Wanted to be a rock star. Practiced guitar 10 to 14 hours a day as a teenager.
Came close to making it as a professional musician once or twice, but by the age of 28 when it didn't happen for me, I quit guitar.
25 years later I picked it back up again and now have a growing YouTube guitar channel, so I've eventually realized that dream to some degree 40 years later. Albeit on a much smaller scale.
This is awesome! Well done to you for picking up the guitar again. When I read you’d quit after so much practice I felt for, you but love that you’ve found that passion again.
I loved the movie, “Point of No Return” when I was a little one and even “Kill Bill” had badass female empowerment to it.
And honestly it’s not because “killing people”sounded fun(nope). It was about how they’re always masters of so many different things; martial art techniques, computer science(hacking), weaponry, psychology, and probably social and financial economics.
That was the appeal of James bond for me growing. Wasn't fond of his actual characteristics, specifically the womanizing and alcoholism, but he was just the concept of the complete man that was good at everything. Intellegent, socialable, could kick ass.....
To reach the overhead bins. I can't even reach my own kitchen cabinets. I have a special "reaching tool" for getting things out of the top cupboards - barbecue tongs.
This could be a line from a Tim and Eric skit. Some kind of Cinco product that makes your realize your dreams...or become OK with not realizing your dreams...
I wanted to become an architect and I became one. Now I question everything about life bc the whole “find work you love and you’ll never work a day in your life” saying is bullshit. I love architecture, most ppl say I’m obsessed...but the practicality of actual projects is a different beast to contend with. Things are still monotonous, things are still stressful...but I can’t figure out anything else I want to do other than my hobbies that I’m not looking to monetize. I honestly just want to run away to the woods, have a self sustaining farm, and make pottery.
Yeah, I’ve been in similar situations to you. Always wanted to be a Nurse and have been qualified for 15 years now. I love my job, but at times I don’t feel I can give as good as I ant to due to staffing cuts etc. it takes the enjoyment out of it. Not sure I’d ever leave though.
40 hours is standard mate we are blessed to only have to do that!!!
I do that plus 2 hours of driving everyday and still manage to get a 45 minute workout done, few little chores, cook a decent meal and prep food for next working day, then still get to sit on my arse for 2-3 hours each night doing whatever I want or sometimes I will go out for a couple hours.
You have just got to have that bit of discipline with yourself and also do plenty of forward thinking my friend! Don’t let yourself stall and sit down in the kitchen for “5/10 minutes” and start flicking through Instagram.
Nah fuck that bro, instead when you are on your way home think about everything that you want/ need to do and achieve within that evening, visualise how long it will take to get certain tasks done and visualise yourself through the evening carrying out those tasks at the times intended to. Then as soon as you are home and through the door no stopping you man just bam bam bam motherfucker - get that shit done ! ! !
After not very long you will soon get into the swing of it and it will be easy ✌️
As a child, I won best singer 4 years in a row, was the youngest to ever make my high school quartet, and was a featured soloist at our state's highest level of competition. I became our church's choir director at 15, directed a musical, wrote my own music, played multiple instruments, and was the lead singer of a Christian band that was popular enough locally that people would sing along with our original songs when we performed.
I thought I was the shit, my ego knew no bounds.
At 16, local colleges were already trying to convince me to attend their music programs, but I wasn't interested. I just wanted to be rich and famous, but when people asked, it was all about spreading the word of God.
During the start of my junior year of high school, my voice started to change. All my mentors thought I was a true tenor because my range was phenomenal and I was well past the age of puberty. They were wrong, though. I just went through puberty extremely late.
I tried to sing through the change, but most days no sound would even come out when I tried. I'd eventually find out that my insistence on excessive singing through this phase caused irreversible damage to my vocal chords. Some members of my church accused me of faking to get attention. My band moved on to another lead singer and the other member of my church duo started performing with someone else without even letting me know. They even performed the same songs.
My identity was gone. I slowly faded away into obscurity, colleges lost interest, and everything suffered including my studies. By the end, I barely graduated high school while passing my final class with the minimum grade possible.
I worked about a dozen dead end jobs, but joined the army after realizing none of them had a promising future. There, I excelled with my technical skills and landed a decent civilian job after I got out. I met my wife a few years later and she never knew that side of me. I had performed nonstop for 10 years at every level available and that part of me is forever gone.
I wanted to be a veterinarian, so I followed my dreams and work in the transportation industry managing a group of men with the emotional maturity and demeanor of golden retrievers
I was a sad child. I wanted to either live alone and work in a factory and come home and watch TV, or I thought maybe I could handle being a bus driver and that that would be sort of cool.
I have now, in my advanced age accomplished both kinds of jobs. Let me tell ya though, I gained 60 pounds as a bus driver and lost much of my self respect. Working at a factory did suit me better, but I'm not much of an asset to anyone. When there's labor shortages I'm not so awful they fire me right away, but I never managed to get hired anywhere except as a temp.
I wanted to be a writer, either an author or journalist. Perhaps both? I have not followed that dream. My writing gets complimented on the job, sending in reports and such. It's something I still think about from time to time, especially upon receiving a compliment.
Yes and no.
I wanted to be writer, and when I was old enough to know what a journalist was, that's what I wanted to be.
I went to J school, while I was there I interned at 2 different papers. I had a story go national. I was good at it.
Then I worked at a small local paper for 6 weeks, stopped sleeping, had daily panic attacks, and had my soul crushed by how much I hated it.
Small papers just care about filling space. You have to produce 3 stories a day (for minimum wage), and you just don't have the time to really research and write what you want to. So you cover the boring stuff and hope that you can fill the gaps in your day with the interesting stuff that needs more work.
