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Red Bull Agressive
Posts: 5981
   
Location: North Dakota | I apologize if this gets lengthy, but I just really need to get this out. When I was in high school, I thought I had life figured out. I wanted to own a tack store. HS in general was really easy for me (except math). I had a blast in my business classes getting to make business plans and such. I even took 2 years of accounting (which I absolutely HATED). So I started college and my motivation was completely gone. I dreaded going to class. My grades fell and I just didn't enjoy any of it. I took more accounting, advertising, marketing, etc. and just detested it all. Plus a tack store is just not a smart business anymore with the internet and all the big stores. And this is where I'm lost.
I'm 21 and have my horse and I know I can't live off of whatever job I get without some sort of education, but I just honestly don't know what to do. My only passion in life is horses. I do like makeup (what girl doesnt!?) but especially like learning new techniques and teaching others how to properly apply it and care for their skin. Everything else I just couldn't care less about. The only thing motivating me at all is money to afford my horses. Like I said before, I H A T E accounting or any sort of math/science heavy subjects. I mean, I like blowing stuff up in science class but WHY they blow up matters not to me. I also could never be a teacher because I just don't like other peoples' kids.
I loved History, Government, Econ, all that stuff. I recieved over 110% in some of those classes by going above and beyond everyone else. I also did ok in English and Speech. I took Honors English and AP Literature. Writing a good paper or speech on a topic I care about is still a rush.
I have a community college as well as a well respected Catholic University in town here so picking a college is no problem, I just can't afford to get into thousands of dollars of debt for courses that won't lead to anything. I have no direction and I just don't know what to do. Any words of advice or encouragement would be greatly appreciated.
ETA- Fun fact: The last time I took a career test issued by a school my number 1 result was TAXIDERMIST.  One of my top fears is taxidermied animals dressed or posed like people. I do not want to be a taxidermist.
Edited by cavyrunsbarrels 2015-03-16 12:55 AM
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 Shelter Dog Lover
Posts: 10277
| Most young adults don't know what they want to do. My oldest took an economics class and fell in love with it. I told her she was lucky, most don't have a clear path at such a young age. My youngest, our son, was on the path you are. We sent him to do in depth apptitude testing. They discussed his strengths and what careers he would be good at. He found environmental hygiene was his career and is now motivated and doing great in college and making good grades (even in all the boring classes too). That said, college is not the only path to success, there are great trades that provide a great living. You may not find your dream job now, but you can decide to be happy with what career you do find. As my husband tells all our kids, if you want to stand out you have to outwork everyone, be the first to get there and the last to leave. You will start to advance in your job which will lead to other opportunities. Good luck. |
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 Expert
Posts: 1718
Location: Southeast Louisiana | Choose a career that pays well and will support your horse hobby.
Don't go into a lot of debt for school. If you just have to get a degree now, without knowing what you really want to do, go for an associate's degree or a general studies degree while you decide.
Have you considered the military? Air Force or Navy will train you in something technical and pay for your education. Plus, many employers like to see military service. |
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Hungarian Midget Woman
Location: Midwest | Learn a trade. They pay well, have good hours, and they are always looking for women.
For most people, jobs are a living, not a passion. |
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I'm Over It!!
Posts: 2830
| Journalism |
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  Warmblood with Wings
Posts: 27846
Location: Florida.. | barrelracr131 - 2015-03-16 9:29 AM Learn a trade. They pay well, have good hours, and they are always looking for women.
For most people, jobs are a living, not a passion.
I agree.. at your age to its normal to feel the way you do.. There are alot of trade schools that you can do very well in and have a career or self employed career..the medical career colleges are a super choice as well.. |
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 Can You Hear Me Now?
Location: When you hit the middle of nowhere .. Keep driving | Bibliafarm - 2015-03-16 8:58 AM
barrelracr131 - 2015-03-16 9:29 AM Learn a trade. They pay well, have good hours, and they are always looking for women.
For most people, jobs are a living, not a passion.
