Honestly? Sounds like a pretty decent life path

Op could have made worse choices overall. ATVs are pretty cool. Soil is soil. Coulda been a cubicle monkey. At least op is getting some sun.

Colleague asks to do Environmental activism

Don't know what that means, but sure why not

mfw blowing up oil pipes

Anon teaches us that making seemingly random choices and going for it is better than making no choices at all

Man, I recently quit IT and went back to school and became an electrician. Couldn't be any happier rn

I have a family friend who grew up near a creek. He loved bass fishing, so when he heard that invasive carp were eating bass eggs he took that personally.

He'd go out night after night bow hunting carp. He'd kill them and throw them on the bank for animals to eat. Dozens of these huge fish every night for years.

Eventually he cleaned out several miles of the creek by his house, and it's some of the best bass fishing in the area.

tl;dr - He got a degree in fisheries.

Went to college, had GPA issues.

Stoner neighbor friend says " Bro, you should do undergrad research at some lab at school, it's really easy and they give you an A at the end of the semester.

ok

do undergrad bitch work get easy A

They ask me to do a master's. Ok

they told me I could do a PhD. Ok

apply to national lab for post doc

accepted

working there 10+ years

boss retiring, says I have to run the research group now

its ok

You're doing God's work. Underground runoff is real, and it's full of shit and pesticides. Digging a well for fresh water sucks.

My drinking buddy is a neuroscientist.

Same story. Went to college uncertain what he wanted. Did liberal arts, realized he was always curious about how the brain works, and just kept pushing through.

He's not really sure how he was going to make a living, but he's good at what he does and it's the only thing that keeps him going.

A few drinking sessions prior, we celebrated over him submitting a paper that took five years to write.

Sometimes I regret my choice of doing software engineering only to be glued to a computer my whole adult life working at optimizing systems for large corporations to maximize their already huge profit and contributing nothing of significant value to humanity.

I'd rather be riding around on an ATV outdoors with the sun and trees and flowers and birds collecting soil and rocks and stuff.

Wish my major-hopping ended up half this comfy

Forrest Gump: "I don't know if we each have a destiny, or if we're all just floatin' around accidental-like on a breeze. But I, I think maybe it's both."

OP is Gump lol

Born to go field study and research nature, forced to be a cog for increasing shareholder value

I basically fell into my life choices and they've worked out remarkably well for me. I intended, upon leaving high school, to get a music education degree and become a high school band teacher. Then due to budget reasons (and an unwillingness to take out $50-80k in loans) and having to work full time to support myself, I ended up taking a break from school (after taking 5 years to get my Associates Degree). I moved to the opposite side of the country on a whim, and after a year and a half at a truly miserable call center job, my friend suggested the Coast Guard. So I talked to a recruiter and got a report date.

Around the same time, I met a woman in my area (back before online dating was the tragic mess it currently is) while just looking for people to do things with, since I moved across the country knowing nobody. We got along, but nothing kicked off until I told her I was joining the military (leaving), we both expressed how interested we were in each other, and became a couple.

I'll spare you the longer story, but ended up proposing during "off-base liberty" in boot camp (generally speaking DO NOT RECOMMEND) because I was moving halfway across the country, and, per my proposal, "neither of us have anything, you just lost your job, and the way we both are, even if it's bad we'll stick it out for a year. And if you ever want to go back, we'll buy you a plane ticket, split what we have, and you're no worse off than you are now." We ended up getting along amazingly.

And I was worried about joining the military (which I was doing for the GI Bill so I could finish school then become a band teacher), but the job I've been doing is WAY better than being a band teacher, and I'm currently buying a house (for the second time) and getting set to retire somewhere amazing. At 46.

My life is considerably better than anything I might have planned, because I went along with the opportunities that came up. I think OP failed task successfully.

If it was one of those federal jobs with a 3 year probation then green text is probably unemployed now.

Cannon is a winner

Environmental science jobs are legit, they're pretty chill too, unless you're working as a lab analyst

At least Anon didn’t pick Law like so many people do when they don’t know what to do after high school.

Great. Wonderful. Really happy for you, anon. >:{