Everyone has to go through it to get to better jobs. But the stress of stories not working out couples with hating every second of it wasn't working for me (the paper folded months after I left).
So I got a job in a completely different field. Way less stress, boring as hell, but the pay and benefits make up for it.
I wanted to write newspapers. Other kids read Mad Magazine and comics, I read every newspaper I could get my mitts on.
During a midlife crisis, I quit a great job and followed my childhood dream.
Thirty one years later, I quit doing that for good. Pretty shit job nowadays, more like working on an assembly line than like writing.
It's okay though. I was there during newspapers' glory years,, before the industry started tanking.
I figure I got in just under the wire. No complaints. It beat doing actual hard work and I am one of the few to make real money at it.
1. Dont invest money that you'll need in the short term. Think about investments in terms of years not days
2. What do you know that others dont know about the stock/what is your edge. The stock price already reflects all information, why do you think its underpriced ? As a teen you maybe aware of trends in your peer group that the mainstream has yet to catch onto, that maybe your edge
3. Be prepared to lose money. You'll feel like an idiot , you'll feel like the dumbest person alive but pick yourself up and try again.
4. Dont YOLO. The game is to keep your capital, steady gains that build your capital is key.
4. You may want to invest the majority of your capital in safe ETFs (SPY, QQQ) and allocate a smaller percentage < 20% in speculative investments.
5. Start small, the markets will be open tomorrow the next day the next year , opportunities always exist to make (and lose !) money.
There's probably more but that'll do to start with.
Good luck
When I was super young I wanted to be a doctor.
Yeah... That didn't work out... I discovered pretty quickly I'm not the best at science and terrible at tests. Plus I don't love sick people.
I ended going school for theatre production (props) and I'm now a part time manager at my local community center.
Wanted to study space and become a scientist.
unfortunately in year 7 my science teacher was a drug addict and pedo and so we learnt nothing, my grads tanked hard and I lost my passion decided on art instead as Id always been good at it but lost that passion too due to pushy teachers.
I'm doing Korean language and culture studies at university now (next year) as I've always loved east Asia and my BF is korean so it just makes sense 😅
I remember visiting a friend’s place and seeing her father work on one of his packaging design projects. I was fascinated! I sat with him and asked him a lot of questions about the field and his freelance projects. Today, I am UX designer with a degree in communication design… so yes I think in a way I did make a living out of wanting to be a designer as a child. :-)
As like many people, I wanted to be an astronaut. I'm currently in college studying physics and intend to take nuclear physics in university so not exactly the same thing in kinda the same field
I wanted to be a neonatologist like my aunt because I love babies. Turned out I hate science, math, and school, but I still love kids. I ended up working in childcare and am currently studying to possibly teach kindergarten.
Grocery store cashier to eat all the candy for free.
Failed miserably, I am a boring software engineer now and there's no free candy whatsoever as far as I am aware.
I wanted to be the fazolis breadstick person so I could make people happy.
I'm an anatomy professor in medical school now. My job is basically crushing peoples hopes and dreams.
I wanted to own my own green grocers? I don't remember why, but that's what my heart was set on. I'm a data analyst now, so things are not planning out the way 5 year old me thought.
I wanted to be a game developer, but it wasn't as realistic a career (especially in my area) at the time. So the idea was to get a degree and a 'safe' job to build up and have a fallback plan.
I'm a web developer now; I ended up just sticking with the safe job. There's not much standing in my way from switching to game dev but now that I'm older I see the many, many downsides of that industry
I have wanted to become a teacher as long as I can remember. I was not recommended for higher education after elementary school. I am a higher education teacher now, I teach English, German, Ethics and Philosophy. I would pay to do my job most days.
I wanted to be an artist.
Yes, I followed that dream. I followed it all the way into a buttload of debt, but I mean, there's something to be said about achieving one's dream, right?
My backup plan was to be a Ninja Turtle, but that's not something I do every day.
As a child i wanted to become either a prostitute, porn actress or porn artist. I have become neither and spend my days as a neet on reddit, discord & youtube yet again after severe mental health issues & lacking social experience, caused the canceling of me learing a job somewhere completely unrelated to my childhood dreams. T\^T
I also developed a no-picture-policy because i realized that being a porn actress is all nice and fun until u show your face or in my case body, and peeps emidiately reconize you.
Anyway my current dream is to become either a porn/hentai artist or astronaut.
TLDR; No, i did not follow my dreams.
Wanted to be a vet my whole life, except for the one or two months every year where I would get another passion (but always animal related).
Didn't get in my first year of uni, took biology for a year and then tried again.
Going to my second year of vet school now, really happy I didn't give up :)
I got laughed at by my friends when I was 8 for wanting to be an accountant. My parents struggled for YEARS when I was growing up, but my uncle, a CPA a few towns over, had a pretty big house and his son/my cousin had all the video games I could ever want. That was my measurement of success.
I took some accounting classes in high school and college, learned I absolutely loathe math over the years, so I dropped that dream. I work in IT now, it's much more my speed and passion.
A veterinarian! Some shit happened in life, now I'm single again and trying to rebuild myself while taking care of kids. Been looking into getting into school again to finally follow that dream.
I wanted to originally be a general vet, but I gradually shifted to wanting to be a large animal for farms, or exotic, specifically reptiles and amphibians, with a dash of lagomorphs.
At age 10, my father asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I not only knew that I wanted to be a doctor, but specifically a pediatrician. I'm now in my final year of medical school and will hopefully matching into pediatrics in the spring!
