It can be a bummer to really, REALLY want to do something for a long time and then find out that you don’t like it.

At all.

But that’s life, friends!

Here are some stories about this phenomenon from folks on AskReddit.

Not working out.

“”I want to be an environmental lawyer when I grow up! I’m going to help save the world!”

Fu**ing k**l me dude, I don’t even have the energy to save myself anymore.”

Never looked back.

“All my life I wanted to make cartoons.

I fought with tooth and nail to reach the top.

Then I interned for an old studio in Burbank specializing in cartoons about a certain yellow family.

Then, after college, I became a mechanic and never looked back.”

Need a new path.

“Being an EMT.

I had planned on it being my lifelong career since middle school. I loved the medical field and wanted to save lives but knew I wouldn’t have the stamina to get through medical school.

I got into training as soon as I graduated high school and I was top of my class in the educational sense, but as soon as I started doing ride-alongs everything just kind of fell apart on me.

I didn’t fit in well with the firefighters, which sounds stupid but I think I really needed that brotherhood if I was going to survive in that field. The real problem, however, was my empathy.

I knew quickly that I would not be able to see people on their worst days everyday. I could deal with broken bones and blood, but I hadn’t prepared myself for the screams.

On my third ride-along I responded to a teenage s**cide, and that was it for me. I work for a museum now.”

Try it out first.

“Blacksmithing.

I watched a ton of blacksmithing content on Youtube, got SUPER intrigued and wanted to build my own setup in the backyard. My Father talked me into trying a class before jumping in headfirst, and I am glad I did.

My Father and I were the only two in the class that day so we got all the attention from the instructor which was awesome, he really helped us both perfect our techniques and corrected any mistakes quickly so we didn’t form any bad habits, it was the best instructor I have ever had for anything, guy was an amazing teacher.

He even offered to let us stay for a couple more hours to make another piece, which we took him up on. After all that, an amazing class, 3 metal pieces that I worked on and created by myself by hand, I walked away… dissatisfied.

I think metal as a medium just felt very hard to work with, everything is super hot and dangerous, and I just didn’t see myself wanting to ever do it again.

I really recommend taking a class to try something out rather than spending time and money to build your own setup for something you may h**e. I spent $75 to save thousands.”

Sure is!

“Being the boss of people.

Boss is a title, but being an effective leader of people is an emotionally draining, often thankless roller coaster.”

Better late than never.

“Music production which is what I majored in.

As soon as I graduated from college I realized how much I h**e sitting in a recording studio doing the same thing over and over again, only to scrap it and do it over yet again.

Turned out to be brutally technical, drawn out and boring with very little reward and it took all of the fun out of music for me.

Even the pros I worked with who were doing objectively “well” seemed miserable most of the time due to having to work with some truly insufferable people and never getting the recognition they felt they deserved.

And half of them were al**holics, chain s**kers or insomniacs with pronounced depression.”

Not as cool as it sounds.

“Traveling for work.

You spend a lot of time in hotels and rarely get the opportunity to see anything besides that due to flight schedules.

And being hungover on an airplane is an awful experience.”

At least you have some good stories.

“Moving to another country.

I loved the romantic idea of moving to a new place and finding out about the culture.

Turns out it’s expensive, it’s complicated and it’s tiring as fuck.

Only silver lining is that I’ll have a few good stories to tell… To no one since I basically lost all my friends.”

Tough job.

“Being a Chef.

I left high school in year 10 too get a cert in commerical cookery as I loved cooking and making dishes at home. Loved it for the first few months than realised how draining it is.

I do split shifts 9:00am-2:30pm than 5:00pm-9 sometimes 9:30pm. Its Exhausting after doing it for 4 years. You lose your appetite completely.

I recently had a knee injury and have been off for a few weeks its really made my anxiety and depression calm down after not being torn too bits by chefs who have had 20+ years of experience and ‘know’ everything.

Its making me realise Ive chosen the wrong career choice.”

Sin City.

“Going to Las Vegas.

Vegas was such a huge let down for me. I grew up in Atlantic City, now live in the south and have been to Biloxi’s casinos a lot…. and I always heard about the majesty of Vegas…. and the OUTSIDE of casinos were cool, but I guess the insides of casinos are all done by the same designers…. the only difference with Vegas was everything cost more.

And those guys flicking the cards to hand you porn cards like real life pop up ads when you’re walking downtown.”