goin nuts.
next day the gals are all over me and the guys treat me like a visiting prince. well i dont know lets see, run track, play basketball, join the chess club, gee i just dont know.
stephen s
san diego ca
It is very difficult, and I doubt you will find out what your true calling is in college. Sad, but true. Many people get degrees in areas they have really no interest in.
I have always been interested in law, and the police, and I have a huge military family. I naturally fit the pieces together, and am pursuing the area of law enforcement. I am majoring in business so I have something to fall back on though.
I know this is very true. My problem, however, is that I am hmmm, let's just call me a non traditional student. I had my kids first and then went back to school. But I think that's what makes this harder. I don't have time to try out another career ( motherhood being my first and most important!) I want to figure it out NOW! lol, I'm almost 40, when will I figure out what I wanna do when I grow up?!! Help!
I know this is very true. My problem, however, is that I am hmmm, let's just call me a non traditional student. I had my kids first and then went back to school. But I think that's what makes this harder. I don't have time to try out another career ( motherhood being my first and most important!) I want to figure it out NOW! lol, I'm almost 40, when will I figure out what I wanna do when I grow up?!! Help!
As a fellow "non-traditional" (college administrators' euphamism for "old geezer"), one question I would ask is whether you still need to earn most or all of your credits, or you mainly just have to decide on a major and fulfill those requirements in order to graduate. If you've got a lot of credits still to earn, you'll take a variety of classes to fulfill all the requirements.
There's one big advantage to being "non-traditional" which is that you're probably a lot more serious about this than many 18-year-olds. You probably are interested in really learning something. If so, this makes you a good candidate to fulfull your reqirements with a variety of classes that are known around campus as especially good classes, taught by inspiring professors, rather than just trying to slide by with whatever class has a reputation for being easy. Professors who really inspire can lead you to delve deeply enough into the subject matter that you're likely to discover any deep interest in the subject that may be there inside of you.
The variety of courses you'll be exposed to in fulfilling the "gen. ed." or "distribution" requirements, to use a couple of terms varuous schools attach to their basic all-around requirements, will expose you to enough academic areas that there's a good chance you'll find your particular passion by seeing which gen. ed. classes interest you the most. Which ones lead you to really want to learn more about the subject? You can further enhance this process by thinking of where your interests already lie, and starting with classes related to those areas.
I may have some more thoughts on this, but I'll hold off until I have a chance to get more of a clear picture of your situation. I know from experience that being a "non-traditional" student has its challenges, but it's also very fulfilling. Best of luck to you.
In high school (during late 60's) I took 3 years of typing, a year of Bookkeeping/Accounting and a year of Speech & Drama. At that time I had a great interest in clerical, even though I was a kid of a farm family and loved working on the farm. While in the Navy, I got a great interest in "stores"/Storekeeping/Inventory. After the Navy, went to college as a Business Admin. major. After college, worked in Shipping, Receiving/Receiving Inspection, Stockroom, Warehouse. Learned more and more about Purchasing and Inventory Control. Had a few "off-the-wall" jobs during these times: played cowboy and ran a stagecoach at an amusement park, worked for both a dentist and a vetinarian (during college), worked for a couple of years as a EMT (Emergency Medical Tech) for an ambulance company and finally
lived on/worked (with horses) at a County Equestrian Center. After these "odd" jobs, I really decided that Purchasing/Inventory Control/Office work was my "real thing".......love using a computer and keyboard.
My wife has two AA degrees and a Bachelors in Business/Accounting and that is what she loves to do.
Good Luck in your search for the right job to do. Sometimes it is easy, while other times it is very hard.
It's not the destination that counts so much as the (often winding) paths you take to get wherever it is you think you want to go ....
I've changed careers several times in 50 years, and each one lead to another viable opportunity.
Better to follow you heart with this issue than your head ... it's a lot easier to be happier doing what you enjoy to make money than it is to grind out years of dissatisfaction with a written in stone career path with a dream of enough money to enjoy what you really want to do at another time, like retirement. If you live within your means, the opportunities will present themselves and the freedom to make the changes or choices are a lot easier ....
I know too many people seriously chasing the big dollars in a career/business/job that they absolutely loathe. It affects their mental state, their physical well-being, their relationships ... all negatively. Don't go there .....