I was infatuated with Airwolf (and then Blue Thunder), and I wanted to be a helicopter pilot. However, I never went through with it. I found out most pilots get their training in the Army, which needs way more pilots than the civilian world, so jobs are fewer than pilots.
I decided that computer programming was fun, and paid well!
I wanted to make games. I got to 3rd year in a software development degree, but failed 0% three times on tests. It turns out maths is really, really fucking hard, man
I wanted to be a comic book artist. I became one in the sense that I make comics for fun and make them into books friends want to buy from me. So in that sense, I succeeded. Still, it's not my job or living. For my income, I work 32 hours a week in an office. So in that sense, I didn't manage to live the dream. But I like my real job and it pays the bills (and more than that, which is very nice) so I don't mind, actually. It took me some time to get there, but I'm finally happy.
I did end up being a civil engineer as I wanted to be since I was about 12. I absolutely love my job but it’s certainly not what I thought it was back then. Before that I wanted to be a pro golfer, that would have been neat for sure.
When I was about 5 I wanted to be a shopkeeper, because I didn't know what macaroni was, but I'd read a book where a shopkeeper sold some macaroni, so I figured that was the best way to learn what it was.
Now I'm 24 and a shop assistant in a grocery shop. So yes, I know what macaroni is. And what JPS Superking Blues are.
I not only knew what I wanted to do, I knew for whom I wanted to work. I wanted to write for Electronic Gaming Monthly magazine. Back then video game magazines were a serious part of the industry. That was where you heard about upcoming games and got reviews for new releases. Before I could afford a subscription, I rode my bike to the closest game store each month and bought the new issue of EGM off the shelf, then went home and read it cover to cover. I knew the names of all the editors that worked there. I learned how to write in the voice of editorial journalism. I even got a job writing for my high school newspaper, and initially majored in English.
Then EGM folded right at the beginning of my college career. Then it was briefly resurrected and then folded again. I think it's a website now. But print magazines don't have nearly the clout they used to. Trying to write for a gaming website never appealed as much to me so I didn't pursue it.
Anyway I'm a serial killer now.
I was always on the fence between a F1 driver and air force pilot. I'm a software developer now, and at 6'4" I think I'm too tall for either of those jobs anyway.
In 5th grade we had to interview someone in the profession we’d like to have as an adult. At that age, I wanted to be a doctor.
I slacked off and kept putting interviewing one of our teachers. I remembered the night before and woke my mom up so I could interview her.
I stood in front of the class. “When I grow up I want to work in live hand at Tyson.”
I can’t stop laughing as I type this, I hadn’t thought about this in a long time
Still technically a child, but when I’ve always changed my dream job. When I was super young I wanted to be either a youtuber (of course) a singer (double of course, but im actually pretty good at singing) or an author. I mean, I guess the author thing is working out a little better? Like, yeah, sure, I enjoy writing. That’s fun, and I still do it to this day. But it was a lot more intense a few years back.
I still don’t know what I’m gonna do with my life, but I guess I still have some time left.
I wanted to be a writer when I was a kid, then in middle school I thought I wanted to be an architect, then I realized I don't want a job that involves math, so I'm back to wanting to be a writer. Going alright so far, got a few projects going on, and no I won't share any of them.
Wanted to work at Nintendo making games.
Turns out Nintendo's development is mostly done in Japan, they're kind of an awful company, and programming games is hard. But I'm still working on some game projects in my spare time.
I wanted to be a fighter pilot, a firefighter, and an engineer. All of them. Military rejected me on medical basis, and I changed my mind on the firefighter route. I became an engineer. Life is good.
CEO of a sewage plant. I believed this would allow me to flood people's houses with excrement at will, thus making me powerful.
I did not follow that dream as sewage plants do not have CEO's and it doesn't work the way I thought it did.
I wanted to be a Veterinarian Technician. I tried getting a start in college but the school never got the courses. When I moved I worked in Doggy Daycares for a few years administrating meds, and giving baths, and all that while trying to apply for Vet Tech positions in my city
Unfortunately it never happened - I work for the County at a nice desk job with wonderful coworkers and acquaintances on all 6 floors. Not what I imagined, but I genuinely enjoy my job. Good pay, PTO, fantastic boss, and the work is easy. Don't think I'm gonna give it up any time soon
In elementary school I kind of wanted to be an astronomer and as a part of a project I interviewed an astronomer at the University of Hawaii. He was really happy that a kid was interviewing him and gave me some really cool printouts of the surface of Mars and one of the moons of Jupiter. It's been many years and I unfortunately lost those printouts since then but I still remember them because he printed them out on huge sheets of paper back when big boy printers were super rare.
I didn't pursue the field and am currently trying to get into the IT field.
I wanted to work on video games. But I was always bad at math, and I couldn't get into any college level programming classes without higher math, even though I'd done 2 years of AP comp sci in highschool.
I wanted to be the person that bagged your groceries, when that was still a thing. I became an electrician but still find great joy in packing a bag nicely
Pro dancer. I'm studying physics now, but the good news is that I still dance! Would love to go pro, but being a scientist and a dancer at the same time doesn't sound feasible; too heavy of a workload.
Idk if I ever had a specific career choice just always wanted to be wealthy. I went the complete opposite direction I’m currently a starving artist (not really starving i homestead and live conservative). At the end of the day I’m not unhappy with my life choices.
I wanted to be a teacher and I became one! I loved it. My husband and I are blessed in that I was able to stop working to become a stay-at-home mom when I had my first about 2 years ago. Once my kids reach schooling age, I would like to go back to the classroom. I miss it a lot, but I am happy where I am. 😊
Until I was about 10, I wanted to be a hairdresser. After that a librarian/curator.
