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host · 01-01-2007, 09:05 PM

ziadel, the advice Wilerson gave you IMO, is just as relevant if you decide to explore other options besides college.

I read your general entries and a few of your posts in an attempt to get some sense of who you are before I post any advice, if that is even what you are asking for. I searched your username with "travel", "city", "military", and "enlist" to attempt to find if you've included those words in your past posts.

I've got nearly 30 years on you....and by the way....the preoccupation with death, in my experience, faded to indifference, with the years....life becomes habit forming, I guess.

If I woke up tomorrow and I was 25 again, I wouldn't go near a college classroom unless I had a clear goal that made spending time in one, a prerequisite. If you set your sights on becoming an inhalation therapist, an architect, a brain surgeon, or a nurse-anesthetist, then....by all means...enroll in a college program.

I'm assuming that you don't have the responsibilities that come with a wife and children, if you do, you know that you don't have the "luxury" of going to college to find yourself. If you are unattached, IMO, there are better ways.

If you haven't spent much time outside of Montana, use your current job to raise funds for travel, or for a startup business. You could put the same attention that you would put towards becoming determined to pursue a vague program of college study, or a specific program....toward coming up with an idea for a business and then try to get it going.

If you decide to travel out of Montana....spend sometime in a place where people your own age, go to pursue an opportunity of a lifetime....Manhattan or LA are probably the best risk vs. reward destinations. If you need the security, financial or emotional, try finding employment in one of those places before you make your move.

Above all...L-I-V-E !!!! Pursue the feeling of sky diving, every ordinary day.
The memories that I revisit most are of things that I did before I was 30 and became a husband and a parent.....that cross country trip, the time that I spent in Europe....

My best job memories are when I liked what I was doing at work so much, that I resented the interruptions of weekends and holidays. The 16 years that I spent working for corporations in the kind of jobs that a general arts and sciences, BA or BS degree will qualify you for, are among the least memorable, most stagnating periods in my life.

I've been a business owner with employees, and it's rewarding and fulfilling, but it is lonely at the "top". I found that I had too much at stake to fraternize with people who worked for me, and the business had to come first. There is a lot that you can't share when you have the pressure and responsibility of running a business, but it beats, hands down, working for a corporation in an "office".

You seem to have a flare for writing.....do more of it. You will always find your "day job" more tolerable if you have something that excites you, that you can build on, going on, on the side. You can go to college, anytime. Events and your own POV have kept you from doing it so far, do all of the things that being unattached allow you to do now....and you won't be giving anything up when the time comes to make commitments that will make travel or quick job and lifestyle changes more difficult.

You probably won't be doing much soul searching 30 years from now, if you postpone college, or don't go at all. You will probably focus your soul searching on wondering why you didn't see more of the world and try to find what you were truly meant to be doing, when you had the opportunity to do so. The influences and experience that can be shared by getting to know women in other places, cannot be underestimated. If you decide to try travel or life in some other locale, I suggest that you make some contacts using a site/service like match.com before you get there.

01-01-2007, 09:05 PM	#3 (permalink)
host Banned	ziadel, the advice Wilerson gave you IMO, is just as relevant if you decide to explore other options besides college. I read your general entries and a few of your posts in an attempt to get some sense of who you are before I post any advice, if that is even what you are asking for. I searched your username with "travel", "city", "military", and "enlist" to attempt to find if you've included those words in your past posts. I've got nearly 30 years on you....and by the way....the preoccupation with death, in my experience, faded to indifference, with the years....life becomes habit forming, I guess. If I woke up tomorrow and I was 25 again, I wouldn't go near a college classroom unless I had a clear goal that made spending time in one, a prerequisite. If you set your sights on becoming an inhalation therapist, an architect, a brain surgeon, or a nurse-anesthetist, then....by all means...enroll in a college program. I'm assuming that you don't have the responsibilities that come with a wife and children, if you do, you know that you don't have the "luxury" of going to college to find yourself. If you are unattached, IMO, there are better ways. If you haven't spent much time outside of Montana, use your current job to raise funds for travel, or for a startup business. You could put the same attention that you would put towards becoming determined to pursue a vague program of college study, or a specific program....toward coming up with an idea for a business and then try to get it going. If you decide to travel out of Montana....spend sometime in a place where people your own age, go to pursue an opportunity of a lifetime....Manhattan or LA are probably the best risk vs. reward destinations. If you need the security, financial or emotional, try finding employment in one of those places before you make your move. Above all...L-I-V-E !!!! Pursue the feeling of sky diving, every ordinary day. The memories that I revisit most are of things that I did before I was 30 and became a husband and a parent.....that cross country trip, the time that I spent in Europe.... My best job memories are when I liked what I was doing at work so much, that I resented the interruptions of weekends and holidays. The 16 years that I spent working for corporations in the kind of jobs that a general arts and sciences, BA or BS degree will qualify you for, are among the least memorable, most stagnating periods in my life. I've been a business owner with employees, and it's rewarding and fulfilling, but it is lonely at the "top". I found that I had too much at stake to fraternize with people who worked for me, and the business had to come first. There is a lot that you can't share when you have the pressure and responsibility of running a business, but it beats, hands down, working for a corporation in an "office". You seem to have a flare for writing.....do more of it. You will always find your "day job" more tolerable if you have something that excites you, that you can build on, going on, on the side. You can go to college, anytime. Events and your own POV have kept you from doing it so far, do all of the things that being unattached allow you to do now....and you won't be giving anything up when the time comes to make commitments that will make travel or quick job and lifestyle changes more difficult. You probably won't be doing much soul searching 30 years from now, if you postpone college, or don't go at all. You will probably focus your soul searching on wondering why you didn't see more of the world and try to find what you were truly meant to be doing, when you had the opportunity to do so. The influences and experience that can be shared by getting to know women in other places, cannot be underestimated. If you decide to try travel or life in some other locale, I suggest that you make some contacts using a site/service like match.com before you get there.