When did you figure out what you wanted in life?

Just yesterday morning…but I am not sure it is what I really really want.

I’m almost 25 and I still have no idea. I’m going to school and sometimes it feels like I’m wasting time, since I have no clue what I’m actually going for.

I’m not sure that’s the way it works. I’m 60, and I still reevaluate regularly.

When I met her

As far as relationships go, I’m going to agree with @PretentiousArtist… when I met him. As for all the rest? Oy. I’m 42, and I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up. :(

While nursing on my mother.

I’m 27 as you know ;) and I have no clue. Motives and goals constantly change, but I still feel as though nothing is going according to plan. If there was a plan. So, I wander aimlessly.

Here is a story one of my friends told me about how she found what she wanted.

My friend Marie had been working as a stock trader. She was earning a lot of money and she was in a pretty good place. One odd thing after another happened. Her friend got laid off and one of her close relatives died. She knew that something was happening here. She finally got it. (now she isn’t very religious but she’s not a “bad” person either) She picked up God’s hints. She knew that where she was right now wasn’t where she was supposed to be in “God’s plan”, and that she was supposedly letting the money get to her head. She quit her job and went to work in the Bronx to teach math, how surprising, to teach all of the underprivileged kids. Now she has moved to work at Sacred Heart in Greenwich. She has a good heart god bless her!

My desires for life have changed for the better, IMO. I used to be solely focused on money and a career. Now, although I know those things are necessary for life, I’m more focused on creating and nourishing loving relationships with others. That’s my strongest desire. I think doing that brings other positive things like happiness and health, which I also want. There are also other unimportant things that I want to achieve such as a near perfect figure and bigger hair =)

I’m 20.

@PretentiousArtist and @augustlan I agree. When I met a certain somebody everything I thought I wanted in life suddenly wasn’t as important. In fact, the only thing I am sure I want in life is him anything else that may come along and fit nicely into my life is a bonus.

Just now… Wait… Wait… Nope.. I got it… Nope lost it again.
Let me get back to you.

It changes constantly. When I was young I didn’t give it too much thought, went to college, accumulated the necessary letters after my name so as to be able to get the right job and make lots of money. Lived in NYC and DC and other exciting places. Tired of that, went into the dog business, loved that and made good money for years then tired of that as well. Moved to Australia lived in Sydney, that was great but tired of it, moved to a little town on the ocean, loved it there but tired of that. Moved to the middle of nowhere in the NT, the land of 60,000 year old rock art and crocs, it was unbelievable but tired of that. Now at 65 moving again to start all over in a new place back close to the ocean. Have no idea how we will make a living there but I am sure something will turn up.

Bottom line, I still haven’t figured it out, hehehe and I hope I never do, the quest is the fun part.

It’s not one thing for all points in time. What we want changes, as @rooeytoo says, constantly. You are a new person from year to year, month to month, day to day. Each new person wants something different.

You ask this question as if there is one right answer for you, and if you have that answer, you’ll know exactly what to do. It’s just not like that. You have dreams and you have goals. Sometimes one goal seems more important, and at other times it’s not even on your radar screen.

I never even really had goals for my life. Except impossible ones like saving the world. Mostly it’s been pursuing what I think I want right now in order to either satisfy an insistent itch, or to make me happy at some point in the future. What do I want in life? I want to do good. I want to help people. I want to play trumpet. I want to be loved. I want to be an involved and loving father. I want to treat people well, and respectfully. I want to try to understand and empathize with everyone (that’s a toughy, for sure).

I don’t know if these are goals so much as principles. I guess it’s not so much what I want in life, but how I live my life. If I live my life in a way that I feel good about, then it won’t matter what I accomplish. That will be accomplishment enough.

Unfortunately, I also have another principle lurking in the background. I feel compelled to try to be perfect. I also feel like I have not done my job until there is noone who does not have reason to be thankful to me. These two principles pretty much mess me up a lot. I don’t think they are realistic, nor at they desirable. They put too much pressure on me. No one could achieve them. But, in some ways, I’m not in control of what I want in life.

about 4 months ago…we all think we will live forever but when you finally acknowledge that life is way too short and you begin to realize the priorities of what you want from life, you can actually sort out things in a hurry.

I am sixty five and I still don’t know what I want out of life. There are a lot of things I regret, and a few achievements that fill me with pride, but the totality of one’s life: what is that? I listened to the eulogy for my father; it gave a shape and a meaning to his life that was not evident to me when he was alive. Perhaps it is an insight that comes only at the end of life.

28 here and I wouldn’t say that I am clueless about what I want in life. Then again I wouldn’t say that I know either. I guess i’m starting to weed out all the stuff I don’t want in life, only problem is there’s alot of that stuff. My appreciation of what’s good in life has definetly changed alot since 25, and i suspect it will change again once I get over all this turning 30 business. Also I suspect getting kids kinda throws your whole equation too.

I’d say listen to the oldtimers, they seem to give very sensible answers.

Great question BTW.

About 7yrs old. I knew what I wanted that was of my grandparents’ lives and I saw pretty quick what I wanted of my parents’ lives, the rest was waiting to see how much ability and opportunity I’d have once on my own. I haven’t disappointed myself much.

I figured out I wanted to play first base for the San Francisco Giants when I was five. Hasn’t worked out so well thus far.

basically no one here knows what they want except a 7yr old and a baby. Don’t feel too bad if you haven’t figured out yet.
Personally I didn’t know either until about a year and a half ago when I started reading Robert Kiyosaki’s books. They changed my life.

Well girl at this stage I want to get a degree and be a teacher some day…but life changes as well as people so im not really sure. Im only 24 and im still alittle confused.