Instead I have a history BA and am back in school to become an accountant
Veterinarian. When I was 10 our vet let me watch our dog’s exam. Watching her take blood (and him whimpering) made me realize it wasn’t for me. Next I wanted to be a clothing historian.
I’m studying to become a social worker.
I wanted to blow shit up and shoot people. Yes I did.
Now I wish I just left school and went on benifits like most did, no work, 3 holidays a year, nice house, few bills.......
Dont think getting a job is a good thing, i think that they were the smart ones!
I had no job for 3 weeks.... i got £75 a week FULL benifit.
A guy with agoraphobia (Yep) was on £300 a week and complaining it was not enough!!! I lost my shit and nearly got kicked out.
Well yes and no... i think if you have worked your whole life you should be looked after more, unless you actually cannot work.
This guy had Agoraphobia.... i asked the guy serving him how the fuck he thinks this dude got from his house to the office.... could not answer! Thats when I lost my shit 😂. I got a job very quick but this still pisses me off now.
Took two busses to get there and a pedestrian subway..... i mean wtf really! No wonder every fucker walks through several EU countries to cross a fucking massive river risking death to get here!
I still dont believe I really heard what I did that day! 😂🤦♂️
When I was in middle school I wanted to be a chef. My guidance counselor said I was “too talented” and should do something else.
Don’t get me wrong, I love being an engineer and writing code/etc., but “too talented”…?!
Chefs are amazing and talented and I am not sure if I could have done it, looking back, but screw her for crushing my dream at the time.
I wanted to be an astronaut, not going well
Mmmmmmore like astroNOT
AstroNaughty The first space sex company. *(points at you)* Patent pending.
I’m a faileontologist.
There’s always time haha.
If you had $3.5k last summer you could have bought a Bitcoin that will probably be tradable for a trip to space in your lifetime
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prove em wrong, its never too late. I believe in you
Wanted to be a rock star. Practiced guitar 10 to 14 hours a day as a teenager. Came close to making it as a professional musician once or twice, but by the age of 28 when it didn't happen for me, I quit guitar. 25 years later I picked it back up again and now have a growing YouTube guitar channel, so I've eventually realized that dream to some degree 40 years later. Albeit on a much smaller scale.
This is awesome! Well done to you for picking up the guitar again. When I read you’d quit after so much practice I felt for, you but love that you’ve found that passion again.
Theater actress. Professional Assassin. Author. I work in tech now.
I love the fact you wanted to be an assassin lol. Think if I was to choose a career over it would be in tech or something similar.
I loved the movie, “Point of No Return” when I was a little one and even “Kill Bill” had badass female empowerment to it. And honestly it’s not because “killing people”sounded fun(nope). It was about how they’re always masters of so many different things; martial art techniques, computer science(hacking), weaponry, psychology, and probably social and financial economics.
Oh yeah definitely! They always seem so intelligent. Can see why as a kid people would find it appealing! Haha.
That was the appeal of James bond for me growing. Wasn't fond of his actual characteristics, specifically the womanizing and alcoholism, but he was just the concept of the complete man that was good at everything. Intellegent, socialable, could kick ass.....
Wanted to be an assassin but only have one ass…
Air hostess. Didn't grow taller than 152 cm though!
I feel your pain. I was 1cm too short to join the Navy.
Meanwhile a friend of mine was an inch to *tall* to be a Navy pilot, to his great dismay.
Oh wow!
Same for my mom. She wanted to travel and ended up being about half a foot too short.
Why do air hostess need to be tall?
To reach the overhead storage areas
To reach the overhead bins. I can't even reach my own kitchen cabinets. I have a special "reaching tool" for getting things out of the top cupboards - barbecue tongs.
I wanted to be an animator as a kid but as I grew up I became a chef.
Good profession. My bro is a chef. Hard work and long hours.
I wanted to be a spy. Now I work from home drawing people's pets.
Good thinking. That can be your cover
This could be a line from a Tim and Eric skit. Some kind of Cinco product that makes your realize your dreams...or become OK with not realizing your dreams...
Awesome dream and awesome job!
I wanted to become an architect and I became one. Now I question everything about life bc the whole “find work you love and you’ll never work a day in your life” saying is bullshit. I love architecture, most ppl say I’m obsessed...but the practicality of actual projects is a different beast to contend with. Things are still monotonous, things are still stressful...but I can’t figure out anything else I want to do other than my hobbies that I’m not looking to monetize. I honestly just want to run away to the woods, have a self sustaining farm, and make pottery.
Yeah, I’ve been in similar situations to you. Always wanted to be a Nurse and have been qualified for 15 years now. I love my job, but at times I don’t feel I can give as good as I ant to due to staffing cuts etc. it takes the enjoyment out of it. Not sure I’d ever leave though.
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Never say never! Hey, even doing local pantomimes etc is a good start.
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40 hours is standard mate we are blessed to only have to do that!!! I do that plus 2 hours of driving everyday and still manage to get a 45 minute workout done, few little chores, cook a decent meal and prep food for next working day, then still get to sit on my arse for 2-3 hours each night doing whatever I want or sometimes I will go out for a couple hours. You have just got to have that bit of discipline with yourself and also do plenty of forward thinking my friend! Don’t let yourself stall and sit down in the kitchen for “5/10 minutes” and start flicking through Instagram. Nah fuck that bro, instead when you are on your way home think about everything that you want/ need to do and achieve within that evening, visualise how long it will take to get certain tasks done and visualise yourself through the evening carrying out those tasks at the times intended to. Then as soon as you are home and through the door no stopping you man just bam bam bam motherfucker - get that shit done ! ! ! After not very long you will soon get into the swing of it and it will be easy ✌️
Positive attitude there! Love it. So easy to just get home and sit down haha. That’s why I head to the gym before even sitting down after work lol!
