Is it too late?

[Dempsey1919]

Did you make mistakes in life and feel like it was too late to start over?

I’ve felt this way for a month. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not depressed and I am very grateful for the blessings the Lord has bestowed upon me. I just feel like I’ve squandered my oportunities and devoted my energies to worthless things. I never feel contentment or fulfillment in my working life. It just seems like a big waste of my limited time on this earth.

I’ve wasted so much time. I had the opportunity to get a great education when I was in my teens and I let it slip away. I decided to take a gamble and leave college to pursue a career in the Navy, knowing that the chances of my being accepted were slim (due to a medical problem). I didn’t get in and I ended up getting a job that I hated. During this time I completed an adult education course with the hopes of going to University.

I wanted to do a degree in Surveying but I let the negativity of others stop me from doing this and I chose to do Sports Management instead. This turned out to be the worst course ever and I ended up dropping out altogether. I wish I had’ve done the Surveying.

As some readers of this forum may know, I am a big boxing fan and it has been an ambition of mine for years to open a boxing gym. I have been writing a business plan for the last few months and I have realised that I am going to need a lot of equity to do this. This doesn’t concern me because I have the rest of my life to realise this dream. However, I am never going to earn the money in my current job.

I wish I could start over and do the Surveying degree. I would gain an enormous amount of satisfaction in this career and it would provide me with the money to open up a boxing gym later in my life. However, it feels like it’s too late. I feel like I’ve made my bed and now I’ve got to lie in it. I also worry that others will laugh at me for going back to university. The financial demands also worry me.

Has anyone else been in a similar predicament? I wrote this mainly to gather my thoughts but I would appreciate any advice. The posters of this forum have offered great advice in the past, which is partly why I posted.

Thanks

 

[PBP]

I understand as I often feel the same way. Some of the best advice I ever heard was from an old guy who told me, “You can only make decisions based on what you know at the time you made them”…later if it turns out it didnt work so well, it doesnt necessarily mean you made a bad decision. Today you have more info to work with so I think you could pursue this gym. Be careful though that it doesnt consume you.
Have a great day

 

[Scanner]

My advice may be a little “new agey” but I think it’s true.

They say happiness and fullfillment lies on developing 7 spokes of the wheel.

Career
Social
Family
Financial
Physical
Mental
Spiritual.

You can rate your life on a scale of 1 to 10 in all departments.

Just a feeling, but I get the impression that many people here are a 8 on the spiritual but somewhere around the 3 on the financial.

Here’s the rub. . .1 department can’t compensate for the rest of the 6, no matter how in touch with the Church you are, or how healthy you are, or how wealthy you are.

You are feeling probably like your career is a 1 or 2. . .but perhaps what you need is to increase the other elements of your life to enhance that one department.

In other words, if you want to own a business, you can’t be a personally broke, undisiplined, unspiritual, couch potato. It just won’t happen.

Let me tell you - I have had a business for 11 years. . .it ain’t all that. I know it seems glamorous but there are so many drawbacks that it’s too much to go into here (let’s say top 3 is expensive marginal healthcare).

I know you are probably a guy and we value career over many of the other spokes. . .but truthfully, the other 6 categories deserve attention and you may achieve them with little to no effort. For instance, if you really have a “business bug” in you. . .you can first seek to become a good investor (personal finance).

I guess what I am saying in a lot of extra words - don’t forget to count your blessings and if you have other blessings, use them to your advantage.

Good luck.