I went to college for journalism, but switched my major to geology/hydrogeology because the subject matter (in a throwaway elective, no less) quickly enraptured me while journalism wasn't at all what I thought it would be. Spent four years, got my degree with honors, and decided the next step was graduate school.

I graduated during the trough of the great recession and as it turns out, all of the recently unemployed scientists took this as an opportunity to get their masters so that they could advance in their careers. I put my name in the hat for two years and got rejected. During this time, I was working a crappy laborers job for shiat pay, and my mind got very restless without a clear path to occupy it. Partly due to this and mostly due to mental illness, I hit the bottle hard. For four years I drank more and more until I wound up in an inpatient facility.

After I got out, it was time to rebuild. At this point I discredited my degree and focused on trade labor since that's what I knew. Got contracted out of one job. Quit another. Quit one after an incident with some crips and a staple gun. Worked freelance until a client groped me and I decided not to risk being alone with anyone at a job. I never thought about hydrogeology anymore. I was just paying the bills.

My last gig was repairing and rebuilding espresso machines. After a couple years I got bored with it and decided to quit. No plan, I was just tired of how slapdash the service department was being run.

At this point I had no idea what I wanted to do or what I was good at, so I hired a career councilor to try and get everything on track. I gave him no inclination that I wanted to pursue my degree, but he was able to suss that out anyways and he really pestered me to go for it.

Very shortly after this, I wound up with a hydrology internship at a local watershed district. The job fits like a glove, the people are great, and I'm having the time of my life. Before I landed the internship, I was in talks with the U to work a Research fellowship as part of a master's program. I'm in the process of filling out that paperwork right now, since the field season is winding down and my internship is almost over.

The funniest part is that none of this was my idea. It happened because I talked to the right people and accepted their help and guidance. All I had to do to start moving forward was to stop doing things my way.