nerdinredlipstick
u/nerdinredlipstick
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Honestly, my general philosophy towards work is just to work to live and not live to work. I'd focus less on what your career should be at any given time and more on what can you do for work in order to live the best life possible. Our jobs are simply us exchanging our time for money and real life exists outside of that. We use the money that we earn from those jobs in order to live the lives that we want (travel, a nice home, experiences, family, etc).
If you can't stop worrying about reaching a certain milestone by a certain age, I've known people in their 40s & 50s who left the careers they've had since their 20s in order to pursue something they felt more aligned with. It's never to late to do whatever makes you happy!!
All legit tattoo artists should always offer free touch ups once a tattoo has healed. That being said, not sure that your artist is well versed in fine line work. A lot of those scales (especially on the head) are going to disappear pretty quickly. You can get a free touch up from the same artist but might also want to consider seeing a more experienced artist who can touch up your tattoo in a way that actually sticks. Live & learn!
You're going to spend the majority of your life at work. I personally believe that you should work to live instead of living to work. However, you shouldn't hate the work that you do. Disregard what your family says and follow your passions. You'll have a happier, more fulfilling life if you're doing something you actually enjoy. If you choose a career you hate, you're going to end up hating your life and will burn out incredibly fast.
Also, based on what you've shared, it seems like you're young. This is the perfect time for you to be trying different things, figuring out what you live & don't like, and overall sorting out who you are as an adult. There's always plenty of time to change your mind and pursue something else if you want to. It's never too late to start over.
I never graduated college and work in tech for my dream company as an executive assistant / chief of staff. All of my experience, I learned on the job and have had a "fake it 'til you make it" mentality. Over the last 15yrs of my career, I worked incredibly hard to climb up the corporate ladder, acted strategically, and cultivated strong relationships with the people I've worked for. I started earning 6 figures before I turned 30 and currently have a total comp of over $200k.
Unless you want to be a lawyer, doctor, or go into another profession that requires further education...I personally don't believe you need a college degree as long as you're willing to work hard, are confident (even if you need to fake it), have some basic people skills, and are determined to succeed.
Honestly, finding a really good therapist to help me make sense of my nightmares + seeing an incredible psychiatrist to prescribe much needed medications has helped a lot. My psychiatrist has helped me get my mental health to a place that is easier to manage. Then, sharing my nightmares with my therapist has helped me make sense of them and have a deeper understanding of what I need to process.
If it makes sense, sharing my nightmares with my therapist and understanding them on a deeper level has helped them feel less "real". Even if my emotions and inner child might sometimes feel stuck reliving the past which is expressed through nightmares, the ability to make sense of these nightmares reminds me of how far I've come as an adult.
