GSRIDER

Hello... my name is GSRIDER

So here I am, sitting in my cube. I've been a graphic designer for roughly 10 years. Laying out magazines and newspapers. Designing ads and doing promo work for people. It's a cush job. Music, internet, social, food, conversation.... so why do I want to throw it away.

After much deliberation I have decided to go back to school eeer actually go to school would be more apt... I have no college under my belt as is.. I'm just good with computers and have a good eye.

And the career I am going in for is so far away from what I do now that I think I may have lost my mind.

I'm trading in my cube to work on peoples furnaces and air conditioners. To get out from the mundane cirle of cube life and sweat and eat dirt.

This is partly money driven. With everybody and their mothers owning computers and quick design programs the value of my job has decreased. And since my job is highly driven by ad sales and ad sales being down cause everybody is broke, it always feels like I could get canned anyday and join the legion of other un employeed arteests.

But thats just one change.

I have always lived in the city. I live in the city now.. a cool part of town. 100 year old house with tons of charecter. So what do I do. I'm moving out to the country. I want an acre of land minimum. I realized awhile back that I'm not very social.. I don't go out unless my band is playing so why do I live in the entertainment hub of my city?

This isn't a midlife crisis either. I just want and need change.

Has anybody else made huge unexpected changes in their life. No regrets.

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Charlatan

My name is Charlatan...

For the past seven years I have been working my way up to the top of a mid-sized film and television distribution company. I am head of sales.

I'm not exactly sure how I ended up in sales but one day I realized that I was head of... I don't hate my job but I don't like it either.

It pays well but it isn't all about money.

I have decided to make a change and have begun to interview for other positions. Two of the jobs are in London, England.

If I get the job I will be moving my family to London, England (not Ontario)

...fingers crossed...stomach flipping...

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"My hands are on fire. Hands are on fire. Ain't got no more time for all you charlatans and liars."
- Old Man Luedecke

lurkette

I'm contemplating some fairly large changes these days - changing fields to something more artistic but even LESS lucrative than non-profit research administration; going a completely opposite direction and getting into communications research and PR; moving back to MN.

But I haven't yet mustered up the courage to really commit to any of these things, and I admire those of you who have. Life is too damned short to not live it on your own terms.

Damn, I need to crawl out of my own head and get to business. What am I wasting time for? I used to be full of big ideas and I'd tackle them with abandon, and they all turned out okay.

Sorry for the navel-gazing.

GSRIDER, the closest I've come to an unexpected life change is all of those "big ideas" I talked about - getting a dog, throwing a family reunion of sorts, remodeling the house. Things that I really wanted but that don't seem like such a safe idea but the hell with that, I did them anyhow and they all turned out fine. Wonderful even. Don't second-guess yourself into staying safe and bored shitless.

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- Anatole France

jimk

i'm 5 months into no booze/drugs after 23 years of alot of both.

i never had any idea how much of my time was devoted to thinking about, getting, ingesting, experiencing, and recovering from my substance of choice at any given time. i have free time in my ass right now. getting so much done around the house i can't believe it!

i know the more common answer to this equation is moderation in everything. i can't do it. my motto was, "no sense half doing it." to the wall with everything.

if anyone has any question/fear about their consumption habits, give a couple months of complete abstinence a shot. i hope to never go back.

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Rodney

I don't think any huge life change is really unexpected. The discontent with things as they are can lurk under the surface for years, festering and bloating and building, but held down by personal inertia and by you thinking you have to fulfill the expectations of others, and money. Until one day this discontent gets so big that it breaks through the surface into plain view and you realize you can't go on that way anymore, and everybody says "Wow, what a shock."

I had a good paying career in high tech for a number of years, but got disenchanted with it. At first I felt like the work as I was doing was worthwhile, and it was, but after a while most of the good got sucked away and the high tech corporate environment grew more toxic.