I agree.. at your age to its normal to feel the way you do.. There are alot of trade schools that you can do very well in and have a career or self employed career..the medical career colleges are a super choice as well..
Or an apprenticeship. My boyfriend is a plumber and my brothers a mechanic; and both worked full time jobs with good pay while they learned. They only sat in school for 2 months out of the year (I was so jealous of that when I studied for hours), came out ahead with cars, everything paid for and money in the bank.
I tried to find an electrician apprenticeship for a while however, I have a very old school location and the majority of people felt it was a mans job. I am taking accounting in the fall to go with my marketing and management degrees. If I moved I would likely try again, larger cities are more unbiased. |
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 Party Girl
Posts: 12293
Location: Buffalo, Wyoming | I am 30 and still do not know what I want to be when I grow up. I love my job now and have room to move up but we may be moving soon, which really sucks.
I have not gone to college, yet! A lady I work with gave me some advice awhile back that she gave all of her kids (she has 7). She said "if you don't know what you want to go to school for at least get some kind of business degree." This probably won't apply to everyone but I am pretty sure that is what I am going to do once we figure out where we are going to land. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 1117
Location: MI | What about something like Human Resources? Someone else mentioned Journalism.. public relations is another possibility.. Marketing (although I dont know how much accounting that may entail)..
I highly recommend a couple things:
1. job shadowing. If you start to get an incling of something you'd like to do- contact someone who does that in your area and ask if you can spend a day with them. Ask what they like/dislike about their job.
2. Similarly, visit the community college/university, meet with an Admissions counselor or a rep from one of the departments you are possibly interested in .. sit in on a class (you can do that)- that will also help you get a sense for what direction you want to go..
3. I second learning a trade.. i worked as a seasonal for our City's water department- very interesting work, well paid, mostly outside, etc. My fiance is a pipe fitter welder, went through an apprenticeship program- I know there were a couple women in his program.. similar ones are HVAC, heating/cooling, etc.
Best of luck- I know it's scary, but you'll find your niche :)
Edited by KDS 2015-03-16 9:15 AM
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 Chicken Chick
Posts: 3562
Location: Texas | My little sister is SO SO smart, she went through the same thing. She did great in college, she just couldn't figure out what she wanted to do. She ended up going for 4 years and switched her major so many times she really had nothing to show for it except a lot of classes under her belt. She ended up quiting college and about 9 months later she decided she wanted to be a masseuse. Honestly we figured she would get bored with that also, but she didn't. She takes her state test any day and she is more excited about it now then she was the day she started school. You can just tell when she talks about it that she loves it. You can literally see her trying to hold back when she is around trying to refrain from trying her latest technique on you lol. She is crazy but we love her.
My point is, if you asked her before hand she would have told you she wanted to be something else over being a masseuse. I'm not saying drop out of school and wait for something to happen lol. I'm saying don't limit yourself on what you would want to do. You may like it more then you think. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1117
Location: MI | Another random thought- maybe browse job ads and just see if anything jumps out at you. A great job listing website is www.indeed.com
I belive you can put in a location and browse from there |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 396
Location: Iowa | If you like make up and skin care have you ever thought about cosmotology? That degree wouldn't be terribly expensive plus you could have a nice schedule to go ride your horse! |
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I just read the headlines
Posts: 4483
| Funny you mention make up. On TV the other day the news was talking about jobs that didn't require 4 years of college and paid good. Make-up artist was one. She said no matter how bad the economy, people still have weddings, galas and what not . She makes good money and didn't really notice the down turn in the economy much. We are oil field driven down here in South Texas but she said she is doing well anyway. |
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Expert
Posts: 1599
| Girl, I spent my entire 20s trying to figure out what I wanted to do. Was Honor Society in HS, went to college for Animal Science and hated studying so my grades were average, I was burned out and just wanted to ride horses. I was working for a trainer all through college and knew I wanted to train. Took a year off to go ride for a trainer, went back and finished my degree. Got a job as an assistant trainer in Oklahoma and moved there in 2006. By the end of 2006 I was burnt out on riding and knew I needed a change. Spent time as an equine vet tech, got married, tried to get on in equine feed sales....anything still horses!!
