cadre

Alright so my story is that I finished my BS in Photography about three years ago. Since then I've owned a few businesses and hopped around within the marketing and sales industry. I even started getting into finance a bit. Maybe I'm just naive or impatient but I never found myself in a position where I was truly happy. Of course the economy has a lot to do with this but after some long nights of contemplating I decided to consider a different career path. I had a few long plane rides that week so I had plenty of time to sit and think. So I made a list of what I really loved about my current job and previous positions and what I want in the future. This is what I came up with:
-developing people and helping them achieve their goals
-solving problems
-having intelligent conversations
-working with a team
-having free time, at least some

So I'll skip over a bit of the story but I have always had an interest in fitness and nutrition so I decided to pursue that as it is a bigger field than some of my other interests. After some research and a lot of talk with my family (quite a few of them are in the health field) I decided that a faculty position where i can do research on nutrition and teach classes would be a good fit for me. Right now I'm getting ready to go back for undergraduate classes because I have no science background. When I have met the requirements to apply to the Masters program I will pursue an interdisciplinary Masters in Nutrition and Public Health. After that I hope to get my PhD in Nutrition and find a faculty position in a respectable school.

Now, I'm not too far along in my career so I guess this won't be too hard for me but I still think I am facing a few challenges. Going back to school will be a big change from the working life and I do not have the funding to be able to focus on school like I should.

Sorry for my essay, I haven't really discussed this with anyone other than my fiancé so it's nice to put it down in words. What I am wondering is if anyone here has made a career change like this? If so how did you do it? Did you have to go back to school and if so how did you adjust to the change? Are you happy you made a change? Did the economy play a role in your decision? Any advice would be great.

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My life is one of those 'you had to be there' jokes.