Quote:
Originally posted by carnation
However, when you hit 30 or so, you are not going to be thinking about the warm fuzzies you might get from reforming a criminal or digging up ruins. You will be thinking about how you can get money to pay for your child's braces or how you feel too old to be digging in the sun or how dangerous working in a jail is.
Did anyone else notice that the older people on GC are the ones who have brought this up? We're not trying to rain on anyone's parade but when you're our age, folks, you want to stop others from making the same dumb mistakes that you or your friends made. Dream! Plan! But be practical too.
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LOL! I have to respectfully disagree. I am 31 (heh, somewhat older), and I am planning a pretty radical career change because I want to work with criminals and change the world, realizing that I won't make much money doing it. I *am* on fire with the desire to do something good for the world, and I have found that as I get older, that desire grows even stronger. I have a friend who, when he was in his 30s, while married with children, left his high paying commercial real estate job to become a teacher and then a social worker. He is now in his 40s, has an MSW and is counseling people with mental illness and substance abuse problems. He has never been happier, but wishes he hadn't wasted his youth doing something that he hated.
As a side note, I don't think that someone with an advanced degree in psychology is going to be in the poor house. I can't imagine that whatever career you would have with that degree would not provide you with a decent, stable financial life. If you end up married with kids, hopefully your husband would also have a decent, stable job, and together with your decent, stable job, you would have all that you need. You don't need tons of money to have a good, secure life.
DO NOT do something that you hate just to make money. I can't stress that enough. I can't tell you how many attorneys I know who are MISERABLE in their jobs that they took because they pay a lot of money. It's better to have some money and a lot of happiness than a lot of money and some or little happiness.