It's a relatively common story. When I was a kid and doing badly at school the threat from parents was that I would be a bun stuck doing manual labour.

Later as a teenager My parents told me off for spending time learning to code and design websites back in the early naughties. I loved it, was good at it and even made a few ££ selling templates and such.

I was told there was no future it computer work, that it was a waste of time and I should be applying myself to traditional subjects in prep for ... through threats/cajoling/parenting I was pushed into a more classic arts degree.

I do feel bad as I feel like I lost my creative and inquisitive spark I had back then. I don't know if it was being a teenager, but I can't seem to find that interest again.

I have a good and well paying job. But it's far from interesting.

As I get older, I realise I enjoy working with my hands (e.g gardening, decorating, cooking, DIY) and learning the skills to go along with them.

I think that if I was a teenager again I would train for a trade skill, and hopefully continue my design work as a hobby.

As it stands now, the rat race and corporate grind have turned me into a shell of my teenage self. Creatively speaking at least .