Life Priorities

You know I don't know why I feel like just spilling my personal life on Mac-Forums...I guess I find it fun or something...Or maybe I'm just that crazy. Like Rays manager Joe Maddon, I'm a different breed, I'm extremely different..But here goes.

I disappeared for a couple of days because I had an absolute meltdown a couple of days ago, I mean all of my stress, the things on my mind and so forth , hit me all at once.

I'm 24 years old and working at a $7 an hour job calling people for surveys FOR WHAT AGAIN? Oh RIGHT! A "Liberal Arts Degree". Look, I'm not knocking having one, and yeah I'm six classes away from getting the stupid thing, but look at it from my perspective:

*My dad and girlfriend/fiancee/whatever...want to sell this place or rent it out to me so they can have their own place an hour or so up the road. Ok not a big deal at all.

*I'm 24, going to be 25 next year. To get my degree in Automotive Service, which is what I want so I can be a shop supervisor, means I'd be 27 when I graduated - Three years shy of 30.

Look, I'm not looking for sympathy or anything...When I discovered my passion for cars five years ago, it's all I've wanted to do for a living. I get an enormous satisfaction out of fixing something, especially if it's challenging. Do you know how prideful I feel driving my Jaguar? No, it's not because it's a Jaguar, it's because I spent over 60 hours of my life doing intricate work to make something run.

Because of the damage I've done to my body from drugs and alcohol in the past, I'm quite expensive. What I mean is I always need to be eating and I need to have money to pay for my fistful o' pills. It is the most stressful feeling in the world when you're up til 3 A.M. crunching numbers to try to make ends meet.

I can't even afford to take a freakin' girl out on a date. Yeah I constantly buy and sell Apples, but you know why? It's to pay for my pills and bills....I like that..."I need money to pay for the pills and bills..." Anyways I digress...

I want to make as much money as I possibly can before I go to trade school. I'd really like to stay here in Florida instead of moving back up North. It would be awesome to have this decent sized house and the drive? I'd like to get a motorcycle for that. It's all about priorities, and I'm sorry - A Liberal Arts degree seems pretty darned useless to me right now. Yeah if I was going to teach, or do something that involved more College education, it's a great start. Let's be realistic here guys, I'M GOING TO BE WORKING AT A DEALERSHIP. I'M NOT GOING TO GET ANY YOUNGER. I NEED TO (Bleep) OR GET OFF THE POT. I can't even study anymore, I can't. I feel like I'm wasting time, wasting valuable time that I need to actually better my life. I need something more than a piece of paper saying "Hey Jaguar, you wasted 6 years of your life listening to other people convince you to find another profession while trying to get this."

I want to make money, start a family, have a house of my own, and yeah maybe for a lot of people on here reading this you could say "Hey, it's 7 more months, finish it out." Sorry, I'm tired of being tired and weak all the time because I don't want to eat all of my dad's/fiancee's food that they buy (She quit her job btw lol.) because of my hypoglycemia....amongst other things....And no I can't live off of Pizza and Burgers either, or work and go to school and never sleep. I need sleep, a lot of it - or I get extremely weak. I know my mother is going to be extremely upset and disappointed in me because she paid for this semester of college, but you know what? I can't make everyone happy and that's all I've been doing throughout my whole life. Jaguar just does stuff to make other people happy. I want to do something that I WANT TO DO for a change.

Yes I'm skipping school tomorrow because I'm going to find a good job. I'm going to do good in my life finally. You know when I was the happiest down here in Florida? When I was getting freakin carts at Wal-Mart planning to go to trade school. But no I had to let my mother convince me and go back to college for some meaningless degree. That's my rant. Look maybe a Liberal Arts degree and finishing it means something to you guys, but look - I've had 6 years to think it over, and experience it. I'm at peace with not getting it.

P.S. : Looks like McCain is getting smoked, eh? Palin's $150,000 worth of clothes...*Shakes head* I'm not starting political stuff either...But man that woman has been nothing but a headache for that man ever since he picked her. And I'm not pro-Obama either...I'm a Libertarian...Ron Paul all the way...=\

You can't get a refund on the classes that your mum paid for?

I'm just kind of surprised that you are kind of acting really carefree. I think it's cool that you have some direction on what you want to accomplish with your life.

It takes some people a lot longer to figure this out. I think it's not cool if you are so close on getting that degree. I would totally just suck it up and finish it. Go to night school or whatever if you have to.

Right now it's pretty hard to get a job. A lot of my uncle and aunts' companies are selling and going overseas to other countries and they will be out of a job at the end of this year. Not that they really need to work anymore since they all are in their mid 40s to early 50s and should be retiring anyways.

Since the country is going into a depression and who knows when we will ever get out of it, I think the best thing is to ride it out in a school.

That's what I'm planning and I'll probably get my masters in art or something. >_<"

was all that really just about self-rationalizing dropping out of college?

Dysfunction said:

was all that really just about self-rationalizing dropping out of college?

Click to expand...

pretty much. but hey if you can rationalize going to school for liberal arts when youre going to be a mechanic, lemme know

xj6jaguar1985 said:

pretty much. but hey if you can rationalize going to school for liberal arts when youre going to be a mechanic, lemme know

Click to expand...

