Did your life turn out how you planned it to?

Hey guys, I've been browsing some of these forums and seeing some of the posts about what jobs people want, what people want to study/ travel to, got me wondering how people's lives ended up? Did you achieve your dreams, working towards them, end up somewhere completely different? Are you happy?

For me the answer is no. I envisioned I'd be successful, slim, a driver and either a successful author/journalist or even a nurse.... I'm absolutely none of those things and I'm oddly okay with that. I have an idea of what I want to do now, I'm hoping to either go into publishing, marketing or archives and I'm now going on to do a masters degree in a few weeks. I'm working slowly towards building the kind of life I want.. I'm learning how to drive and hopefully will have passed my test by next year, and, once my degree is over I'll be moving out of my crappy hometown. To where? Not sure but the world is my oyster :)

Please let me know how your lives turned out or how they are going.

My life didn’t turn out how I thought it would. When I was little I thought I’d would be a actress or a author. But none of that happened. When I got out of High School, I had no idea what to do with my life. So, I got pushed in different directions by my family members. First to College (which I quit) and then to the Military (which I also quit). Now I am trying to work in Childcare after bouncing from trying to go BACK to school and then trying to just work fulltime. I never would have thought I’d be where I am now. If I could go back and show my teenage self or childhood self where I am at 23 years old, I think I would be shocked. I think back then I thought life was pretty easy and that far off fantasies/dreams were accessible. But I’ve learned to live in reality.

not at all and I feel like I am trying to be where I want to be as far as.being an artist a writer all that.

I mean going out of high school art was what I wanted to persue but everyone kept saying basically that will not pay the bills.

I don't think anybody's life turns out how they envision it... maybe that's part of the beauty of it all.

Mine is taking a million turns to get where I'm going. I am mostly happy. It has been a rough road though. I never could have guessed how much sadness and hurt I would have to go through. It makes sense now. Some things must be lost in order to make room for the new. I endured that deep sadness to know true happiness and bliss.

I am 23. I have moved from my hometown, suffered through a bit of high school before I dropped out, lost my dad and granddad in the same year. I have moved back to my hometown. I have had relationships that have changed me, both for better and for worse and ended them. Have lost friends to suicide. I have found my lifelong partner. I have found the great healing that can come with psychedelic drugs and my own self observation and will to learn and heal... I continue to unearth deep trauma within myself and rip it out, deal with it and put it back in and each time I come out better for it. I have become completely comfortable with my sensual self and sexuality. I am taking steps to get where I want to be... which is far out in the rain forest, with my love, my animals... a time where I may decide I am ready to be a mama.

The whole world is changing... it's hard to see where life as a whole will end up. But I am excited and terrified to be on this massive journey at this time. My life is panning out so interestingly. As is life of all of us.

The version of myself that had a vision for my life lived in a different time... this paradigm we have entered now is more complex than what my mind could comprehend all that time ago.

Ooooh but when I was small - maybe 3 or 4 - I did want to be a tattooist. I am doing that now so that bit did end up how I wanted it to...

Not at all, I never had a plan to begin with. Instead I'm living day by day.

I've never really been a planner but I did always have a vague sense of the general direction I was heading, and to my own credit, I've more or less fallen within those guidelines I set for myself.

I've always liked to write and I've always wanted to be a writer--unfortunately having studied it in university, it doesn't have the same attraction it once did, at least as a career. I'm going to graduate school in the fall which I'm SUPER psyched about because it's going to be almost completely paid for, which is a RARITY for people in the U.S. (Americans know what I mean...). I was always thinking I would do grad school later down the road because it's so damn expensive, but I saw an opportunity and I took it. So I'm proud of myself for that one.

The details panned out way differently than I thought, though. I graduated from undergrad and instead of getting into the writing/literature/publishing field, I had a brief stint in insurance, which I hated LOL. I am OK with it, though, because it's just another part of my journey. I learned a lot from being in the corporate work world. And now I'm ready to be a student again, thank you Lawd Jesus!!

In all seriousness I think we should all put less pressure on ourselves to be a certain way and to do a certain thing, for one reason or another. Do what feels right to you. *insert cliche* Everything else will truly fall into place.

BTW, OP--it's been like 8 months but I hope everything is panning out as you'd hoped! For what it's worth--I moved away from my hometown to a place across the country where I knew NO one, and it absolutely was the best decision I've ever made. So idk your situation now but I hope it's all going well for you! And for the other participants in this thread!

@ elixir
Hey there!

Well I finished my masters degree and passed my driving test! Unfortunately still working on the moving out of my hometown bit - It seems the older I get the more complicated it seems.

I haven't completely given up hope though! x