I'm just curious, but how many of ya'll out there knew what your "calling" was? I am in college and think there are a few jobs that I could enjoy and do well, but am not sure which is truly my passion. I only have a few more months before I must make a choice, but am really having a hard time making up my mind.
I wonder whether you might not have the answer inside somewhere. Does something keep coming to mind, that you push back out of mind for whatever reason?
As a college freshman, at the ripe old age of 18, I felt the first stirring of interest in literature when I took freshman English. I also got the first inkling of a notion to become a writer. That was a lot of years ago, and I don't really recall the line of thinking that led me to another major, but I ended up graduating and still not knowing what I wanted to do. Before graduating, though, I did toy around again with that writing idea. I took a couple of writing classes senior year, but, being so close to graduating, I figured it was too late to change course in school at that point. The interest was blooming a little further, though.
For no particular reason other than the chance availability of this particular job at a time I needed spending money, I started working part-time on campus in a student security job. As a result, I found myself spending time around people interested in law enforcement. One thing led to another, and, still having no clear idea what I really wanted to do as graduation approached, I thought about the law enforcement field myself. I went for it, and realized after 3-1/2 years as a cop that I didn't want to make this my life's work.
But, I did have some pretty intense experiences in those 3-1/2 years, which led me to feel there were things I really wanted to say about what I had seen while working in law enforcement, so I started toying with the idea of writing a novel. I made some false starts on the novel, and worked at this job and that for the next few years, and finally started back to school at 35, thinking I wanted to go into meteorology. I'd been working at non-professional jobs, which had not given me much opportunity to experience the kind of mental stimulation that would give me a really clear idea of the ways in which I would find it most fulfilling to use my mind. The meteorology idea was just based on a general kind of interest--I like to watch the Weather Channel, find tornado videos interesting, that kind of thing. So, my plans for the future were a stab in the dark.
I returned to college for a second bachelor's degree, majoring in math as preparation for graduate study in meteorology. Then I realized something dismaying: I really didn't find math interesting. I could do it, but I didn't like it. I felt kind of nauseated at the thought of doing anything for the rest of my life that would require me to use math a lot of the time. At some point it dawned on me that being back in school gave me the perfect opportunity to do what I had really wanted to do all along. I changed my major to English.
The upshot is: I have developed a deep interest in the study of literature, and have advanced enough in my studies of the field so that I am finding a focus on specific subjects of interest. I have had poetry published in my college's literary magazine, have had a short story published in a national literary journal, have won several writing contests, and have recently received an offer to write for a new online magazine. And, by the way, that novel about cops is coming along nicely.
Along the way, I've done some tutoring and have discovered an ability and an interest in teaching. I'm now beginning the process of applying to graduate programs in English, with the goal of staying in the academic side of this field and becoming a professor.
You can fill in the gaps and make a guess that a lot of this has not been easy. It would have been easier in a way if I had majored in English way back in my original time in college. On the other hand, in my case this might have worked out for the best the way it has happened. I understand so much more of life now than I did in my early twenties that I can write with greater depth now than I ever could have then. And, the experiences I've had as a result of getting off track for a lot of years now give me rich fodder for subject matter to write about.
You already have more life experience, however, than I had when I first toyed with writing. This should work to your advantage, even though I know it can be awkward to be an older college student surrounded by all those kids. That can be a positive experience as well. I find that I really enjoy being around all those young minds, and hearing the kids tell me about their plans and hopes and dreams.
Anyway, I can tell you from experience that the calling I needed to follow was really there all along, trying to get my attention. I don't know what your situation is, but if you have an idea that keeps coming to mind and tugging at you, even if it may seem a little out there, chances are good that this is something you need to look into further. Best of luck with finding what works best for you.
I'm just curious, but how many of ya'll out there knew what your "calling" was? I am in college and think there are a few jobs that I could enjoy and do well, but am not sure which is truly my passion. I only have a few more months before I must make a choice, but am really having a hard time making up my mind.
Im not sure that many do find a "true calling", I have just graduated this year and I know its not what I want to do. But when I speak to others they also dont seem to have found their "true calling"
Mine's easy. My job is just to earn money. My calling is being my daughter's dad and my wife's husband.
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Is there a voice inside, nagging at you?
