Did your life turn out the way you planned?

I'm about to finish my final year of Law School, and then I'm planning on travelling and eventually getting a job. However, I have absolutely no plan, I don't know I want to do, I just need a break from education. Am I alone? Anyone else at this stage and not know what they wanted to do?

Can't help you there. Never really had any problems with becoming King, and that worked out pretty well.

I've never really had a plan. I just take it day by day. That said, I figured I'd get a PhD eventually, and it doesn't look like that is going to happen.

Try some self help books or something :)

As for me, I find college a waste of time but I am thankful that it opened me up to Theater Arts and Voice Over work!

And I originally wanted to be a PC tech guy so my answer would be Nope.

Let life figure you out, not the other way around.

So far, sure. I've never really had a plan though, but I'm pretty pleased with where I'm at right now.

Not exactly.

I never really planned it but I had an idea of where I would be at this stage. I'm nearly 19 and I've dropped out of school and my parents have split up and my dad moved to the other side of the world and isn't coming back. Now I'm on the dole and sharing it with my mum while she babysits for money. I also have 2 younger brothers who are still at school.

My first love left for college back in September after having been with me for 6 months and she dumped me a month later. I took an overdose of sleeping pills afterwards and just threw them up again. I also have no friends left because they have all left town for work.

In short it seems I've fucked my life up beyond repair.

I don't see how this thread could possibly turn out positive.

Well considering you are completing your final year of law school it seems like you have already chosen a general plan for your life, but basically figure out what you like, and try to see if there is a way to do it professionally.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah-crying. No. When it comes to a life time job, I have no desire to do anything with my life. I keep trying to think of something that I want to do as a job, and nothing sounds appealing in the least. Worst of all, I looked at all the collages in my province and none of them offer schooling for anything that interests me in the slightest and there is no way in hell that I could afford to move somewhere else. Best of all is that I can't even settle for some minimum wage shit job, as no one will hire me. I have next to no work experience, zero references, and no education that applies to any job I could apply for other then to say I graduated High School. Because of a back injury as a kid I can only work at a job that involves sitting 99% of the time, so that means call centre work is my only chance of entry level work as just about every other kind of entry level job involves standing all day. I have already sent out my resume to every call centre in the area after the last place I worked shut down, but I have not heard anything back. No idea what I'm going to do to survive.

As someone who has more or less stumbled into every major life situation he's found himself in, I find your concept of "life planning" wholly alien and frankly a bit frightening.

@Unilad: I don't think anyone in the world has had a life that went 100% according to plan... life just doesn't work that way. When things don't work out though, it doesn't mean it's time to give up. Life's about getting up when you're being shot down. Also, don't try to frame yourself according to what others see as "successful"... it could only lead to disappointment if your plans aren't fulfilled. Try to lead a happy life according to your own wishes. I'm working with all this myself as well, so I know how much of a struggle this sort of thing can be.

Congrats on finishing Law school by the way :).

Here's a little picture that might give you a bit of perspective on things... I hope it'll help open your mind a little bit on this subject.

I guess, in general. I mean, all I really wanted to do was go to/pass University. Picked pharmacy a week before the application date and I'm graduating this July.

Having said that, I did hope I'd have met a girl by now, but that's not really up to me.

In short, anything I have control over usually turns out alright in the end.

Having just graduated from university, moved to the complete other side of Canada and found a job I dread going into everyday that isn't in my field, I'd say life planning is pretty futile. I think the best you can do is just roll with it and refuse to do the things that you hate, as I shall very very soon.

Yes. No.

Well, I'm not living inside a dome on Mars with a robot dog.... so, no.

Fuck, no. I'm 21 years old. I should be living on the moon by now!

I'll get back to you on this once I figure out a plan.

Still need to figure out what I want to do. So no.

Well I'm not swinging from jungle vines killing nazi pirates so no life has not gone as planed.

Didn't really plan anything, now I'm failing stuff I could fix for no reason.

Meh.

I never had a plan and I am never satisfied. Might be connected. But who cares? Sometimes life is fun anyway.

I knew what I wanted to do, but it was a bumpy road getting there

@Alex said:

As someone who has more or less stumbled into every major life situation he's found himself in, I find your concept of "life planning" wholly alien and frankly a bit frightening.

Fly by the seat of your pants. Or fly by the pants on your seat?

