How do you see yourself?

[DorkVader]

@CCitizen

Thank you for sharing. My parents wanted me to be in STEM which I mostly hate with passion. And even though I have been pressured into getting a PhD in Math, I have very little income and I have not achieved anything.

I can empathize a little, my friend.
But that being said, as I understand it, you and I come from very different backgrounds, abilities, and choices available both perceived and actual.

I achieved my childhood goals unconsciously, I was only trying to keep me and my family from starving, mostly. I’d pick the interesting looking jobs when I could and do stuff I wanted to when I could also.

as others have said, if you want to be a write, then why not write? Many are the threads I’ve seen here on the Dope asking for critical evaluation(we all know how critical people on the boards here can be;)), help with research and details, opinions and the like by people writing stories.

So, you are a Russian Jew Immigrant to the United States (now a citizen) aaaaannd you can’t write the Great American Novel why? Sounds like the exactly perfect background for writing said novel to me my friend. I do admit some bias though as one branch of my family tree came from Russia.

Anyway, why not try it as a hobby. And if you write something you think is good or people tell you they think is good, it seems, but I don’t know this factually, that self publication seems to be a very popular thing these days.

[spamforbrains]

My dog loves me. Sometimes I manage to complete my daily to-do list. I haven’t killed anyone, at least as far as I know. Good enough for me.

[HoneyBadgerDC]

I tend to think of myself as raw materials as oppose to a refined product. I feel ok about myself as far as the raw materials I was given. I was probably close to 50 years old before I started stepping outside my comfort zone socially and attempting to mix with the kind of people I found interesting. I get slapped down on a regular basis but have enough successes to keep me in the game.

[Nava]

@QuickSilver

So the bathroom scale lies?..

The bathroom scale measures weight, not value (and no, not mass either).

[kayaker]

@Nava

The bathroom scale measures weight, not value (and no, not mass either).

. . . some settling may occur.

[Emiliana]

@CCitizen

I mean I am more closely related to Franz Kafka then to any American writer.

He turned great anguish and desperation into great art.

Well, there you go, you’re already half-way there.

[Omar_Little]

@CCitizen

You can only see the outer part of your body – not your soul.

I can.

[RealityChuck]

In some senses, I have achieved my ideal – I’ve become exactly what I wanted to be when I grew up. But I also need to achieve much more in the field.

[msmith537]

Sure, I have a beautiful wife, a wonderful son, a bunch of friends, a great high paying job in Manhattan, a car, a waterfront condo, additional rental properties and a vacation home in the Hamptons. But I’d trade it all for a little more.

[GargoyleWB]

@Trinopus

I have achieved my ideal…sort of… I’ve proven myself in both my profession and my avocation. I’ve got a lot of good friends and a happy social life. I can write a story, a poem, and a song; I can draw a picture of, say, a bear, and people don’t say, “Um, is that, like supposed to be a horse?”

If I die tomorrow, I don’t have any signal regrets.

I’m pretty much the same. I’ve had the opportunity to do and learn more than I expected to, racked up more than my fair share of both successes and disasters. So dying at 50 years old, while unfortunate, wouldn’t be a personal regret. I haven’t achieved a final ideal by any stretch of measurement, but the rest of my life I can view as just as an opportunity for more instead of a make-or-break pursuit.

[CCitizen]

@guestchaz

as others have said, if you want to be a write, then why not write? Many are the threads I’ve seen here on the Dope asking for critical evaluation(we all know how critical people on the boards here can be;)), help with research and details, opinions and the like by people writing stories.

Thanks. Next week I am starting to write my third book. I have written my first two books.

[Penfeather]

@CCitizen

Thanks. Next week I am starting to write my third book. I have written my first two books.

Have you considered interpretive dance?

[pullin]

@msmith537

Sure, I have a beautiful wife, a wonderful son, a bunch of friends, a great high paying job in Manhattan, a car, a waterfront condo, additional rental properties and a vacation home in the Hamptons. But I’d trade it all for a little more.

This. The sixties taught me I should renounce all material possessions. But I decided I should acquire as many as possible first.