When did you finally figure out what you wanted to do with “The Rest of Your Life?”
AKA Am I a slow learner, or what?
I am a late bloomer too. I graduated from Cornell in 1993, and pretty much dicked around for 5 years. Decided to get my MA in English, out of lack of any better idea. I took a class with the prof who was head of the Teaching Secondary English department, and figured, what the hell? I knew I’d get into the program, and at 26, it was time to make a move. Thus, mostly by accident, I became a teacher. I got my first job at 28, and I’m sure that now, finally, I know what I’m going to Be When I Grow Up.
So I’ve got the career part figured out. The rest of my life remains up in the air…
Honestly I really haven’t reached a point where I have a career plan set for my life. I thought I did at one time but life sort of intervended then and forced me to take some time off school. Haven’t been able to get back and it might be sometime before I do. Mostly I’ve been going about the business of living and making he most I can of the life I have. At some point I probably will find some more focused vocation but until then I do what I need to to make ends meet and focus on my life outside of work.
I’m 22, uneducated, unemployed and have NO idea as to what the hell I want to or even *can * do.
I’m 16, going to college in a year and a half, and have a pretty good idea what I want to do career-wise (statistics / finance). Of course, I could wake up sometime and figure out that I’m really into platypi zoology or something, but I doubt it. Once the college applications process is over, I should have a pretty good map of activities for the next few years, which I don’t expect to eschew, only deviate minorly from (if that).
I have no idea what I want to do when I grow up. I keep trying to figure it out, but I can’t seem to find a job that will pay me for what I like doing. But then, I am only 41, so I have a little while before it becomes important. 
I was 16. Then again, I am only 6 years past that date now, so perhaps what I want will change yet.
I’ll give you my answer tomorrow.
I was into cars since I was about 7 years old, and that pretty much decided what I was going to do with the rest of my life. And until about a year ago, my plans had worked out rather on schedule (post-grad degree and a job in south Germany, my auto-Mecca).
And then a series of circumstances changed all that… I dicked around for about a year, and now I’m working in a construction firm. And loving it. Will I be doing this for the rest of my life? I dunno - I’ll take it as it comes.
In a nutshell: Have a plan. Or don’t have a plan. Work hard, recognise the opportunities that come your way (and they will), save money (very important), and your life will work out.
Years ago I worked for a nursing agency. One night I got called to do “private duty.” The patient was the founder of a major freight service. He was in his late 80s and had had surgery. I cared for him on the night shift.
He was awake much of the night. He just wanted to chat.
He began praising my “altruistic nature” Making me a little uncomfortable. So I said, “Oh well, I’m just doing this until I decide what I want to be when I grow up.”
His response was: " Yeah, me too."
He was older than dirt and richer than God, but still wasn’t sure he hadn’t missed something important along the way.
I had been out of college for seven years before I realized I wanted to be a science fiction writer.
It was another few years after that that I realized my vocation would be to work with PCs (to be fair, when I was in college, the PC was ten years in the future). I had been out of college for 22 years when I finally got a job in I&TS.
I’m 51 and I’ll get in touch as soon as I know.
I am still not sure what I want to do with my life.
I had my first child when I was 17, I had my last one when I was 22. When my youngest is 18, I will only be 40. I figure I have another 14 years to figure out what * I * want to do with my life. Right now, I want to make sure my kids are safe, healthy and happy.
I’m 33, and don’t know. Going by don’t ask’s post, in 18 more years, I still won’t know.
So, Purplkid, enjoy the hand you’re dealt and play it with as much fun and as wisely as you can.
I’m 28, and my plan is to do something I like that will give me enough money to do what I want. I don’t really want to have a career. For me, having a career, particularly for women, is often synonymous with not having time for anything else but work. I know that’s probably not an accurate definition, but my family, my fiance and my friends are much more important to me than I think any job ever could be. So, like I said, I’d like to have a job that gives me enough money that I can do what I want, which is hanging out with my friends, family and fiance (and hopefully kids in the next 2-3 years) as much as possible.
I’m just about 24, and I’ve got very little clue. (Although my parents are real big on the question!)
I’ll be 39 this weekend, and I still haven’t made my mind up - astronaut or fairy princess … 
32 year old checking in here. If by “what I want to do” you mean jobs, then I can’t say I will ever know that. I am on my 22nd job–that’s right, 22. I started at 16 and most were the part-time school jobs. Since I finished school and moved back to the US, I have had 4 ‘grown up’ jobs. They have all had their good points and their bad points, but none of them screamed out to me that this was what I wanted to do forever. I figure in a few years I’ll have a couple of kids, see if I can switch my current job to part-time and maybe the kids will be ‘what I want to do’ for the rest of my life.
But if I really had my choice I would move to Italy and write travel books. And since that is pretty much never going to happen (and it’s ok that it won’t), I have no problem with switching jobs every few years and get a variety of experiences without caring too much about office politics, how to get ahead, etc. I am just not career-driven. What I ‘want to do with my life’ is spend time with my husband, dogs and friends, travel a bit, and mostly be happy. And play for the Yankees. 
I’ll figure it out tomorrow.
I’ll repeat what others have said; I’m 35 and I still don’t know.
As Jethro Bodine once said: “I’m gonna be a brain surgeon(!),…or a soda jerk.”