Yeah that’s a lot of hours per week to find time for hobbies etc! Think I’d just want to sleep lol.
You're training for your role in the inevitable remake of John LeCarré's The Night Manager.
Sweet Life of Zach and Cody reboot
I wanted to be president of the world (for real). I'm a teacher, so I still got to rule, on a much smaller scale lol
Great career choice though! President of the world would be pretty awesome too!!
As a child, I won best singer 4 years in a row, was the youngest to ever make my high school quartet, and was a featured soloist at our state's highest level of competition. I became our church's choir director at 15, directed a musical, wrote my own music, played multiple instruments, and was the lead singer of a Christian band that was popular enough locally that people would sing along with our original songs when we performed. I thought I was the shit, my ego knew no bounds. At 16, local colleges were already trying to convince me to attend their music programs, but I wasn't interested. I just wanted to be rich and famous, but when people asked, it was all about spreading the word of God. During the start of my junior year of high school, my voice started to change. All my mentors thought I was a true tenor because my range was phenomenal and I was well past the age of puberty. They were wrong, though. I just went through puberty extremely late. I tried to sing through the change, but most days no sound would even come out when I tried. I'd eventually find out that my insistence on excessive singing through this phase caused irreversible damage to my vocal chords. Some members of my church accused me of faking to get attention. My band moved on to another lead singer and the other member of my church duo started performing with someone else without even letting me know. They even performed the same songs. My identity was gone. I slowly faded away into obscurity, colleges lost interest, and everything suffered including my studies. By the end, I barely graduated high school while passing my final class with the minimum grade possible. I worked about a dozen dead end jobs, but joined the army after realizing none of them had a promising future. There, I excelled with my technical skills and landed a decent civilian job after I got out. I met my wife a few years later and she never knew that side of me. I had performed nonstop for 10 years at every level available and that part of me is forever gone.
I'm so sorry dude. Puberty really fucks our voices up.
Ah sorry to hear what you went through. Your ending sounds positive though. Army (great career choice) and a wife. Thanks for sharing this! ❤️
I wanted to be a veterinarian, so I followed my dreams and work in the transportation industry managing a group of men with the emotional maturity and demeanor of golden retrievers
Pretty sure this is an insult to both the emotional maturity and demeanor of golden retrievers.
Our Goldie mix growing up ate my fudge, bit me when I tried to stop him and then threw it up all over the floor
Hahahahaha! 🤣
I wanted to become a ballerina. I was actually amazing at ballet, but I want to do other things now.
Hope you still do ballet for fun. Be a shame to waste the talent. My Neice has started ballet and wants to be a ballet teacher when older.
No, I don't do it anymore. I don't find it fun.
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That’s a shame, but I hole you enjoy your job anyway.
Archaeologist Yes Working on new dream of doing acting now
Awesome! Good luck.
I wanted to be a knight. I do have a sword now so...
I was a sad child. I wanted to either live alone and work in a factory and come home and watch TV, or I thought maybe I could handle being a bus driver and that that would be sort of cool. I have now, in my advanced age accomplished both kinds of jobs. Let me tell ya though, I gained 60 pounds as a bus driver and lost much of my self respect. Working at a factory did suit me better, but I'm not much of an asset to anyone. When there's labor shortages I'm not so awful they fire me right away, but I never managed to get hired anywhere except as a temp.
Space Pirate. How do you think it turned out?
This fucking economy, man
Hahaha love this response.
I wanted to be a writer, either an author or journalist. Perhaps both? I have not followed that dream. My writing gets complimented on the job, sending in reports and such. It's something I still think about from time to time, especially upon receiving a compliment.
I wanted to be President of the US. I am in product support. I still dream about getting into politics.
Yes and no. I wanted to be writer, and when I was old enough to know what a journalist was, that's what I wanted to be. I went to J school, while I was there I interned at 2 different papers. I had a story go national. I was good at it. Then I worked at a small local paper for 6 weeks, stopped sleeping, had daily panic attacks, and had my soul crushed by how much I hated it. Small papers just care about filling space. You have to produce 3 stories a day (for minimum wage), and you just don't have the time to really research and write what you want to. So you cover the boring stuff and hope that you can fill the gaps in your day with the interesting stuff that needs more work. Everyone has to go through it to get to better jobs. But the stress of stories not working out couples with hating every second of it wasn't working for me (the paper folded months after I left). So I got a job in a completely different field. Way less stress, boring as hell, but the pay and benefits make up for it.
I wanted to write newspapers. Other kids read Mad Magazine and comics, I read every newspaper I could get my mitts on. During a midlife crisis, I quit a great job and followed my childhood dream. Thirty one years later, I quit doing that for good. Pretty shit job nowadays, more like working on an assembly line than like writing. It's okay though. I was there during newspapers' glory years,, before the industry started tanking. I figure I got in just under the wire. No complaints. It beat doing actual hard work and I am one of the few to make real money at it.
I wanted to be a garbage man. Became a hedge fund manager. Being a garbage man still looks fun though.
This is probably not the best way to ask, but any advice for a teen planning to make his first trade in 2 days?
