3. People who have taken an alternative route in life. How do you feel when you run...

People who have taken an alternative route in life. How do you feel when you run into people your age who are living that typical life (kids, social, 9-5 etc.) ?

I had serious identity issues during my childhood and teen years and struggled a lot which led to me not doing as well as I could have in school. I tried and failed my A-levels a few times and finally dropped out. During this time I got involved with a group of people who loved to drink, take drugs, and party a lot. I embraced this as a way to suppress the issues I had with myself and spent a lot of my early twenties going from party to party, living in squats, on the dole. I had some amazing times and met some of the most wonderful people with friendly, creative, caring souls, but I also screwed up myself for a long time. While doing this I watched a lot of my friends go off to uni, get proper professional careers, get married, and have children.

I got out of that scene, moved back home, got a retail job for the end of my twenties. I finally decided it was time to go get a degree and went to uni. I have graduated with a degree in archaeology, a field I am passionate about, and am onto the first step of a PhD. I have watched the lives of friends go down the traditional route, and in some cases end with divorce and custody battles, or losing jobs and having no backup. I see the tired looking faces of people who work insanely long hours at jobs they hate or dealing with children 24/7. I see this and am glad for the path I took. I spent my twenties having a great time, and learnt a lot about who I am. I may have physically damaged myself, but I am now healed from that. I am training in a field I am passionate about and dedicated to, I get to travel to archaeological sites all over the world, and I have embraced my creative side and found my talent for urban photography. I am never having kids, I still rent and am a poor student into my thirties, I have become very much a hipster, but I know amazing people and don't feel any loss for not living the 'standard' life. I have embraced who I am and settled into the person I was meant to be, and this person will continue to be curious, creative, and embrace love and passion.

I apologise for the wall of text, but it was nice to see this question come up and to see that more people stray from the 'traditional' route of uni, marriage, career, kids.

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