@Napalm said:

Fly by the seat of your pants. Or fly by the pants on your seat?

Seat by the fly of your pants. Sitting is hard.

I'm almost done my degree (final paper due tomorrow actually) and in a similar dilemma but I'm generally just excited about the possibilities. I'm going to say life is substantially more interesting now than anything I had planned.

@Ravenlight said:

@Napalm said:

Fly by the seat of your pants. Or fly by the pants on your seat?

Seat by the fly of your pants. Sitting is hard.

Pants by the seat on your fly...?

@Napalm said:

@Ravenlight said:

@Napalm said:

Fly by the seat of your pants. Or fly by the pants on your seat?

Seat by the fly of your pants. Sitting is hard.

Pants by the seat on your fly...?

The by pants the your fly seat on

I've never planned out my life, so the plan's going smoothly.

My life didn't go according to my plan. My plan was unrealistic, but I also conspired against it. Still I'm young enough to learn and chase my goal.

@TheHT: You just fucked it all up. I hate you.

I think most people don't really have their lives planned - and the ones who do usually end up having to revise it often.

As for myself, no my life haven't turned out quite the way I would have liked it to, stupid autism, ADD and social phobia / anxiety disorder getting in the way... le sigh

@Unilad: The key isn't to have a goal and reach it. The key is to have a goal and learn from it.

I sure hope that isn't really some dumb facebook inspirational quote cause I totally just came up with it, and I'm pretty pleased with it. Seriously though, don't make a plan imagining it to be what you will do for the rest of your life. Make a plan so you don't end up stalling, start out realistic, keep your mind open, and who knows where you'll be some day.

I've learned not to plan my life. Just let shit happen and hope for the best. So far I've come out on top so I guess I must be doing something right.

My life didn't turn out as planned at all. I wanted to be a janitor at an adult video booth ever since i can remember. i won the lottery though and that changed everything. after spending a year travelling around the world with a back pack and a debit card, I decided to buy a condo and hire a servant and I play video games and eat fried peanut butter, bacon and banana sandwiches on potato bread all day. So no, it hasn't turned out exactly like I wanted it to.

If you can find a planner that contains 70 years in a Staples or something then you gotta let me know about it.

Never had much of a plan and my life isn't something I'm happy with; not in the slightest.

You know what sounds kinda awesome? Being a drifter, going from place to place, job to job, no plan, no commitments. You don't ever have long relationships with people, but that's already normal for me. You do need a decent amount of cash to begin with though, otherwise you just end up sleeping rough, without food and whatnot.

The answer to this question is no, for everybody, except huge liars.

I legitimately laughed when I thought about it for the briefest moment. Life is the most random shit happening in sequence and a lot of the times, you'll never see it coming. I like it a lot.

The point for me has always been to end each day with no regrets. If you live each day like you might not get another, you're rarely dissapointed. If you're anything like me, though, that really just means acting erratic and following any stupid whim that blows your way. That must be how I wound up as a tattoo artist with a pilot's license who's interested in game development.

Anyone who can honestly answer yes to this question has probably had an excessively boring life. I can't imagine how mundane everything would be if everything I planned always worked exactly the way I planned it. Variety is the spice of life they say, failure or maybe... surprises are a part of variety.

The only thing I plan on doing with my life is eventually dying. 
 
I'm guessing OP meant 'dreams/aspirations' by 'plan' in which case no, I am not a Vet, Fireman, Archaeologist, Rally Driver like I wanted to be.

@Jrinswand said:

I've never really had a plan. I just take it day by day. That said, I figured I'd get a PhD eventually, and it doesn't look like that is going to happen.

Who the hell just figures they are going to get a PhD?

"Hey what do you want to be when you get older?"

"Oh I am working at UPS moving boxes, but I figure I'll get a PhD EVENTUALLY"

That is the funniest thing I heard today, thank you!

Finish my Maths degree. Then who knows. I want to have kids someday, so thats sort of part of my plan, I guess.

@Unilad:

You're still too young to be asking yourself that question.

No, to paraphrase John Lennon, "Life is what happens while you're making other plans". Unforeseen events happen which can pull you down other life-paths. That's not necessarily a bad thing, it's just how life goes sometimes. The only thing you can positively plan is that someday you will die.

As someone who has more or less stumbled into every major life situation he's found himself in, I find your concept of "life planning" wholly alien and frankly a bit frightening.