I work in the financial services industry in a major firm, and I enjoy my work. I do not regret having chosen this field, but I have a natural inclination towards the practice of law and sometimes I wonder whether I should have chosen to become a lawyer instead.

I'm curious to find out from my fellow alumni, especially those who have worked for at least ten years, whether they think they missed their real calling.

I haven't worked for ten years yet but the question you've gotta ask yourself is:

"Are you doing who you are?"

I kind of figured that among all of the things we could possibly do, we do a particular vocation because it makes sense in relation to our personal history, our temperaments and attitudes and our future plans.

There's probably something in financial services that makes so much sense to you even if you can't exactly explicate what that sense exactly is. And if it doesn't make sense any longer, would it be too late to move on?

It's not too late to switch fields, I suppose, but I don't think I will do that. I enjoy my work, as I have always had a liking for corporate finance, too. I guess it's one of those thoughts that come to mind as one approaches early middle age.

I also think that, if I became a lawyer instead, I would now be wondering whether I should have become a banker!

Unless maging sabog ako... there's no other profession for me than being a doctor.

well, i'm in government.
don't laugh it's not so bad because the work is consistent with what i was trained to do back in college. the money suits me just fine, and the other perks (mababaw ako -- flexi time, my own desk, a chair with arms, etc. ) are good too. plus NEDA is a lot nearer my house than the ayala area.
i can see myself maybe going on to ADB or the UN in the future because eco rules :cool:
but yes, sometimes i feel i'm neglecting my other interests. i also want to do some writing and stuff on the side, if not full-time. sometimes the idea to just chuck it all and become a drifter is really tempting. but my folks' nagging to *make something of myself* would be intolerable

i had a bad experience in law school but i wanna go back. even if it kills me.

honest! i wanna go back to law. people say i'm crazy but i was sooooo happy (kahit stressed out, tired, anything related to that) when i was studying law.

i will go back. even if it means sacrificing my current job (i am enjoying my current job though).

I've been working on and off for the last seven or so years. Right now I'm working in government, as a writer for the Philippine Air Force. I'm looking for better pay of course but the perks of this job are pretty good too. Color-coding schemes apply to you lesser mortals, he-he-he. I'm not in any big hurry to get married and start a family although I'm already an old 30, so even my piddling salary actually allows me to enjoy myself from time to time. I wanted to be a lawyer once too, except the School of Law didn't really agree with me. I might try to get into the Foreign Service in the near future, although my present job might turn into a real career depending on how things work out. Regrets? Yeah, not being 6-foot-6 and 225 lbs so I could've just played for pay even just in the PBL. If I had that kinda size, I might even have made the MBA or a rotation player in the PBA. That would've been P60 - 80,000 a month easy over a 10 - 12 year career.

on my way to being a doctor. although i can't stop myself from doing art stuff. sometimes i do think i missed my opportunity to become a rael artist but looking ahead, i suppose becoming a doctor entails a better chance of helping other people directly. i think that's what a real calling is all about: doing what you really like doing and helping as much as you can with it.

don't worry. it's never too late. never look at your life as if you're at the end of it. because tomorrow is a new day. it's always a new day. peace!

I studied to be a shrink. I've envisioned myself doing just that.

Then I moved to the US and did Accounting and then Planning. Far from my calling but the pay covers my bills, rent and my relatively few whims.

I haven't the faintest clue how much dough I can rake being a shrink back home.

Vulgslayer,
If you were a shrink in the Philippines, you'd be charging P2000 per hour. Of course that depends on where your clinic would be. I know two shrinks, one who has a clinic at UST (former classmate at the High School) and the other one has a clinic in Legaspi City, Albay (a friend's mom). Both of them are raking it in averaging two to three 2-hour sessions every other day. So that would be a minimum of P12,000 per week. I dunno about how the wage scale is now in the States, last time I was there was 1997, but P12,000 per week is pretty good over here. Plus they get to keep their own hours.

i'm an technology-business consultant but sometimes i think i should have been in the military special forces but i'm quite happy where i am.

Our journey through life is twisty. There really is no single real calling but a collection of callings which encompass our entire life. God invites each of us to discern his will. He speaks to us in the events of our daily life. It is up to us now to discover his will and then put it into practice.

In my case, I graduated from the Ateneo High School in 1987. Went to college, immigrated to Canada, established a business, enlisted in the army, taught computers, became a jesuit volunteer, and now am on my way to Haggerty House Jesuit Pre-Novitiate.

Well, every twist and turn in my life has led me to where I am today. I do my best to discover God's will. In prayer I ask for the grace to fulfill it generously.

God bless!

Our journey through life is twisty. There really is no single real calling but a collection of callings which encompass our entire life. God invites each of us to discern his will. He speaks to us in the events of our daily life. It is up to us now to discover his will and then put it into practice.

In my case, I graduated from the Ateneo High School in 1987. Went to college, immigrated to Canada, established a business, enlisted in the army, taught computers, became a jesuit volunteer, and now am on my way to Haggerty House Jesuit Pre-Novitiate.

Well, every twist and turn in my life has led me to where I am today. I do my best to discover God's will. In prayer I ask for the grace to fulfill it generously.

God bless!

