Change In Life Path

Off Topic
1

Hey everyone,

I am going through a time in my life where I am very burnt out of what I’m doin. Let me give you the low down. Straight A student in high school, 3 year lettermen varsity football. Did track and baseball too. I was the typical smart athletic guy. Got a four year scholarship to ASU. I decided that I no longer wanted to play football anymore…I could have gone somewhere and played.

So, I am now in my second semester of junior year. I have been taken pre-med courses. I’ve taken a few kinesiology courses. My major is currently biology though. I am so burned out of school that its tough to make it to class and my grades are slipping. I no longer feel the motivation or drive to get good grades…partly because I feel that most of the classes I take are a bunch of bullshit and are extremely boring to me. I never remember half of the material that I cram for before tests anyway and even if I did, it wouldnt have any real application to most people’s lives.

I am seriously considering taking a year off of school, even though I will lose the last year of my scholarship. I have no clue what I want to do with my life and college isn’t helping me find this out. I thought I wanted to go down the medical route, but I’ve realized that I’ve never really wanted that all along…I guess it has just been expected for me to pick that route by my parents.

The passions in my life are lifting heavy iron, competing in athletics (recently got into boxing), teaching others about training/nutrition, partying, and last but not least playing poker (which I do to support myself here in college). I like to go hunting and go tube fishing. I like going on road trips with friends. I want to live an active life, not one where I am cramming for tests that I have no desire to take or living in a stuffy ass apartment in the middle of a concrete fucking city. I like the coast.

Some options for me that I am pondering are moving to San Diego at the beginning of this summer and living with my aunt and uncle. There I could get a job as a lifeguard by day and work as a server at a cool restaurant at night. Make a ton of cash, meet some new people. I’d be able to frequent the casinos and make some big bucks taking money from the fish too. I also want to get into training people for athletic performance, that would really appeal to me. I have even thought of joining the military and going for special ops.

Sorry for this long rant, I just wanted to hear what other people thought. I know this is a common thing for a lot of people. It would also be nice to hear of some people that don’t have extensive college careers but still make good money and have a job that that love.

Lookin foward to some responses,
Chris

2

Premed? Why are you interested in medicine? If you really want this, don’t let your grades slip. It’s only a little longer until you get a break anyway, so just hold on.

3

I heard this quote in university and it really struck me, might seem kinda vauge;

“Follow your bliss”

The person who said it was basically saying that people would be happy in life if they actually did this.

4

[quote]Biceps345 wrote:
Hey everyone,

I am going through a time in my life where I am very burnt out of what I’m doin.

Sorry to hear that you are going through a rough time.If you are a pre med student then you should know that “burnt” is not a word.Just had to call you out on that one.

5

Sometimes in life you have to do things that we are not too proud in order to secure a more stable future.

I myself followed the academic route toward the end of my chosen field (Insurance). Most of the time it was boring as shit. I would have killed myself rather than be sitting in a desk all day, but you know what? At the end I got into a field that I really enjoyed and that I got to travel quite a lot in the world.

Sometimes we tend to see life in too simplistic terms if we do this and this then we will get X. There are too many variables to make such huge logic errors.

My suggestion, and this is from someone who had and currently still has scholarship. DON’T LOOSE IT! It is the most important asset for future credentials (not credit records or grades) or someone else’s belief in you. After you finish your degree, then go and be a lifeguard, beach bum or whatever you want to do until you figure out what to do with your life.

Then again you could do nothing and still be OK? :wink:

J

6

hey, just wanted to add my two cents worth, dunno if it’ll be useful or not but…

about two thirds through uni I started to feel how you described feeling and there was nothing else that could motivate me and I could see my entire life veering off what I had hoped it would turn out to be. This was partly due to stress but also the slow eralisation that I was an optimist which, in england, is rarer then ranch dressing and day by day i was losing a little of that optimism as the people around me were settling into routine and heading back to their home towns.
Anyways randomly picked up a book called the fountainhead (cue collective groans from posters) erad the first page, then the second then the rest of the book in a day and a night. I;m not fanatical about ayn rand’s ethos but it helped me a lot in seperating myself from everything that was around me telling me what to do and how to be and what to think and refocus on what i was doing with my life and how much power and control i had over it. I finished my uni degree and did a top up with a teaching certificate, sold a bunch of stuff and flew over to asia to explore, write, live and be happy.
I’m not condemning my life back home, it was a great life as far as it went but i read the profiles on friendsreunited and all those classmates who still live a block from where they grew up and those staying at her majesties pleasure and from all those people i’m the only one that left everything behind to find out who i was and what kind of person i am.

