What would you really like to have done ... ?

I am having a bit of a mid life crisis over this right now :yess:

I went to uni, did a terrible choice of degree (film and theatre) which I hated, left in 1991, filled in a few application forms and ended up at British Rail as a graduate trainee in Marketing. I moved company but stayed in Marketing till 2005 when I resigned as we had yet another change of director and I was sick of trying to impress people and play the political game. This coincided as fate would have it with conceiving my son so I haven't been back in work since! My youngest just started school so I am wondering what the devil to do next! I tried one small admin job but I didn't like the culture so I resigned.

What would I really like to have done? Well I think I would have suited being a dusty academic, doing sort of research. I loved Geography and Biology at school and I wish I had studied those.

Currently I am stuck as I have to be at school gates at 8.55am and 3.30pm and not many jobs really work round those hours unless I fancy admin. :DOH:I am currently keeping an eye on job sites for PT work but not much out there.

I think the hardest thing is my brain feels really under utilized! But I don't feel as a family that I could spend money on a new degree or a change of training. I feel as if it's not too late but I am struggling to even know where to start!!

 

Unfortunately, we can't all follow our dreams. Few little boys say they want to be bin men when they grow up, but unlike many other things I can think of, rubbish collection is essential. On the other hand, I think its important not to do something just because other people think it sounds good. My sister in law was encouraged to go into medicine by her parents (who still manage to get 'our daughter is a consultant, you know' into just about every sentence). Unfortunately she hasn't really enjoyed her career and is about to give it up early in life to do what she always wanted to do: she's going to art school and plans to spend her spare time tending an allotment.

 

I rememer when I was a lad. My mum said to one of my friends "what do you want to do when you grow up?" and my friend replied "i want to be in the SWAT police. But my dad won't let me he wants me to be a brain surgeon" .... he is complete waste of space now!! Failed expectations can be hard for people.

 

Me? Well after 12 years as an Engineer in the Royal Air Force and 34 Years as a water treatment process engineer. I think I sometimes regret coming away from the aviation world. Who knows where I could be now?

 

I wanted to go to university to study archeology and art, but wasn`t allowed to. At the age of 12 I passed the exam for entry into art college once I`d turned 16, again, I wasn`t allowed to do so.:(:(

 

:( That's a real shame, Dai. But they're the sort of interests you could take up later in life. Reading University is excavating Roman Silchester at the moment and you can apply to take part in their summer digs. Although that might be a bit of a busman's holiday for a gardener.

The Silchester Field School | Silchester Insula IX

 

When I was 17 I wanted a big house with a big garden and 6 kids!!!!
didn't get either!!!

Val

 

:D I wanted a big house and garden too! (Although I never wanted six kids.) Where did we go wrong?

 

I had no formal art training, just an 'O' level and then 6 months of architectural draughting which has been useful as we always seem to buy ruins and renovate. :DOH: I did do some part-time draughting for NASA in the late 60s working on chassis assemblies and wring harnesses and such like for the rockets. .. my name is on quite a few blueprints.

I only took art up in December 2006 after I joined GC and we all wondered what we were going to do in the winter. I now display my art in various places here and sell occasionally in the UK, the States and here. Doesn't make me rich .. but makes me satisfied and happy. :yess:

 

Well, ...........................how much time have you got?????

Val

 

:D Think I've missed the boat on this one. Although my Mum tells me that a lady who lives near her and who is well into pensionable age has done rather well for herself by choosing very elderly 'boyfriends'. The last one was eighty-five. He used to carry all her baggage and run errands for her, with the result that he keeled over within the year. He had no kids so she's copped the lot. She's now replaced him ... with an eighty-seven year old.

Actually, I wouldn't swap OH. And he's very clever. He might yet end up doing rather well.

 

When I left school at 16 with my handful of O levels, my family tried to push me in the direction of an office job, so that I could work my way up the greasy pole and become 'successful'.
My instincts said this was not for me, that I was a creature of the outdoors, not one to be cooped up under artificial lights all day, but hey, what did I know?
A number of unsuccessful interviews followed in various offices until my uncle, who could see that I was getting nowhere, heard of a job as a horticultural apprentice and said "Why don't you give this a try?"
Thus began a lifelong career in horticulture which has spanned the past 35 years and counting.
A 3 year apprenticeship in glasshouse growing and propagation was followed by redundancy at the age of 21 as the glasshouse industry went through tough times in the early 80s.
I knew though, that I had found my niche and soon got another job as a groundsman/gardener for a local authority. After 5 years, promotion to area foreman followed, 3 years later came further promotion to Assistant Area Manager and two years after that, Area Manager.
I had become 'successful'.
I spent the next 12 years as an Area Manager; it nearly drove me mad.
Then one day during my annual 'performance review' I simply said, "I'm not doing this any more" and asked to be 'downgraded' so that I could go back to actually doing what I liked best, being a hands on gardener.
A few years back working at grass roots level as a chargehand groundsman enabled me to regain my sanity, until I saw a small advert in the local press for a full-time gardener on a large private estate.
So, I applied, and got the job of my dreams!
I now spend my working days in a beautiful garden, with woodlands, streams and paddocks surrounded by gently rolling countryside on the edge of 'Constable Country'. There is no hassle or pressure, we are simply there to keep the place looking beautiful.
Conclusion: find out what you enjoy doing, what you are good at and do it.
What would I really like to have done?
I'm doing it!

 

I should have added that I also wanted some dogs, so I can't complain, I got the dogs!!!

Val