Fast fwd a few years....got divorced, fell into the aerospace industry through a referral from a friend. Started as a buyer, worked SUPER hard, and now am a program manager making great money. I looked and soul searched and took MILLIONS of career assessments. Was enrolled in Ultrasonography school, looked at nursing, nothing clicked. Now I make more that any of those careers and still love what I do.
Sometimes when you least expect it things work out!!! Not sure if you are religious or not but I truly believe that this was God's plan..I just had to trust and see it. But...having a degree, even in an unrelated field, will definitely help you. I know it did for me.
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 Toastest with the Mostest
Posts: 5712
Location: That part of Texas | Rausch_Jessica - 2015-03-16 9:53 AM If you like make up and skin care have you ever thought about cosmotology? That degree wouldn't be terribly expensive plus you could have a nice schedule to go ride your horse!
+1
This is exactly what I thought. It's a good job that can allow you to set your hours according to what works for you and you're practically guaranteed a job anywhere you have to move. I have friends who have made a very good living doing hair and even just nails. I've joked with them that one of these days I'm going to quit practicing law and spend all day making people pretty and happy because not everybody gets to spread joy like that.
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Red Bull Agressive
Posts: 5981
Location: North Dakota | Thanks for the responses guys. I've thought about a trade school before but just don't even know where to start. I don't know what trades are out there! My dad is a master electrician and owns his own business, I've done work for him many times at job sites and I know I could NEVER do what he does. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 936
| Have you ever thought about an agri related degree? I have an ag-business degree and work at FSA helping farmers all day and love my job. There are so many options to go into with agronomy, soil science, conservation, hydrology... its pretty limitless and we will always have to take care of our environment to keep it sustainable. The market is pretty secure in that way. |
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Red Bull Agressive
Posts: 5981
Location: North Dakota | sourkiss378 - 2015-03-16 12:56 PM Have you ever thought about an agri related degree? I have an ag-business degree and work at FSA helping farmers all day and love my job. There are so many options to go into with agronomy, soil science, conservation, hydrology... its pretty limitless and we will always have to take care of our environment to keep it sustainable. The market is pretty secure in that way.
Hmm, no I haven't. I don't know the first thing about agriculture...I have a great amount of respect for the industry but have never even been on a big farm or ranch.
The thing that sucks with a lot of careers I thought I might be interested in, is they pay so crappy. $30,000 a year!? Uh-uh. I made more than that working part time at my last job with no education. Granted the hours were terrible, it was extremely high stress, and my bosses were terrible to us. It just doesn't make sense to pay thousands of dollars to make LESS money! |
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 Total Germophobe
Posts: 6437
Location: Montana | I want to give you a hug because I know the feeling. I'm only 2 years older than you, and I haven't gone to college at all. I've stayed working so I can afford my horses. I know that some day in the next few years my job will come to an end because I work for my parents and they are wanting to retire. People have suggested I take over the business, and I could, but even my dad thinks it wouldn't be a suitable job for me for the rest of my life. I've thought about doing so many things, but nothing has stuck so far. My horses are my life, but I'm not at a place in life that I can make them my job, I have to have something else to pay the bills. I guess I'm no help except maybe we can commiserate together, LOL.
However, you would be surprised what kind of jobs are out there you can do without a degree...I supposed it all depends upon how much you want to make. To me a job is a job but I have to come away from the day without wanting to quit or something. And if it is going to be something I don't care for I might as well make a good deal of money, LOL. So, while again I have no answers, I sincerely hope that you find what is right for you.  |
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 You get what you give
Posts: 13030
Location: Texas | High school is high school... I don't think it gives you a ton of insight on what you will want to do in college. Seriously.. I loved English in high school, was OK in math and science.. I was in honors classes but wasn't the star student in any of them. Except English. So i decided I was going to be a high school English teacher. One semester of Freshman comp and I changed my major to Biology... got my Biology HS Teaching Certificate and a BS in Biology... taught for a semester, went back to school and am now a 2nd year in vet school. Yes, I will graduate vet school with probably 160-180,000 in student loan debt. NO, I will not be making "the big bucks" for a long time.
