What issue did you turn 180 on and why?

Honestly? Careers in general.

My parents are very much the KEEP CLIMBING THAT LADDER types. Constantly working, constantly moving from house to bigger house, constantly seeking more. 90-hour work weeks, ten thousand projects to improve the house, etc etc. Everything they had, they put into work.

For a long time, I bought into that as well. The whole bit: STEM major at a good college, member of five different clubs, honors society, part-time volunteer work, my own self-coded website, ambitions on top of ambitions. I was going to be the fruit of all their labor, and if I wasn't working, I was dying.

And I fucking HATED it. I hated never feeling like I was ever doing enough or being enough. I hated doing science. I hated constantly critiquing and bullying myself into giving 110%, all the time. I hated how any failure or 'laziness,' however small, became an immediate spiral of self-loathing. I hated how my actual interests were constantly pushed aside in favor of "building your career path" or "preparing for your future." Finally, a good friend of mine committed suicide due to stress related to our studies, and I stopped and took a look at what the hell, exactly, I was doing. I realized I had no end goal--I was doing this because it was expected of me, nothing more.

So I dropped it, and I did what I actually wanted to do. I switched my major to English, even though it's a 'useless' degree. I moved to Seattle to be close to a couple artist friends I knew and admired. I met a cute artist girl and started dating. I wrote a book. Then I wrote three more books.

Now? I've started learning how to balance ambition with being at peace with yourself. I work at a cute bakery because I realized I really like baking. I get home in the early afternoon and write about a thousand words, then play with our cat. I have dinner with my partner when she gets home. I help her set up her art for conventions.

It's not that being an artist-type is inherently lazier than being a STEM major; in a lot of ways, I'm working just as hard as I was, especially when I have to hit a deadline. But I'm doing it because I WANT to, and I'm letting myself be satisfied with what I have. And that's okay.

/r/AskReddit Thread