Thursday, January 28, 2010

What would you do if you were not in your current life?

Everyone I know has wondered once or twice, what would my life be like if I didn't get married, have kids, etc. It does not do much good to wonder, but I can't help but do it. I would not change my life now, but what if I took that other path, where would I be?

Well, if I did not have a child, I would probably still be an archaeologist. It was raising my son that stopped me from continuing my career, I decided to stay home when he was young, and to get a job which works around school hours as he got older. Even though we moved around a bit when we were first married, I was able to keep finding archaeology jobs, so I have confidence that I would be doing that if I did not have a child. It never paid much, but I know how to live frugally. Plus, my last archaeology gig was with the government, which would be a guaranteed salary, unlike some of my other archaeology jobs which relied on grant money.

If I had not gotten married and if my parents had steered me in my education choices instead of letting me randomly pick what I wanted to do, I believe I would be working for Doctor's Without Borders. I truly love the medical field (it was my alternate choice when deciding what I wanted to be when I grew up) and I would be "making a difference" which matters to me. Without having to worry about spouse or child I would be willing to place myself in more dangerous situations. I still contemplate this idea, or course there are few barriers, not the least being that I do not have a medical degree. I am contemplating correcting this, weighing my options, debating my fears, we'll see.

What would you do if you did not have children? If you were not married?

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I would have explored a living in art/writing/music. I've never enjoyed working at a regular job, but, I wanted to have Dorothy and the girls so I set all that aside for them. George Bernard Shaw said "A true artist will let his wife starve, his children go barefoot, his mother drudge for his living at seventy, sooner than work at anything but his art”. I guess I'm not a true artist because I could never do that, so I worked for the Postal Service. Of course my life is secure in retirment, but much is given up in the search for security.

Envoy-ette said...

If I could have a "do-over" I would have to go back to the third grade. The only thing I know for sure is: I would be skinny. Probably living with my mom since dad has been gone for 21 years. We would be a package deal and I would be miserable.

kilgorsky said...

It's always an interesting question to pose.

Is there any way you can get back to your career as an archaeologist now?