If I take an internship fresh out of school I will make between $25,000 and $30,000 that year. After the internship, I should be able to take a job in hopefully the 50s-70s... then it's a rough climb to make the "money" everyone thinks vets make.
I didn't pick the career that will be the easiest for running barrels and having horses. I will definitely have a comfortable life at some point and I will get to have a career I have a passion about. Running barrels may take a hiatus, but I hope it doesn't. |
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 Expert
Posts: 3782
Location: Gainesville, TX | Since you care about horses and you did okay with English and writing, why not get a degree in journalism and try and work for an equestrian magazine. It will keep you around horses a lot, in the middle of the latest news, but you won't be so tired of riding other people's horses from training that you will too tired or not have enough time to ride your own. :) |
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 Expert
Posts: 1432
Location: Never in one place long | Been there and feel in a way I still am! Don't get down, you are still so young!! My senior year of high School, I was signed up to go to College for Horse managment and wanted to be a horse trainer, well my family said you couldn't make a living on that and were probably right and once I spent two summers training horses I realized it was just a lot of work... so after taking some general courses at a community college, I had a wonderful history teacher (prior to this I HATED history b/c of terrible teachers) but fell in love with it and enrolled to be a teacher, finished my bachelors degree for teaching but the outlook at that time for teachers wasn't good at all, espeically where I live and for Social Studies teachers, very very competitive so subbed for two years and then decided I was tired of it and a job popped up for a District Manger at a Conservation office, I jumped on it and overall I really love it. NEVER would have thought I'd be doing this and best part is, I get to visit schools on a regular basis and give Conservation lesons and I have a flexible schedule, the pay is decent but not bad but it's ok because my husband has a great job..... but anyway, I know in a few years, this won't be challenging enough and I'll move on... I already have plans to quit in a few years and travel the world doing mission work. I used to stress terribly about it but now I feel more as ease.... sorry for the long story but just wanted to let you know it's normal and I'm 30yrs and STILL am kinda wandering... one of my favorite quotes... "not all who wander are lost" Good luck and ENJOY the Journey. |
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 The Purple Princess
Posts: 2226
Location: Charlestown, IN | You mentioned you like make-up but also said skin care. How about an esthetician. I know 2 and they both do extremely well and work flexible hours!! |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 814
Location: California | Racey Stacey - 2015-03-17 7:24 AM You mentioned you like make-up but also said skin care. How about an esthetician. I know 2 and they both do extremely well and work flexible hours!!
This is my suggestion as well. You can also do makeup on the side if need be or as part of your business.
Around here it seems like the estheticians do pretty well in the salons...and I live in a small community. |
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 Jr. Detective
Location: Beggs, OK | Discipline and working your way up will take you where you want to go. Your post gives me a lot of insight into the people that I've interviewed over the past few years. No one wants to start at the bottom anymore... |
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Veteran
Posts: 120
| This may sound crazy...but if you like skin care you need to look into a career with Rodan and Fields.......The products are amazing and I have friends making 6 figures working from home. Its like anything else though...you have to be committed and work......
I agree with the poster about people not wanting to start at the bottom. That's the only thing I know......there are very few get rich quick jobs out there. It takes years of work and commitment before it pays off.......and that's how it should be.
Good luck. |
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Red Bull Agressive
Posts: 5981
Location: North Dakota | rachellyn80 - 2015-03-17 11:43 AM
Discipline and working your way up will take you where you want to go. Your post gives me a lot of insight into the people that I've interviewed over the past few years. No one wants to start at the bottom anymore...
Maybe I'm taking it the wrong way but I'm a little insulted. My point was I don't know where I want to go. Not that I don't want to work. It doesn't make sense to spend a bunch of money and work away and have no end goal or objective at the end of the tunnel. |
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Feeling Lost and Confused