buzhidao, did you know what job you wanted seven years ago and work toward it or did things just fall into place?
No, I didn't know. My options were limited because I knew how to do nigh fuck-all.
As for things falling into place, well, I had to do something about it eventually. If I'd just kept on doing what I was doing I would have kept bobbling around between the same minimum-wage long-hour jobs looking for slightly better conditions at different locations. So after some years of doing that I got fed up and thought JUST LEARN TO DO SOMETHING ANYTHING GUH and enrolled in a online program so that I could still work...and this degree is related to the work I've been doing, so I have kind of a foundation. And the work I *was* doing resulted in a recommendation to my current workplace, and I don't know if they would have hired me otherwise. So it's all connected, but I did have to push myself somewhere, or I would have stayed in the old field...
Anyway. No, I didn't know what I was doing, and I didn't start working towards a specific career until a couple of years ago when I decided that the only thing worse than Choosing a Thing that was possibly the wrong choice was to just keep floating. I do think I got lucky with my workplace, though, and that's a major factor. So. Everyone's everything is different.
I fell into cooking because it was easy to get work and I was single and had nothing to worry about. Now I need spare time to write and the missus and I are at the age we gotta talk about kids. I have very little money and I'm not a citizen in this country so I can't start a business, and folks here already speak English, but I do have a(n arts) degree, for what it's worth.
Obviously office work offers comfortable hours, but I'm worried sitting still staring at a screen all day only to come home and do the same and write would be counterproductive for someone used to being active. But I'd like to hear from anyone with actual experience.
I've never had an office job, but as far as that sort of thing, you never know until you try, IMO. I did manual labor and found it mind-numbing a lot of the time; I had to listen to lectures on my iPod to remain engaged with the world and not let my head fog over. Other people find manual labor clears the mind. So, different strokes, that kind of thing.
I have a gut feeling this is one of those important times where I could choose well and really get myself together or choose badly and be resurrecting this thread every six months.
Well, totally, but I don't know that you can tell unless you experience it directly, know what I mean? That was sort of how I found out which jobs were not for me and why, which helped to narrow down what I was looking for.
'Course, it also ate up a lot of time...
But my experience is just mine. Experiences run a big fat gamut where work is concerned, I think.