I;ve ranted enough but I guess what I’m trying to say is that it sounds like you need some distance, some space where you can get to know yourself better and be able to decide what you want from life. So you lose your last year of your scholarship, no worries, I studied in the day and worked as a chef in the evening.

I could be totally wrong, i don’t know you or what circumstances you’re in. But this is what I did.

hope it helps in some small way

7

Life is too short to spend it doing something you really don’t want to do. If you change path you’ll lose your scholarship, won’t finish medicine, some people will look down on you - so what, there is always a price to pay to follow your dreams. And if you don’t know what your dreams are you should do something to find out.

It takes a certain kind of person to work in medicine, it is a hard slog, very demanding, takes up most of your life, is filled with all sorts of crap too like lawsuits and huge insurance bills. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone unless they have a heart of gold. There are a few in the field who aren’t particularly happy to be there and they can be a right pain in the ass for the rest … well to be honest they aren’t that bad but it isn’t great to have people in such a position unless they really love it. Having said all that, medicine is very rewarding indeed in ways most people never will be rewarded in their jobs, truly helping people, sometimes saving people, and seeing the hardships some people are facing makes you appreciate your own life more.

But you must do a job you love.

If more people (everyone?) was doing a job they love, or at least, loving the job they do (even if it is a bit crappy) then the world would be a better place.

There is nothing like doing a job you love and working with people you love working with.

And maybe, there is nothing worse than getting up each day going to a job you hate.

If you love what you do and are good at it there are opportunities in this world to make a good living out of it, even a fortune, but if not, then a good living. I’ve known people do this in all sorts of crazy careers.

Money should not be the deciding factor when planning your life career, money is only important when planning immediate financial situations. Money is never as satisfying as using your brain and skills to do something that you really enjoy, and getting appreciation for it. Besides if you are a bit clever investing your money you can over time build up a good nest egg.

You plan sounds OK to me.

Don’t worry too much about being thought of as goofing off, if you go off and get your head together then come back with focus to whatever career you seek, people will understand and respect that. That’s if you are returning to a corporate path.

Note though that you might also be judging a medical career based on your academic experience - NOT on your experience working in the medical field. Just because the course might stink doesn’t mean the job will … so that is something to consider.

Note that whatever you do you are going to have to work hard, either it is going to be hard because you hate what you are doing (or are bored senseless), or it is hard because you love it and are pushing yourself to achieve all the things you want.

Hope that helps?

8

It’s funny" ever since high school, my third year at any school or job made me feel the same way. It was almost like there was novelty the first year, comfort/familiarity the second year, and then boredom the third.

But what you are doing now is an investment in your future–of which you have a LOT left! If you really have a desire to BE a doctor (or something in the medical profession), then don’t spend decades wishing you had stuck through these difficult months.

If you are certain you no longer WANT to be in the medical profession, then start looking at changing your major; explore other programs and make an informed choice, based on what you WANT to do that will keep your interest. Would something in the science of sports/training be enticing? Then talk to people in the appropriate departments and get their input.

This includes talking to people in your OWN department. No one really wants a student in their program whose heart isn’t in it. Do you have an academic advisor? A career counselor on-campus? Make an appointment. You might hear things that help, like “Everyone feels this way, and those who stick with it are always glad they did.” or “A lot of people with coursework like yours find they can make a transition to thus-and-such.”

But look around carefully and learn your options. Make a decision based on knowledge of the available and interesting options, not based on boredom and the desire to flee a situation for “anything else.”

Good luck.

9

You can forget about Med school if your grades are slipping and your focus is all over the place. As for your current means of support by playing poker…well your money will run out soon after your luck will.

You only have 2 semesters to go. Change your major to Biology or Physiology or whatever you have the most credits, suck it up and finish your bachelors degree. You are a step ahead of the game even with a general liberal arts degree, especially if you are thinking of entering the military. Being an officer is a world of difference than the enlisted ranks. If you take a year off, you may never go back…life gets in the way as you get older. Stop dreaming and start studying. Your “real” life is only one short year away.