Korean Job Discussion Forums

[demitri]

Actor, TV/Film Director, Novelist, Screenwriter, Scientist, Historian, Psychologist, Pilot, Survival Expert (lol), __________(insert here), etc etc etc etc etc

This isn't another thread trolling about whether TEFLing is a real job or not. Regardless of your feelings on TEFL didn't you expect or hope for more from your life than this? Don't you feel seriously disappointed you didn't become something else or achieve much more?

I just wanted to put this out there as it's been eating away at me recently. I've just hit that 30 mark and these thoughts have been bombarding me. It's not a new feeling but I think it's playing on my mind now because I'm at that point in life where you have to kind of accept that certain things you perhaps once thought were possible, aren't realistic anymore.

There's a constant discussion on these boards about whether TEFL is a real job or not and bla bla bla but I rarely see open and honest discussions about this. I mean, surely most of us here didn't grow up with hopes of being an English teacher.

Are you disappointed? Has it bothered you for years? Do you regret not pursuing another path? Are you over it?

One thing I don't want to hear is the cliche about it never being too late as I don't think that's really true. While there are exceptions to the rule, the general competitiveness of certain professions and the burdens and responsibilities we have as we get older make some things out of reach.

Sorry to be a downer, just wanted to hear from others who may be or have been plagued by such thoughts.

[Son Deureo!]

At 30, there's not much that's outside your reach based on age alone aside from professional athlete or maybe porn star. Plenty of people have started over and done something new after TEFLing here for a while, in fact, that's exactly what most teachers here end up doing.

Heck, plenty of people take up the arts as a sideline while they're teaching. It takes work, but you do have options.

[Squire]

Actually as a kid I thought I'd end up in a boring job that most likely pays well but I hate doing every day. As it is I find my job fairly amusing, it pays well enough (for this stage of my life at least) and I don't hate going in every day. Of course, those things are subject to change. As it is I like my job, which isn't something I predicted for myself ten years ago. As a kid I had the idea that practically everyone hates working. That didn't even apply to my parents so I don't know where I got that idea

[edwardcatflap]

What's so great about being a psychologist?

[KimchiNinja]

[comm]

[northway]

This is why I stopped teaching before I hit thirty.

[slothrop]

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[World Traveler]

[waynehead]

Short answer: yeah.

Long answer: yeah, but, I always wanted to be a writer, nothing's really stopping me but laziness and a lack of free time (or, more accurately, using my free time for other purposes), and one of my favorite authors, Joseph Conrad, didn't begin to write until he was 40, after spending 2 decades as a sailor. We ESLers are sailors of a sort, aren't we?

But all that said, yeah, things haven't quite turned out as I planned. OTOH, I'm fairly content with my station in life, healthy, relatively young (30, like the OP), like my job (not love it, mind, but I like it), and well, tomorrow's a new day. Cheers

[slothrop]

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[nora]

[young_clinton]

My Grandmother once asked me what I wanted to be. I said President of the United States. She said that's what I would be. I'm still waiting and hopeful.

[rollo]

if you are healthy and productive you are so far ahead. Enjoy life it's not some game or test. Relax.

i am way ahead, married a woman far smarter and much more beautiful than a schmoe like me could ever imagine. have my little business which is not even work it's fun. I am healthy, have friends keep working on the great American/Asian novel . Gee life is good .

[Son Deureo!]