Well, you're pretty much there. 6 classes? Really?

My suggestion is to just finish it and have that stupid piece of paper, because if you find yourself looking for a job, that dumb thing is going to make a huge difference.

I mean, I did lol at "Liberal Arts", but I'm a film major, so I'mma keep my mouth shut about that, but my mom works at 5/3 Bank, and half of the people she works with have either Liberal Arts bachelors or Psychology bachelor degrees.

Really, you don't have to work in the field your degree's in, but it's good to have should you fall on some hard times and really need a job.

If you were just starting out, then maybe it'd be different. I'm in that position myself (I really do want to be a mechanic as well), but I'm a whopping 17 credits out of 84 deep right now, so I wouldn't be losing NEARLY as much as you are.

Basically, suck it up, get the degree, and then go ahead and go to mechanic's school. You're this close, why the heck not?

I mean, if there's one shot left in the bottle, you just going to let it sit?

xj6jaguar1985 said:

pretty much. but hey if you can rationalize going to school for liberal arts when youre going to be a mechanic, lemme know

Click to expand...

Sure. My brother has a Bachelors degree in Liberal Arts. Now he is the lead hardware tester for Apple. It may not make sense to you right now, but a degree is a degree. Get the degree.
Take it from someone that's 38, doesn't have one, worked physical jobs all his life and now is unemployed with a bad back. (I'll need surgery someday to "possibly" fix it) I wish a had a degree in ANYTHING so I'd have a better chance at getting a paying job that won't break me physically.
Like I tell my kids, "You are going to college and getting a degree. Afterwards, you can be a homeless bum if that's what you really want to do. But you're still going."
Think ahead a little.

Soulwar said:

...Like I tell my kids, "You are going to college and getting a degree. Afterwards, you can be a homeless bum if that's what you really want to do. But you're still going."
Think ahead a little.

Click to expand...

LOL, this is what my Mum says too. She especially heckles my sis about this because she is doing trade school and not going to College to get a degree.

There is something to say for just having a degree. Why stop at a stop supervisor? Finish your degree and then get your mechanics certifications if that is what you love to do and then when you are 40 or 50 and are tired of being in a shop you have both the experience and the education to move to a corporate position or something higher up with your employer.

Just an observation, but sometimes I think it's the decisions you make that are negatively impacting your life, no other excuses.

I mean seriously? You have 6 classes left and you want to stop?

That says more to me about an overall approach on life that is detrimental to succcess. Fix that approach before you decide to yet again throw everything away.

Your priorities are not in order, and until they are, nothing will be "right" for you.

I totally understand where all of you guys are coming from, especially schweb - thank you for the honesty. However it is worth mentioning that I'm not actually going to be the person diving into cars working on them. Like I said I want to be a shop supervisor which is the person who tells the technicians what to do, and checks the work of the technicians.

Call me stupid, I still don't see how my priorities aren't in order. I want to do something with my life - the thing I've wanted to do for years.

Look, I'll be honest with you as well. It's your life and you can live it how you want. I think we all make good points here, all from different lives and backgrounds. But the only person saying not to finish is you.

I understand more than you know. My brother put himself thru school working part-time as a busboy, hair stylist etc.. He's also hypoglycemic. I've watched him pass-out at work before. He always wished he was like me. Working as a manager, making more money, had my own apartment, better car, having fun etc.. He almost gave up as well. Luckily he didn't.

Now it's 15 yrs later, and I wish I was more like him. Great job, very high salary, no physical ailments to worry about, credit is perfect, no debt, etc..

I'm unemployed, on daily meds, lost my house, job, credit, had some vehicles repoed, etc.. All due to a bad back and no degree to fall back on. I'm great with computers, but no one will hire me due to a lack of any degree. I wish I would have finished school. I wish someone would have stepped in and said what we are all saying to you now.

My point is, you don't know what will happen. Attitudes, people, life in general changes. I'm a different person than I was 15 yrs ago. You will be too.
Sorry for the rant. I have 5 kids and hate to see someone give up so close. Whether you want the degree or not, you may want to someday. By then, it'll be too late. Hindsight is always 20/20

you are getting some great advice here. Even if you do not see the value of it now, for your own sake finish your degree.

Then do what it takes to make you happy in your career and as someone said you will have something to fall back on just in case.

I have to agree with what most others have said here, a degree in something makes you look 100000000 times more attractive to hire than someone with out one. Especially in this job market it is very important for you to have one.

IF you want my "professional" opinion (psychologically), I agree with dysfunction, this is all just a rationalization for you do to what you want. I had a friend in high school that this story reminded me of, he dropped out senior year with only 9 weeks left. You are in the home stretch, skip a class every once in a while if you feel like it, everyone in college does, but just finish, its the end of the road! Everyone gets tired at some point, I get tired to working 40+ hours a week and doing PhD work, but I know it will make my life better later. I would rather do it now, when I have more of the capacity to push myself then when I am 40.

You may honestly not think a degree will help in your field, but tell that to the owner who has to choose between a person with a degree and one that does not. My father used to tell me all the time, that if nothing else it shows the person that you are dedicated and can finish something, which says a lot to an employer.

