You mean NOT have a special needs kid needing intense care that led me to quit and kill my budding career?

Well. That's a big question. He's functional now, 19 years later, so I guess not. No regrets.

Let's see if I can find a job now. Ha.

If I had the energy, but I’m too tired.

2019 to 2021 I tried hard to pivot to a new career and I made the littlest bit of progress, but at the same time I somehow managed to get promoted twice and had more money thrown at me in the current career and I just decided to give in, stay the course and stop fighting it.

All the time, but I didn’t know what I wanted to do when I was young, and I don’t know what I’d do now instead.

It sounds like you’re different. If the feeling is tripping you up, just think of all the ways starting your own OT practice could’ve turned out bad.

I should have left teaching. It was always an uneasy fit. I am bright and creative and used to have lots of energy, but teaching for harder and harder as students grew more difficult and less motivated, parents more demanding (and writing emails at all hours) and admin kept adding more to our plates every year. Classroom discipline was always my weak spot. If I spent every waking minute on planning, grading, working on the class website, collaborating, corresponding, working on fresh materials, etc., then I felt pretty good about my teaching but also felt exhausted and didn't have energy for my own family. Pay was so low compared to everyone else I knew.

Eventually I tried shifting to what so hoped would be less stressful teaching positions but they were always as stressful and just paid less. After about 25 years of teaching, I was working harder than ever and mail by an absurdly low salary at a small private school. $36,000! And I had a long and stressful commute as well.

There were joys. I have other family members who have done better at striking the right balance and better at classroom management. I don't know what I might have done instead of teaching. I didn't want to tutor. I didn't want most other jobs. Maybe a different kind of teaching like music or environmental ed? Maybe developing educational resources? I don't know... but I am happily retired now!

Anonymous wrote:Would it mean I get to be young again? Sign me up.

Sure, I'd love to redo almost all of my career. I've worked for 8 employers in the four decades (yikes!) since I graduated from college. Four of those employers went out of business and I never really progressed in the others. If I did it all over again, I might figure out how to make $100k, which would be nice.

I'm not sure if I'm bad at picking jobs or just not a very good worker, so things might be worse in a do-over.

Oh gosh me, too - though I wouldn't want to be young again. I'm 50 and I feel like I fought hard to get here. To have to start all over again - please no!

Anonymous wrote:Sometimes, but it's very easy to romanticize other paths not taken. I know plenty of people who followed their passion only to find out it wasn't what they imagined

^ This is what I try to keep in mind. It's easy to imagine this and that - but at the end of the day they're all jobs.

Would it mean I get to be young again? Sign me up.

Sure, I'd love to redo almost all of my career. I've worked for 8 employers in the four decades (yikes!) since I graduated from college. Four of those employers went out of business and I never really progressed in the others. If I did it all over again, I might figure out how to make $100k, which would be nice.

I'm not sure if I'm bad at picking jobs or just not a very good worker, so things might be worse in a do-over.

Anonymous wrote:I was illegal in US for first 12 years. This meant no college, no career. I had a job, but I was reminded daily how lucky I was to have a job.
I worked a 12-hour shift in Adams Morgan serving HH drinks, dinner, and then the place turned into night club. It was brutal and we made $2k max a month working full time. The employer didn't even bother paying the $2.77 an hour. I had SS number and had paid taxes before. Wasn't my choice not to get w2.
Once I got my papers, I invested myself into financial freedom within few years on sub $40k salary.
I wanted freedom from working for someone else not a career.

What do you do now?

I was illegal in US for first 12 years. This meant no college, no career. I had a job, but I was reminded daily how lucky I was to have a job.
I worked a 12-hour shift in Adams Morgan serving HH drinks, dinner, and then the place turned into night club. It was brutal and we made $2k max a month working full time. The employer didn't even bother paying the $2.77 an hour. I had SS number and had paid taxes before. Wasn't my choice not to get w2.
Once I got my papers, I invested myself into financial freedom within few years on sub $40k salary.
I wanted freedom from working for someone else not a career.

Sometimes, but it's very easy to romanticize other paths not taken. I know plenty of people who followed their passion only to find out it wasn't what they imagined

Yes. I went into teaching and left after a few years, have mostly freelanced since. Before that I interned at a bank for three summers and actually mostly liked the routine and quiet of it (I did back office loan processing). I should have switched to that in college, and would have been happier and probably more successful in the long run!

At least you made money. I followed my passion to a low paying gov job when I could have pretty easily been in banking or tech and retired by now.

I hear you. I am almost 50, and have had a successful career in law, but feel unmotivated after a cushy job is ending. Wanting to explore something else. Maybe it is not too late? I think being this age makes you reflective about choices, and what agency you have in your life to clear a new path with the remaining time.

Good luck!

I’m pushing 50 and wish I could get the heck out of corporate but I can’t. I’ve always known I’m not corporate but still tripped and feel into various corporate jobs over the years. I don’t dress corporate, I don’t speak corporate, I don’t get invited to special meetings to discuss special projects. I’m not a great fit but I do the job. When I’m not getting laid off or bullied, I’m successfully employed. Still, I wish I had stuck with my first major. I’d be an OT with my own practice by now rather that faking it in corporate.