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[umiman]

Have you found your calling in life? What are you doing with yourself?

It's amazing how so many people in this world, who until their deathbed, have no clue what they want in life. That's wrong, I should reiterate. It's amazing how so many people in this world, who until their deathbed, merely change their goals and dreams to whatever suits them at the moment. As a child, they want to get out of school. Out of school, they merely want to graduate college. Graduate college, they merely want to find a job. Find a job, they merely want to be able to afford a house and find a spouse. Marriage and mortgage, they merely want a stable income. Etc. Confusing dreams with short-term goals. Are you one of these people?

Call me a bigot all you want, but I detest such behaviour. It sickens me. There's no purpose to your life. Normalcy and complacency contributes NOTHING to society other than the shifting of capital gain from one hand to another. Yet so many people do this. So many people live life without reason, acting merely on instinct. Why? Until now, I have not met a single person who can give me a confident answer on what they want to do with their life. NOT A ONE. Nobody I know is confident in what he / she will do in the future. It's always a "maybe". Always a "something like...". "I think I'll become a X but if that doesn't work out, I can always go for Y or Z". Maybe my list of friends is pathetic, or maybe I was unlucky to be born in a world of closet-minded simpletons, but this is extremely depressing. Similarly, when people change their majors in university / college after 3 years in that field, it completely blows my mind. I cannot understand such behaviour.

Maybe I'm one of the lucky ones then? One of the people who actually found their calling in life and knows what to do with it? I knew since I was in... what do you guys call it... Jr. High, primary school, that I will be a businessman. Always have had that goal in my heart. You can check my old school "What do you want to be when you grow up" surveys, if you could access them. I've always been a profiteer with scant morals, high risk tolerance, and a penchant for complete devilry. I'm not ashamed of it. I have no doubt that this is what I will be. In fact, this is what I am. I'm already on the road and will never stray so long as I live (I probably will never retire too).

But this leaves me with the problem. I can't understand the feelings, thoughts, or emotions of people who can't decide with what to do with themselves. Why? It's like being an anthropologist on Mars. So, if you find yourself hesitating when you ask yourself, "what do I want to be", please explain to me the emotions and quandries going through your head. Who knows, maybe you'd find your calling while writing out the thoughts in your mind.

[WorkerDrone]

In which I rant without immediately deleting the post after doing so:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

To read.

To write.

Then die.

To print, is to be remembered.

In the past it was to eat, to mate, to live.

Then, it was to gain, to clash, and to be mighty.

From then, it was to be honorable, to fight, and be remembered as whatever title comes in martial context. This one. Fighting for "God and Country" was only maybe slightly more important recently. By recently, I mean in the past two thousand years or so.

Furthermore:

Alas, usually was not to be, unless this person was written about. For the soldier, alone clenching his gun, in his own blood, will scantly be remembered even decades from then. And neither their commanders. Unless they are written about.

In this age, history is made by the writer. It is garnered by the reader. Of which there is an ever increasing amount of in this date in age.

We are a society of people growing ever closer through modern day information exchange, and currently the most prominent exchange of information, has and might always be, until an entirely new platform takes over, text.

Redirecting this towards me,

I desire and always have desired, being a writer. It's a BROAD term, but frankly, I don't care what "career" of writing I take up. I just want to writer. And I can take any number of jobs, a few at the same time.

Of course writing stories and journalism usually place high.

Wanting "to be remembered" is laughable, but it's also the most accessible dream to someone who cares not for many things.

I like entertainment. So...

Why not entertain people with something that makes them think?

[Leafsnail]

Well, I can't decide what to do.  Why?  I do very well in pretty much all my subjects at school.  I'm good at science and maths, but I'm also very good at humanities, and one of the best linguists in the school.  I could probably go into any of these courses next.  Now, while having a "calling" is all well and good, I'd prefer to weigh up the advantages and disadvantages of each option first.  For some people, the question would just be "Who pays the most?", but that's not the be all and end all for me.

And also, well, I don't really need to worry about it yet.  I've already chosen my courses for the next phase of my education, and for now I'd prefer to concentrate on doing well in my GCSE exams.

[Gunner-Chan]

I used to think about this when I was younger, but in the end I found out my real reason for going on, hell the reason I EXIST was always there right in front of me. And I only noticed it recently.

All I want from life, all I want to do, is to make my friends happy. They're honestly all I got and all I really care about. If they all lead full lives, and are happy and without worry, then I have succeeded. Anyone say what you want but I don't need anything complicated, or anything big. Even if we never move out of this kinda cramped house and never fix our money problems, if we are all happy and content anyway That's all I need from life.

[TheNewerMartianEmperor]

I either want to write, to become a novelist, or to become A psychologist.