And so what if you will be almost 30, my father didn't have me until he was almost 40!

Not one to comment on stuff like this, but hey why not. You should really consider what everyone else has been saying. You are 6 hours shy of graduating. It may not seem like a big deal now, but that little piece of paper saying you have a degree will be worth something. It shows that you are committed to starting something and finishing it for yourself if anything.

I would suggest checking out this site:

Job Salary Earnings Comparison - College Degrees and High School Diploma

It doesn't really matter WHAT you get your degree in, as long as you get it. If you want, you can take a poll on this site alone and ask if people are actually working in the area they got their degree in. I guarantee you over 50% isn't. I have a BS in Telecommunications. Definitely not working in telecomm nor do I plan to. If you look at professional schools, most if not all require you have a 4 year degree. Nowadays, having a college degree is like having a high school diploma. The number of people going to college to get a degree are enormous.

Now, most people need to continue further and get a master, PHD, to really stand out from everyone else. But at the minimum, having a college degree is essential.

I commend you on doing what you want to do. But I think that is really misguided at this point. I'm not one to sit here in judge cause I am by no means perfect, but it just seems like you haven't had a lot of good parental influence. I think people don't realize how important education really is. I think this would be a much better nation if people were more educated. Anyhow, I digress.

I only wish I knew what I know now when I was younger. But I don't regret the mistakes that I made. It made me into who I am today and I can only hope that I can help at least 1 person not make the mistakes that I have made. Sometimes people need to fail before they realize that but I still try. People are trying to give you good advice because most of us have been in your situation and realize now, how important it is to get a degree.

I would consider what's being said and really think about it. But in the end, it's your decision and yours alone. People can tell you what to do until you are blue in the face but if you don't choose to listen then it's on you. I'm not one to say "I told you so" either but don't you find it weird that EVERYONE in this thread is telling you to finish what you started? We are complete strangers for the most part but everyone agrees...

tkim said:

......
Nowadays, having a college degree is like having a high school diploma. The number of people going to college to get a degree are enormous.

Now, most people need to continue further and get a master, PHD, to really stand out from everyone else. But at the minimum, having a college degree is essential.

Click to expand...

A few colleagues and I were having this discussion the other day. It is pretty much the consensus that the A.A. is the new high school diploma, and the B.A. is the new A.A.. As you said, to really stand out you need to go even further than that, but just to make baseline it is very arguable that you NEED a BA/BS.

schweb said:

Just an observation, but sometimes I think it's the decisions you make that are negatively impacting your life, no other excuses.

I mean seriously? You have 6 classes left and you want to stop?

That says more to me about an overall approach on life that is detrimental to succcess. Fix that approach before you decide to yet again throw everything away.

Your priorities are not in order, and until they are, nothing will be "right" for you.

Click to expand...

I had no idea where to start with that post, but schweb just hit it on the head. Reading that little speech was like listening to my 18 year old complain about her life when nearly all of her problems are caused by her and not by some malevolent outside force like she thinks. My advice to you is the same as it would be to her. Stop looking for excusing and someone to blame, take responsibility for your own life and your own actions (including the past) and move on. You want everything good in life but all you see is why you can't have it, not how how you can get it.

Well said guys.
I'd like to take 1 class at a time while getting my bachelor's in Automotive Engineering. I'm sure all of you guys understand what I'm trying to portray though - it's annoying reading about freakin cellular respiration and studying about it when you're thinking to yourself "When in the (expletive) am I going to use this stuff?"

I greatly appreciate the honesty and advice you guys have given to me though, it means the world to me. It makes complete sense to me what you guys are saying: I mean it could be so EASY to get the stupid degree!!!!!For crying out loud, next semester I could take Geology - the study of friggin rocks, how much easier can you get, and Astronomy - even easier. Thanks for the advice!!!

why not just find some entry level mechanic-type job, at a tire shop, oil change place, whatever. take a class or two as you have time to finish up.

not only will you have the BA, but you'll have more actual shop experience which can only help you getting that job you eventually want. i guarantee you a shop owner will take a guy with any experience over some dude who just took classes to be his new shop supervisor.

other than that, i agree with most that have said to get focused. look inward for those roadblocks you need to overcome, not outward.

mmm it's very hard to find a McMechanic job around here. They look at my resume and see I've worked for 5 years as a Jaguar mechanic and say I'm overqualified...It's terrible haha..

You're an interesting person Jag, and you're intelligent. I was involved with education for over 30 years, from 6 yr-olds to 60 yr-olds. One of the hardest things I found was to convince the doubters and questioners like yourself, the value of getting there!

My bro is a doctor in the US, he has two daughters completing degrees in College (university?). Guess what one of them is completing. Yep, a L-A degree. Why? She wants to qualify in Law for goodness sake. The answer to Why is developing the self-discipline of focus, study and self-motivation.

When I interviewed potential employees, a degree, even the most basic BA or BEd, told me that this individual knows about the discipline of learning, and that is likely to translate into the discipline of applying oneself to the task and doing the job properly.

So, finish that degree mate, and THEN cast about for you really want to do with your working life.