Indecision 2009

M's,
Lately I’ve been re-evaluating my life path. I spent high school and
college studying and doing things related to humanities and social
sciences, and now I’m taking post-bac premed classes to apply to
medical school for 2011. I’ve always been more passionate about
healthcare than any other field, and becoming a physician appeals to
me because it would be challenging, engaging, and personally
rewarding. However, at the prompting of one of my darling friends, I
took a comprehensive career fit test. I tried to respond as honestly
as possible, and at the end, it told me things about myself that I
should already know, but often ignore or try to overcome. I’m great at
lots of things—I knew that before I took the damn test. But
ultimately, the problem is that I don’t think I would tell someone
with my particular demeanor and skill set to go to medical school.

The meat of my question is this: where do I draw the line between
self-improvement and going against my own nature? Should I seek to be
more detail-oriented, more organized, and less social just because I’m
interested in a specific career? Or is it more beneficial for me to
find something that suits me just as I am? I hate giving up on things,
but I think there’s a point when persistence becomes stupid rather
than courageous. At the same time, I don’t want to have any regrets.
Maude. Mod. Help.

Indecision 2009

Dear Indecision 2009,
Mod: I’m deflecting this one to Maude because I’m going through an identical career crisis. Mom?
Maude: The real question you’re asking has meaning for all of our readers. Can we change our basic personality traits? Should we? At what cost? And, equally importantly, why do we persistently take those ridiculous personality/career tests, anyway?
First, I would like you to sit quietly and imagine your 5-7 year old self. What was your temperament like before you began to adapt to the difficulties of living in this world? Our truest selves, our most sincere selves, were undiluted at this age. (Even the Catholic Church knows this -- no confession until you are age 7 as by then you should have been able to begin adapting to the expectations of the world you actually live in). Do, dear one, sit quietly. Imagine that cute young "you" and ask yourself if you should continue on a career path that is going to be "challenging, engaging, and personally rewarding". What did that mini you want to do all day? What made her happiest? Why, mini Maude remembers clearly that on her 7th birthday she meditated on the unhappy starving children of the world. She decided right then that she would take her shy and quiet self and find a way to save them. And here I am today. See how it works? And for goodness sake, I do wish your generation would stop thinking that the health care field only consists of physicians. There are outstanding people who perform duties as Physician Assistants, nurses, dentists, chiropractors, midwives, and more. And by the way, "giving up on things" is the same thing as "changing my mind" as told to parents and friends at your next dinner party. It is all in the delivery.
Mod: Wasn't 5-7 the age when I refused to wear anything but a party dress and cried at least once a day? Which career is that?