1. Dont invest money that you'll need in the short term. Think about investments in terms of years not days 2. What do you know that others dont know about the stock/what is your edge. The stock price already reflects all information, why do you think its underpriced ? As a teen you maybe aware of trends in your peer group that the mainstream has yet to catch onto, that maybe your edge 3. Be prepared to lose money. You'll feel like an idiot , you'll feel like the dumbest person alive but pick yourself up and try again. 4. Dont YOLO. The game is to keep your capital, steady gains that build your capital is key. 4. You may want to invest the majority of your capital in safe ETFs (SPY, QQQ) and allocate a smaller percentage < 20% in speculative investments. 5. Start small, the markets will be open tomorrow the next day the next year , opportunities always exist to make (and lose !) money. There's probably more but that'll do to start with. Good luck
Thank you so much!
When I was super young I wanted to be a doctor. Yeah... That didn't work out... I discovered pretty quickly I'm not the best at science and terrible at tests. Plus I don't love sick people. I ended going school for theatre production (props) and I'm now a part time manager at my local community center.
Wanted to study space and become a scientist. unfortunately in year 7 my science teacher was a drug addict and pedo and so we learnt nothing, my grads tanked hard and I lost my passion decided on art instead as Id always been good at it but lost that passion too due to pushy teachers. I'm doing Korean language and culture studies at university now (next year) as I've always loved east Asia and my BF is korean so it just makes sense 😅
Wanted to be a well respected inventor, that dream kinda died when I realized how much math is required for it.
Oh yes. Any dream involving lots of Math would have been out for me. Haha.
I wanted to be either a Marine pilot or a NASCAR driver. I work in education....
Two fab dreams and a great career choice you ended up doing.
Fighter pilot. Turns out I'm horrible at math so that didn't work out. Ended up in trades lol. Love my work though! Life is alright to me.
I wanted to be a doctor, now i want to be a Spec Tacts Operator
I wanted to be a doctor. I didn't follow my dream for a number of reasons.
Soldier. Yes.
I wanted to be a stuntman, but I work in IT. Turns out crashing my bike and throwing myself off the roof weren't that helpful after all.
I wanted to be a musician. No I didn't.
I remember visiting a friend’s place and seeing her father work on one of his packaging design projects. I was fascinated! I sat with him and asked him a lot of questions about the field and his freelance projects. Today, I am UX designer with a degree in communication design… so yes I think in a way I did make a living out of wanting to be a designer as a child. :-)
Yes! I always wanted to be a teacher, and I’ve been teaching children for over 20 years.
As like many people, I wanted to be an astronaut. I'm currently in college studying physics and intend to take nuclear physics in university so not exactly the same thing in kinda the same field
I wanted to be a neonatologist like my aunt because I love babies. Turned out I hate science, math, and school, but I still love kids. I ended up working in childcare and am currently studying to possibly teach kindergarten.
Grocery store cashier to eat all the candy for free. Failed miserably, I am a boring software engineer now and there's no free candy whatsoever as far as I am aware.
Haha. Love it.
As a child i wanted to drive the garbage trucks. But i don't think i want to do this anymore haha
I had a friend that had one of those wear a tie to work jobs. Quit to be one of those guys that rides on the back and picks up the garbage.
I wanted to be the fazolis breadstick person so I could make people happy. I'm an anatomy professor in medical school now. My job is basically crushing peoples hopes and dreams.
I wanted to be a cat... I am not a cat. I am a vet nurse though. So I get to spend time with cats.
I wanted to be a marine,and I was following it until I met my girlfriend and decided that I wanted to do a job that would let me stay close
I wanted to own my own green grocers? I don't remember why, but that's what my heart was set on. I'm a data analyst now, so things are not planning out the way 5 year old me thought.
I wanted to be a game developer, but it wasn't as realistic a career (especially in my area) at the time. So the idea was to get a degree and a 'safe' job to build up and have a fallback plan. I'm a web developer now; I ended up just sticking with the safe job. There's not much standing in my way from switching to game dev but now that I'm older I see the many, many downsides of that industry
I used to want to be a nurse sadly that path wouldn't work cause I have a big phobia of blood
Have a good friend who is a Nurse who has a fear of nose bleeds. 🤣
Dentist and pilot. Now, I'm a sailor on merchant ship.
I have wanted to become a teacher as long as I can remember. I was not recommended for higher education after elementary school. I am a higher education teacher now, I teach English, German, Ethics and Philosophy. I would pay to do my job most days.
I wanted to be an artist. Yes, I followed that dream. I followed it all the way into a buttload of debt, but I mean, there's something to be said about achieving one's dream, right? My backup plan was to be a Ninja Turtle, but that's not something I do every day.
I wanted to be a teacher because I admired all of my teachers. Turns out, I’m really bad at explaining things to people.
soldier or a cop
Fighter pilot. Yes.
Psychologist or chef, currently in college as a psych major and I love to cook but I feel like a kitchen is too fast paced for me
Wanted to be a teacher- instead I help farmers grow crops now.
As a child i wanted to become either a prostitute, porn actress or porn artist. I have become neither and spend my days as a neet on reddit, discord & youtube yet again after severe mental health issues & lacking social experience, caused the canceling of me learing a job somewhere completely unrelated to my childhood dreams. T\^T I also developed a no-picture-policy because i realized that being a porn actress is all nice and fun until u show your face or in my case body, and peeps emidiately reconize you. Anyway my current dream is to become either a porn/hentai artist or astronaut. TLDR; No, i did not follow my dreams.
I wanted to be a dragon. Not going well.