Yeah, sometimes I think I missed it. Am actually still trying to figure out what my real calling is. Thought for a while that I knew, but lately, I've been having a lot of doubts.

I think I'm having a quarter-life crisis..

GabeP: Good point. What I do is keep in mind what a classmate once told me during a high school retreat: It doesn't matter that you don't know where you're going, as long as God is leading. It's a comforting thought.

[ November 10, 2002: Message edited by: miss d ]

GabeP and Miss D are right of course: life is indeed a collection of many callings. I suppose it's also about the choices we've made, and the so-called hand we've been dealt. Not to get political or anything, but I would think someone like Kris Aquino would have found her way into politics instead of showbiz (yeah, yeah we're in the Philippines and there's hardly a difference). And a career actor like Joseph Estrada would have remained only in showbiz. But surprise-surprise, talk about a role reversal for those two. In the same way, I always thought I'd be a lawyer, but things just didn't work out that way for me. I guess we also consider what it is we're good at, or what we like doing, when it comes to the choices we make. I know a lot of guys who have given up lucrative careers just to get into doing something they've been wanting to do all their life even though they didn't show as much aptitude in their alternative as they had in the careers they gave up. One of my friends gave up a cushy Vice President job at a solid IT Company just to finish the novel he's been working on since he was in junior high, and he didn't have a golden parachute or a separation package. I had two classmates back in the Law School who simply decided in their Junior year that they didn't want to be lawyers after all. So I guess the journey to find that calling is really a combination of the choices we've made all along the way. Miss D, don't sweat the small stuff. And before you sink deeper into your quarter-life crisis, it's ALL small stuff. Peace!

thanks joe

On a related note, anybody ever thought of a second job or sideline, aside from the job you're holding now. You know like, maybe you'd like to teach aside from work the bank or stock market. Or maybe you want to be a radio announcer aside from a being a programmer. I want to do either of those things soon as time permits. There's just something I find so special about being paid to communicate directly to people, whether in the classroom or over the airwaves.

Miss D, you remind me of my roots. I was in financial services and worked at Citibank, Chase, and American Express. I had 2 CPA certificates, 2 MBAs, 1 Post MBA, an unfinished DBA, when I decided to add a JD (all my degrees were obtained by part time night schooling in Manila and NY). It was always part of my long term plan. Results - recession proof profession even when they blew up our office building in NY. I just kept moving up.

...the height depends on the depth of the foundation.....but don't confuse this with happiness..that's a more complicated subject.
You don't have to be educated to be happy. In fact, you don't need money to be happy.

wow! you have a lot of degrees. how did 2mbas work out? one local and one in the us? also, how did you manage school and work?

I sure missed my calling but I guess I answered to a different call...

Ever since I was 7 I wanted to be an Oceanographer or Marine Biologist. I did make a lot of plans for it but I guess my decision to go to Ateneo changed the pathway and I ended up following the footsteps of my dad.

So today, I am a Junior Professional Associate working for the Worldbank. I finished AB Social Science from Ateneo and I have a Master's degree in International Public Policy and Management from the University of Southern California.

My dad finished BA PolSci in UP, has an MA in Public Administration and works in the Asian Development Bank. The funny thing is, I never really envisioned myself to do the same thing. I guess some people do end up following one of their parent's path one way or the other...

But I still plan to have something Marine biology related. If I get filthy rich within the next 10-20 years I'll open a foundation for Marine Biology research in the Philippines.

Judging from what my real interests are, I think my professional calling should have been either one of the following: 1) professional historian/history professor; or 2) professional athlete. But, in the end, I'm pretty happy with my choice of profession. It's not as stimulating as studying history or as exciting as sports, but it's great how things have turned out.

I indulge my love for history after office hours and play the role of weekend sports warrior. My office mates, especially my secretary, have actually come to expect some weird sports injury from me every Monday morning. It gives them something to talk about during their coffee breaks.

I have been struggling with that question for quite a while now. Before I went to college I spent a lot of time thinking about what course I was going to take and what options that would give me in the future. I tried to cover all bases, have everything ironed out, have a solid life plan. I chose a "more stable" course over taking something in the arts. I remember though, that as I was filling out the college application forms, I felt this twinge.

Maybe I should've listened to it. Maybe not. My life would be totally different if I did. I'm not sure if I'd be happier or more fulfilled, just different.

Sometimes I think that I might have missed out on something, but a friend of mine told me that just because I didn't take up a course in the arts doesn't mean that I can't pursue my love of reading and writing anymore. Her advice made a lot of sense. It sounds simple diba, commonsensical, pero I guess I didn't see that because I was too absorbed in the negative stuff.

I agree with GabeP, it is a collection of callings. Maybe my calling is to be a Bachelor of Science graduate who loves poetry and photography. Like my friend said, there's nothing stopping me from doing all that. I admit that I am full of apprehension at times because I don't know what's going to happen, but like miss d said, what's important is to remember that God's in control. I just need to have more faith.

Here's a quote:
"The notion that we're supposed to do only one thing is a loser's game." - Gene Simmons

i took up mis but am far from practicing what i've learned. i'm not enjoying it cause i've always wanted to be around people and not really just face computers day to day. i wish i could go back and take mass comm instead...