Need help about my purpose!

[MarkusL]

I just found out that, I have failed my psychiatrics class for nursing. This is the second time it happened. The reason I keep failing is that I am not interested in nursing. I havent told my parents yet about it. My parents are the ones who want me to be in nursing since they make a lot of money. My whole life I never chased money.

At age 23, I know deep in my heart that I want to be in field of Arts and literature. Most of my spare time I draw, read alot, and I love designing. Also, I have a substancial amount of knowledge about business management.

Now back to the subject about my purpose. My main question is, should I make a U-turn and go back to college and get a degreee in Arts, where I have no idea if that field even makes money but I love doing OR go continue nursing where they make money but its against my heart? Your opinions will help me clarify my situation.

[dorothy hanna]

Go to Steve's home page, and read the article about finding your purpose in life, in 20 minutes. Do what Steve discribes in the article. This should help you to get started in the quest.

[kthdsn]

YOU are the only person who can decide what to do with YOUR life. You say you have been pursuing nursing because your parents want you to, and now you plan to make your decision based on the advice of people in a forum. You will never be truly happy with your choices unless you have made them yourself. By all means, ask for advice, but you must make the decision based on what you feel is best for you.

[MarkusL]

thanks alot guys! I realized its all up to me. I guess this is what we call "awakening."

[Milo Riano]

If you have the resources then go back to college and follow your purpose. I would assume you would only need a maximum of 3 years to complete arts & literature degree since your general subject should be credited. Three additional years is nothing compared to a lifetime of nursing boredom for you.

[Bruce Achterberg]

Originally Posted by MarkusL

At age 23, I know deep in my heart that I want to be in field of Arts and literature. Most of my spare time I draw, read alot, and I love designing. Also, I have a substancial amount of knowledge about business management.

Now back to the subject about my purpose. My main question is, should I make a U-turn and go back to college and get a degreee in Arts, where I have no idea if that field even makes money but I love doing OR go continue nursing where they make money but its against my heart? Your opinions will
help me clarify my situation.

My advice to you would be to try and figure out a way to leverage yourself into an arts and literature orientated career (ie. your passion) using your current skills, knowledge, and qualifications in nursing and business management. Now I'm not exactly sure how you could do this - this would largely be something that you'd have to figure out yourself (by thinking about it, writing about it in a journal, or talking about it with a friend, etc.) - but I'm sure with a little creativity and effort, you could come up with something. (Effort is really important, I find - if you expend enough effort on a "problem", you can usually solve it, break it, make it work, or generally make it go away.)

I also recommend read of the following articles by Steve Pavlina:

• What Is Your Career?
  

  An article that I think will really help you with your dilemma. Steve gives lot of examples from his personal experience. There's a lot more I could describe about the article, but don't worry about my rambling, read the article!

  .
• Making Decisions That Stick
  

  From reading your post I found that at the core of your issue, you are largely having a problem making a decision. You (like I used to) seem to be phrasing your decision to yourself in a way that makes it very difficult to make a decision. This article will give you a completely different perspective on making decisions, and if the insight Steve shares with you works for you as well as it worked for me when I read the article, your decision should become easy (no joke, it's that effective).

  .
• StevePavlina.com Podcast #007 - Solving Frustrating Problems

  This isn't actually an article, it's a podcast (which is basically an audio file that you can listen to over the internet). Steve addresses the "classic dilemma of passion vs. profits", and helps you transition from "either/or" thinking to "AND" thinking. The podcast is about 15 minutes long, but well worth a listen. (You can either download it to your computer or you can listen to it in your internet browser window.)

Anyway, with that, I'll leave you with a quote from one of Steve's articles, entitled Productivity Showdown Day 3 (the quote actually has nothing to do with a productivity showdown but everything to do with your current situation). Oh and by the way, when you make some progress with your current situation, we'd love to hear how everything goes and what you decide on!

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina, 'Productivity Showdown Day 3'

[...] no matter how much you leverage outside factors like people and technology and capital, the ultimate form of leverage is still your own time. Time is the juice of life; if you aren’t living passionately and loving what you do each day, to me that’s punishing yourself, and your accomplishments won’t provide much fulfillment if you aren’t enjoying the journey. If you find the path to your goal so painful that you feel you must minimize the time you spend on it, regardless of how much you lust for the final destination, then you’re on the wrong path.

Before you embark on any path ask the question, does this path have a heart?
If the answer is no, you will know it and then you must choose another path.
The trouble is that nobody asks the question. And when a man finally realizes
that he has taken a path without a heart the path is ready to kill him.
- Carlos Castaneda

So ask the question. Does your path have a heart? This is one of those questions where you will know with certainty if the answer is yes. If you aren’t certain it’s a yes, then it’s a no.

Don’t take the path without a heart, regardless of where you think it will lead you and how great it will be when you finally arrive. Find another way to get there. I know it’s not easy to find a way to make a great living doing what you love each and every day, but it’s a lot easier than the alternative.

[Slade]

Please consider the distinction between Life Purpose and Career.

They are not necessarily the same thing.

It's not just ONE thing either - and it's not a label.

Read some thoughts on these distinctions and how you might approach these Questions from a different angle.

Your Life Purpose is Not Necessarily A J-O-B

[MarkusL]

Thanks alot guys. I've made a decision to finish school and work as a nurse. What I like about being a nurse is the flexibility of the hours. While working as a nurse, during my off days Ill be learning Art. Either I go to a school that has flexible hours or just teach myself on my spare time. You guys made my decisions easier so I thank you.

[fourthdan]

i heard this on dawson's creek, but it's still damn profound

"dreams come true, not free"

[Andrew Brunelle]

HEre's what I would do if I were in your situation...actually, no. Here's what I think you should do if you're you in your situation. If you don't like nursing, then don't do it. It's not worth wasting your life over. The same thing happened to me. I thought I wanted to be a teacher until I started taking education courses in college and they were so mind-numbingly boring that I couldn't even stand it to the point I failed two out of the three courses I was taking in that field. I couldnn't face the fact I didn't want to teach, so I kept taking the classes, bug eventually I said, "Forget it," and I left the university. Now I'm getting into different things and really immersing myself in them. I'm writing a novel, as well as working on my comedy skills, so don't let yourself do something becuase external people pressure you to do so. My mother was a regsitered nurse for almost twenty yeras and she opted out o it due to the physical and psycholcoligcal demand and the fact that it's not even worth the money you'll make. She ha spursued a job in substance abuse counseling and she loves it much more. So you can't always go with the safe job with the security and the money. When it comes to choosing money over passion, you're most likely going to be bored of the job in less than five years.