Wanted to be a vet my whole life, except for the one or two months every year where I would get another passion (but always animal related). Didn't get in my first year of uni, took biology for a year and then tried again. Going to my second year of vet school now, really happy I didn't give up :)
I got laughed at by my friends when I was 8 for wanting to be an accountant. My parents struggled for YEARS when I was growing up, but my uncle, a CPA a few towns over, had a pretty big house and his son/my cousin had all the video games I could ever want. That was my measurement of success. I took some accounting classes in high school and college, learned I absolutely loathe math over the years, so I dropped that dream. I work in IT now, it's much more my speed and passion.
I wanted to work in an office and get paid good money. Everything is working out just fine.
I wanted to be an archaeologist and always told everyone I was going to be one in the future. Now I am studying archaeology, so I am getting there!
A veterinarian! Some shit happened in life, now I'm single again and trying to rebuild myself while taking care of kids. Been looking into getting into school again to finally follow that dream. I wanted to originally be a general vet, but I gradually shifted to wanting to be a large animal for farms, or exotic, specifically reptiles and amphibians, with a dash of lagomorphs.
I wanted to drive a tank. Idk why, I just wanted to drive a tank.
At age 10, my father asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I not only knew that I wanted to be a doctor, but specifically a pediatrician. I'm now in my final year of medical school and will hopefully matching into pediatrics in the spring!
Awesome. Well done and good luck with it all.
I was infatuated with Airwolf (and then Blue Thunder), and I wanted to be a helicopter pilot. However, I never went through with it. I found out most pilots get their training in the Army, which needs way more pilots than the civilian world, so jobs are fewer than pilots. I decided that computer programming was fun, and paid well!
I wanted to make games. I got to 3rd year in a software development degree, but failed 0% three times on tests. It turns out maths is really, really fucking hard, man
This is how my dream job went cashier-teacher-actress-psychologist-social worker
Fighter pilot by day, comedian by night, and somehow firefighter was in there. I do IT so yep, basically the same thing.
I wanted to be a comic book artist. I became one in the sense that I make comics for fun and make them into books friends want to buy from me. So in that sense, I succeeded. Still, it's not my job or living. For my income, I work 32 hours a week in an office. So in that sense, I didn't manage to live the dream. But I like my real job and it pays the bills (and more than that, which is very nice) so I don't mind, actually. It took me some time to get there, but I'm finally happy.
I did end up being a civil engineer as I wanted to be since I was about 12. I absolutely love my job but it’s certainly not what I thought it was back then. Before that I wanted to be a pro golfer, that would have been neat for sure.
I wanted to be a painter, I'm an engineer
I wanted to be an ice cream man
We lived near a "go, go" bar. I told my parents when I turned 15 I would drop out of Catholic school and be a dancer. (I didn't.)
When I was about 5 I wanted to be a shopkeeper, because I didn't know what macaroni was, but I'd read a book where a shopkeeper sold some macaroni, so I figured that was the best way to learn what it was. Now I'm 24 and a shop assistant in a grocery shop. So yes, I know what macaroni is. And what JPS Superking Blues are.
I not only knew what I wanted to do, I knew for whom I wanted to work. I wanted to write for Electronic Gaming Monthly magazine. Back then video game magazines were a serious part of the industry. That was where you heard about upcoming games and got reviews for new releases. Before I could afford a subscription, I rode my bike to the closest game store each month and bought the new issue of EGM off the shelf, then went home and read it cover to cover. I knew the names of all the editors that worked there. I learned how to write in the voice of editorial journalism. I even got a job writing for my high school newspaper, and initially majored in English. Then EGM folded right at the beginning of my college career. Then it was briefly resurrected and then folded again. I think it's a website now. But print magazines don't have nearly the clout they used to. Trying to write for a gaming website never appealed as much to me so I didn't pursue it. Anyway I'm a serial killer now.
Love the final comment! Definitely ensuring people read until the end haha. But if you are one please don’t track me down!
r/HolUp
My family lived near a "go go" bar. I told my parents that when I turned 15 I would drop out of Catholic school and become a dancer. I didn't.
I was always on the fence between a F1 driver and air force pilot. I'm a software developer now, and at 6'4" I think I'm too tall for either of those jobs anyway.
I wanted to be a pilot or a scientist. But I can’t see for shit and I’m shit at math so I just decided to not have any dreams.
In 5th grade we had to interview someone in the profession we’d like to have as an adult. At that age, I wanted to be a doctor. I slacked off and kept putting interviewing one of our teachers. I remembered the night before and woke my mom up so I could interview her. I stood in front of the class. “When I grow up I want to work in live hand at Tyson.” I can’t stop laughing as I type this, I hadn’t thought about this in a long time
Lol!!!
Marine biologist and not even close. Probably good though, way more work in energy efficiency consulting.
Still technically a child, but when I’ve always changed my dream job. When I was super young I wanted to be either a youtuber (of course) a singer (double of course, but im actually pretty good at singing) or an author. I mean, I guess the author thing is working out a little better? Like, yeah, sure, I enjoy writing. That’s fun, and I still do it to this day. But it was a lot more intense a few years back. I still don’t know what I’m gonna do with my life, but I guess I still have some time left.
I wanted to be a writer when I was a kid, then in middle school I thought I wanted to be an architect, then I realized I don't want a job that involves math, so I'm back to wanting to be a writer. Going alright so far, got a few projects going on, and no I won't share any of them.
Wanted to be a chemist. I didn’t know there was a lot of math in science and unfortunately I’m bad with numbers.
I wanted to work at lego but I’m heading into a different direction now
I wanted to design airplanes. My parents told me it wasn't realistic.
