Perfect fit?

[cjsmith]

Word is going around the office that I'm leaving high tech for (hopefully) vet med, and almost every single person who has commented about it has said some form of "that's perfect for you". They can totally see me doing that, they think it's really right for me, they think I'd be great at it, they can't imagine a more perfect fit than me being a vet (that last is a direct quote with the pronoun changed). One even said she thought it was such a good idea for me that she can't understand why I didn't do it when I went to school the first time.

Wow. One or two people might be being nice, but nearly all of them? Maybe there's something to this.

(Also: if it's so obvious, dang!, I wish someone had told me fifteen or twenty years ago.)

Comments

[just-cyd.livejournal.com]

wow. that's cool. what a huge vote of confidence! hooray!!!

would you have listened to them 15-20 yrs ago? i know i sure wouldn't've

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I might have. Probably around my sophomore year of MIT I would have listened with great sadness, "knowing" that it was "too late" to make that choice. (Sophomore year is when we started getting letter grades. For years I thought I'd never do any more schooling of any kind because of those grades.)

[just-cyd.livejournal.com]

i think evilegg's question is the more valid one. i remember how needle-phobic you used to be ... you've come a LONG way in the 11-ish years i've known you.

and i think you're proving that it's NEVER "too late".

[evilegg.livejournal.com]

Could you have done the job 15 or 20 years ago?
I couldn't have worked with sick and injured animals until fairly recently.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Oh, now that's an interesting question. I'm not sure if I could have. I'd have needed a bit more time to acclimate to the woozies back then, but the emotional impact is what I'm not sure I could have handled.

[layer.livejournal.com]

i am always half-tempted to just ask everyone: what should i be doing with my life since obviously i'm having trouble figuring it out. but most people don't like to answer a question like that.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Also, it's a lot easier to answer the question "Does this plan seem to you like a good fit for me?" than "Which plan seems to you like it would be a good fit for me?" Those coworkers might not have come up with the veterinarian idea any faster than I came up with it, but once I named it, they can say yes to it.

[layer.livejournal.com]

that's a very good point.

and in my case if i said landscape architect or writer, i'm guessing most everyone would say what i keep saying: both.

[allanh.livejournal.com]

Self-centeredly, it make me wonder what people think *I* should be doing instead of what I'm doing now.

[exvapi.livejournal.com]

At NIH, there is a door to the vet section.
On the door is a sign that says
"REAL

[exvapi.livejournal.com]

At NIH, there is a door to the vet section.
On the door is a sign that says
"REAL DOCTORS TREAT MORE THAN ONE SPECIES"

Good luck.

[elgecko.livejournal.com]

When I left a job some years ago, they gave me a going away party where one of my coworkers said she'd thought all along that I'd been a conservative Christian and she was pleased to to find out she had been wrong!

I think my cover there was a little too thick...

[ashiegrrrl.livejournal.com]

A friend of mine is going through a similar experience with a career change. It's surprising him as well and I just laugh. It's amazing what friends see in us!