my most persistent desire was to be a painter or artist

I also felt like I was supposed to be someone like a scientist or doctor who could help lots of people with my work

I wanted to be an entomologist. I always liked insects and arachnids. I’ve never had any fear of them and my mother supported that by purchasing me bug books and magnifying glasses.

I never did become an entomologist but I still have a passion for bugs. I have 2 mantids and a really gorgeous green lynx spider I’ve been watching grow in my garden. I also had an orbweaver build a web, nest, and reproduce on my luffa plant. Some of her babies are still on the luffa. I still love bugs so much!

I never knew. Any time I so much as said “I wanna be x when I grow up” everyone would shit on it so I just stopped thinking of what to be

I’m an unemployed idiot so I still don’t know what I wanna be

A princess OBVIOUSLY. But failing that a nurse

I know this is meant to be more positive but I just didn’t really. As a child I don’t think I had something concrete and as a teenager etc I never really could visualise a future for myself. I ended up with a pretty decent career but I ended up here by chance and just seeing where the wind took me.

I wanted to be a lot of things that I never became, but my younger self would approve of what I am now.

My life today is something young me would have wanted. That’s something.

What didn’t pan out is how I imagined the world would have progressed to: the world has regressed. Dramatically… It feels like someone stole my future. But I try to enjoy my latter years without thinking about it too much.

programmer, too bad I didn’t have the socks at the time

I wanted to be an artist. A concept artist. But I have some motor issues that are quite invisible when you look at me, but they do prevent me from writing with my hands, and because of that, everyone around me discouraged me from even trying.

It’s a wound that just won’t heal for me. I have images in my head that I wish I could get out, but I can’t. Every time I try to draw, it doesn’t look like what I want and every time I do, I have the voices of the people who tell me that I shouldn’t even try because it’s not worth it and I get immediately discouraged.

Every time I want to try and get serious about drawing, I pick it up and I last like one or two weeks max before being discouraged and giving up because I keep hearing what I’ve been told. I’ve been doing that for like 15 years now. And in 15 years I have made pretty much zero progress with the way I draw.

A vet. I still love animals but it’s probably for the best given the high burnout rate and the fact that I’m allergic to dogs and cats and also get faint at the sight of blood.

Also, a marine biologist. And today, the ocean is literally one of my biggest fears and I have a hard time swimming even in deep pools due to irrational anxieties. So I guess you could say I’ve disappointed my younger self.

Free, we have not yet achieved this completely.

Though at least we do not have to do anything to make money, as little as we get.

In charge. 😉

A teacher. Student services so pretty close!

An author. I read so many books as a kid! I always had my nose stuck in a book. I learned to read and write long before I ever started school (my mother taught me) and I couldn’t get enough of reading!

All throughout jr. high and high school, I would read at least one 200-300 page book a day. And I’m talking young adult and adult novels, not picture books or kids’ stories.

Then… The Internet became a thing. This advancement in technology became the new amazing thing, where all the world’s knowledge was at your fingertips! No longer did I need to go to the library to pour through reference books or encyclopedias. I didn’t need to sort through newspaper archives, or call research centers to order copies of scientific papers. Everything I needed was right there, in a quick Infoseek search. Or Excite. Or AskJeeves. There were a dozen random search engines before Google dominated the landscape.

Before long, I realized it had been years since I had picked up a physical book. I became obsessed with computer technology and I joined the US military under a sysadmin career, fixing and maintaining computers. I spent 20 years working in IT.

Books dropped out of favor over the years, replaced with visual media. YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, etc. all led people toward consumption of information in neat, little visual stories. I don’t know anyone who actually reads books anymore, and I struggle to pick up a book myself nowadays.

The Internet ruined my dream of becoming an author. Unless you’re one of the few extremely famous authors, most authors don’t make much of anything writing books nowadays.

A lot of my favorite bookstores have closed down over the years, and Barnes & Noble, the last major bookstore chain in America, is half music, movies & tv shows, toys, crafts, and café now, just to keep people coming back. Their manga and comic book sections seem to be getting bigger and bigger, every time I pass through. I remember when it was just a single shelf; now it’s at least an aisle or two dedicated to each.

I had a lot of unique life experiences in my time traveling the globe with the military and would love to write a sort of autobiography, but I keep fantasizing about making it into a webcomic, because I don’t know anyone who would actually take the time to read a book about my life. But I also kind of suck at drawing, so there’s another hurdle to overcome.

I used to think I was better off with my IT experience, as it was an extremely lucrative job to have when I started. But when I retired 20 years later, my career field in the military was already being outsourced to civilian companies and our bonuses for sticking around were long gone. Now, AI is taking over a lot of IT positions, so I can’t get a callback for any IT work as a civilian.

As of 38 years old, I declared myself fully retired, since there was no work to be found for my chosen profession, and my dream profession of being an author has fallen out of fashion in the world. Fortunately, my military retirement and VA benefits cover me well enough that I can officially be retired, and I’ve enjoyed the quiet life for the past 3 years now. But I still wonder what my life might have been like if the Internet never took off.

Astronaut.

solo research spaceship pilot and lighthouse operator were high on my list 😂

i have failed to achieve either of these dreams alas.