When I got laid off last year (I had plans to quit in six months anyway), the job market for my specialty sucked. I talked to a career counselor who said that I might get back in the game if I a) groveled and b) pretended to be a different person than I actually was. For a job I no longer liked? Screw that. So I started looking at different careers and took a part-time teacher aide job to see if I'd like it. Well I loved it, and now I'm enrolled in a credential program which is going to work my ass to death and get me an MA and a teaching credential by this time next year.

Unexpected? The teaching part, yes. I never worked with kids before. But I knew I couldn't go on the way I was, and so did my wife. The only surprise lay in the direction I chose.

cetacean

Might I suggest conservation biology for a career change... There will always be new things to discover and study, and it is very fulfilling...

skysooner

Jimk,

My mother had a drinking problem for years. If it felt good, she was addicted to it (sex, X, etc.). The major problem for her was her marriage to my dad who was a bit of a control freak. She ended up getting stopped for drunk driving in 1986. My dad divorced her (best thing that ever happened to her), and she has been sober for 17 years now. She went back to school and got her Master's in Psychology and now helps people with their addictive behavior.

As for me, I'm lucky that I found the career I wanted right out of the gate. I may have to decide on whether I want management soon or not, but I genuinely like what I do.

MacGnG

HI, i'm Adam.
im going into my sophmore year of college, in less than a month.

when you are little, you have no responsability.
when you are a teen, you want responsiblity
when you are becoming an adult it feels like there are too many responsibilities
when you are an adult.....
(not there yet but soon to find out)

Othello

Replace my name with GSRIDER and the post would have described my life right now. I'm currently working in an IT / Administrative type of job and I have come to the conclusion that corporate life is not for me. I am very good at what I do, but I have lost all interest in doing it any longer. The instability of the corporate world is a big influence on my decision aswell, I'm going to make another attempt at the career I have wanted all my life, Police Officer.

With a career in "the force", there will be no lay-offs, my department will not be moved to another country to save costs, I can work overtime and get paid for it. I think it will be a rewarding experience both economically and personally.

anti fishstick

i want to be a graphic designer. i'm going to school for it. and i'm freaking out that there wont be much demand once i graduate bcos economy, although my friend assures me it'll pick up by then. and because... who wants world of print when there's an even bigger money pot in the world of computer graphics/game art. sigh. i just don't know.

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And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.
~Anais Nin

i8one2

Quick drinking/drugs 9 years ago.
Stayed at the same job so far for 5-6 years for stability and simplicity.
Completely changed careers fields
Adopted an alternative lifestyle

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GSRIDER

Until you can wipe your ass without the laptop falling off your legs there will always be a demand for print.

but the market is bitch right now... depending on where you live.

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peeplwatcher

I too am not happy with my job as a draftsman. Day by day, my life is becoming more and more like the movie "Office Space"(The movie is soo much funnier when you can relate). I don't know what I want to do, but my job needs to end NOW. But with times like these, beggers can't be choosers, I guess. We'll see, I'm actually looking into building furniture. Screw office work!

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irseg

Yep! I got sick of living in the crappy town where I grew up, so I packed everything I could fit into my car and moved 1200 miles away. Best decision I ever made. I had a job lined up before I moved but I just winged everything else, it was a lot of fun. Sometimes you just have to take a risk and shake things up a bit, it usually works out for the best.

Splice

I'm thinking of taking up a job teaching in Japan. This would mean leaving my home in Texas and moving to the other side of the planet. I have always wanted to do things that were different, exciting. I was actually offered a job overseas a few months back, but I turned it down. I guess I just wasn't ready to leave. But you know what, I just can't ignore that voice deep within that cries out for adventure and excitement. The question I keep asking myself is this:

If I were to die tomorrow, would I have any regrets of the life I had so far?

And if the answer is yes, then I must listen to and follow that voice deep in my heart. So far the answer has been yes, I would have lots of regrets. I want to get to the point of very little regrets (because no regrets would be impossible, we all screw up). Hope that helps.