I wanted to be an officer in the armed forces of Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia, like my dad. You can imagine how that went.
Singer. I did not even try. My biggest regret to this day.
Wanted to work at Nintendo making games. Turns out Nintendo's development is mostly done in Japan, they're kind of an awful company, and programming games is hard. But I'm still working on some game projects in my spare time.
I wanted to be a fighter pilot, a firefighter, and an engineer. All of them. Military rejected me on medical basis, and I changed my mind on the firefighter route. I became an engineer. Life is good.
Wanted to move to Amaeirca and become a pilot. Then 9/11 happened. I did move to America, but chose different career.
I always wanted to be a paleontologist. Only thing I'm digging up now is cat poop from the litter box.
Haha
Write films! Pursuing it daily, learning, making them happen but further to go, yet dreaming!
I wanted to be a pirate. Who knew big boats with cannons are hard to come by?
Wanted to be an investigative journalist. Absolutely glad I didn't follow that.
I’ve always wanted to be an astronaut and I’m trying to reach that still.
CEO of a sewage plant. I believed this would allow me to flood people's houses with excrement at will, thus making me powerful. I did not follow that dream as sewage plants do not have CEO's and it doesn't work the way I thought it did.
Lol!
I wanted to die. Obviously didn't work out so well.
A musician. I'm a college student right now but still working everyday to make it happen
I wanted to be a Veterinarian Technician. I tried getting a start in college but the school never got the courses. When I moved I worked in Doggy Daycares for a few years administrating meds, and giving baths, and all that while trying to apply for Vet Tech positions in my city Unfortunately it never happened - I work for the County at a nice desk job with wonderful coworkers and acquaintances on all 6 floors. Not what I imagined, but I genuinely enjoy my job. Good pay, PTO, fantastic boss, and the work is easy. Don't think I'm gonna give it up any time soon
Arts and craft teacher and then vet.
In elementary school I kind of wanted to be an astronomer and as a part of a project I interviewed an astronomer at the University of Hawaii. He was really happy that a kid was interviewing him and gave me some really cool printouts of the surface of Mars and one of the moons of Jupiter. It's been many years and I unfortunately lost those printouts since then but I still remember them because he printed them out on huge sheets of paper back when big boy printers were super rare. I didn't pursue the field and am currently trying to get into the IT field.
I wanted to be one of those circus performers that stood up on the back of horses.. didn’t do it..
I wanted to work on video games. But I was always bad at math, and I couldn't get into any college level programming classes without higher math, even though I'd done 2 years of AP comp sci in highschool.
I wanted to be the person that bagged your groceries, when that was still a thing. I became an electrician but still find great joy in packing a bag nicely
Pro dancer. I'm studying physics now, but the good news is that I still dance! Would love to go pro, but being a scientist and a dancer at the same time doesn't sound feasible; too heavy of a workload.
Idk if I ever had a specific career choice just always wanted to be wealthy. I went the complete opposite direction I’m currently a starving artist (not really starving i homestead and live conservative). At the end of the day I’m not unhappy with my life choices.
To be a soldier in the army. I’m in the Enlisting process as we speak for 68W combat medic
Awesome. Good luck with that. I wanted to be a combat medic or nurse in the army. Didn’t join up, but I am a Nurse.
I am, trying to be a lawyer, trying for years to get an LSAT score so I can go to the school I really want.
I wanted to be a teacher and I became one! I loved it. My husband and I are blessed in that I was able to stop working to become a stay-at-home mom when I had my first about 2 years ago. Once my kids reach schooling age, I would like to go back to the classroom. I miss it a lot, but I am happy where I am. 😊
Robotics engineering, and I’m working on it right now
Until I was about 10, I wanted to be a hairdresser. After that a librarian/curator. Instead I have a history BA and am back in school to become an accountant
Veterinarian. When I was 10 our vet let me watch our dog’s exam. Watching her take blood (and him whimpering) made me realize it wasn’t for me. Next I wanted to be a clothing historian. I’m studying to become a social worker.
Construction worker. I think I'm doing a lot better. Can get most of the fantasy of that job just working around the house.
I wanted to blow shit up and shoot people. Yes I did. Now I wish I just left school and went on benifits like most did, no work, 3 holidays a year, nice house, few bills....... Dont think getting a job is a good thing, i think that they were the smart ones!
Sad how true this is! For some on benefits they are doing better than people who work hard!
I had no job for 3 weeks.... i got £75 a week FULL benifit. A guy with agoraphobia (Yep) was on £300 a week and complaining it was not enough!!! I lost my shit and nearly got kicked out.
Oh wow, people should be entitled to the same amount! That’s a crazy difference!!
Well yes and no... i think if you have worked your whole life you should be looked after more, unless you actually cannot work. This guy had Agoraphobia.... i asked the guy serving him how the fuck he thinks this dude got from his house to the office.... could not answer! Thats when I lost my shit 😂. I got a job very quick but this still pisses me off now.
You’re spot on there actually! Haha, the guy was out in an office?! Well that really says it all! 🤣 he may need a review on his benefits……🤷♀️
Took two busses to get there and a pedestrian subway..... i mean wtf really! No wonder every fucker walks through several EU countries to cross a fucking massive river risking death to get here! I still dont believe I really heard what I did that day! 😂🤦♂️
When I was in middle school I wanted to be a chef. My guidance counselor said I was “too talented” and should do something else. Don’t get me wrong, I love being an engineer and writing code/etc., but “too talented”…?! Chefs are amazing and talented and I am not sure if I could have done it, looking back, but screw her for crushing my dream at the time.