The workings of the human mind fascinate me, and I want to help people. How better to combind these?

[Zironic]

It seems like you are juxtaposing people who indecisive about life to being simpletons especially since they can't give you a clear life goal when you demand one. Most people are living life with wants and desires but also slowly. Because life is mostly pointless, it is what you make of it. I just feel like you instantly cut these people out of intelligence due to their inability to choose their path for the rest of their lives.

But seriously, Are you feeling okay Umiman? I find your post's message to disturbingly similar to how I feel when I am detached and/or disturbed.

On a lighter note: I want to be a scientist.

[Sean Mirrsen]

Unless you're an oracle or something, you cannot be 100% sure of exactly what you'll end up doing in the world. You can have a plan, but real life is a battlefield, and no plan survives further than that. So far, life has continuously made its ability to overthrow my expectations of "better" or "worse" in unimaginable ways very much apparent. Therefore, by telling that "I will become a scientist", which I would like to do at some point, I will most likely end up lying to you.
You say you have found your calling, your path in life - that you did, but are you sure you will manage it? If you are, why? If, despite your best efforts, the world manages to deny you your path, what will you do with your life? People with short-term goals don't have to answer questions like that. Learning to be content with what you have and casually seeking opportunities to advance in any available direction, while always leaving a path back - this is a way to a reasonably predictable life. You can race up a cliff on determination and win, but if you meet a sufficient hurdle on the way up, you'll plummet down. We normals just look for ledges to settle on.

[Eidalac]

I know what I want to do, but that ship has sailed.

I know what I want out of life, but there is not, currently, anything I can do to make that happen.

I hesitated a few times along the way, and ended up lost for it.

Still, I move along, move along, just to make it through.

I walk a lonely road
The only one that I have ever known
Don't know where it goes
But it's home to me and I walk alone

[Tack]

And then there are those who quote bands in order to fill a meaningless existance.

*whistle*


Anyway, to be the only one to completely and utterly in every way refute your logic.

I don't know what I'm gonna be. And I don't care. I'm too spontaneous to worry about it. I guess I'll just get a job, and then move on from there, depending on what I find interesting. But, Doctor sounds good. I always wanted to be a heart and lung surgeon, ever since I stopped wanting to be a pro surfboarder.

[Eidalac]

And then there are those who quote bands in order to fill a meaningless existance.

For the record, I've been awake for all of 20 minutes. :p

And it's not so much meaningless as ... lost.

[Omegastick]

I look beyond your "long term" goals for what I want to do in life. Your goals aren't actually that long term, what happens if you are struck with an illness? Or if you are simply to old to continue? No, my goal is to fulfill the things I consider most important in order of importance. These are:
 1. Serving God
 2. Being happy
 3. Make others happy.
I can continue to do these until my death, and the first even has an importance outside of this life.

[Strife26]

To fight.

Everything else I do is window dressing for my family.

[Heron TSG]

I'd like to do 3d graphics and animation.

I've got experience with Blender, by the time I graduate high school I'll have most of a math degree, and I'm taking electronics so that I have a job to cover college expenses while I earn my major.

This is my plan, and I've stuck to it since 3rd grade.

[Wiles]

I have no idea where my life is going to take me, but that doesn't bother me in the least. I have absolutely no desire to have a career, I do not want to spend the rest of my life working for someone else's gain. I have no real desire for money or much in the way of material goods, so the motivation to work hard and sacrifice my time to get to the top really isn't there. Honestly, I'd rather spend my time volunteering than working.

I don't put a lot of value in "things". I live cheaply and I'm happy with that. The more "things" I own, the more I feel tied down, and I don't like that feeling. I'm always tempted to give away all my shit and just take off, to carelessly galavant around the world until I'm broke and need to work again. I intend to get the most out of life with the least amount of effort, work will only ever be a means to an end for me. Right now I'm working on my education, but I don't really have much of a passion for it. The knowledge that I am learning doesn't feel very valuable to me. I study English Literature. I feel like the only thing I'm learning is how to write better bullshit. I believe the knowledge I've gained outside of University has been more valuable and applicable to my life.

Some people want to change the world, some people desire power or money. Not me. The less ties and responsibilities I have, the happier I am.

[LegoLord]

I intend to get a major in visual (studio) arts or architecture, and then get work depending on which I do.  With the former, I suppose I could look into getting a job at some company that needs artists, like an entertainment company.  With the latter it may be trickier to find work, but I've known that.  It isn't news to me.  At some point I would like to start my own family, a bit later.

My main goal is to be able to draw, build and design as a career, since that's what I enjoy doing.  Not necessarily doing all of those directly, in the case of architecture.