People Who Fulfilled Their Lifelong Dream But Hated The Experience Share What Happened

A Former Performer

"I spent six years of my life in the choir, thinking I wanted to be an opera singer or perform in musicals."

"I got to my first year of college as a vocal performance major and realized I wasn't actually willing to learn most of what was required. I had never played an instrument or taken lessons on it before, so I was s**t at music theory. Then I had to take a piano class, which I was also s**t at, with three more years of those to expect in the future."

"I didn't have the same kind of flamboyant music kid personality as all my classmates, so I had a difficult time getting along with everyone, too."

"The only thing I had was a good voice but without any interest in anything other than actively singing. I finally realized that it wasn't the career path for me and that I didn't want to become famous or deal with the bulls**t that comes along with trying to get consistent work in that industry."

"I found that I enjoy singing most when my husband is having a difficult time, and I can help him fall asleep at night by just singing his favorite song. He's knocked out by the time I finish the first stanza usually. It makes me feel like I didn't waste all that time for nothing."

- KarlieNatasha

The Game Builder

"Video game development. There was way more math than I anticipated."

- catalystjoe

"I can here to say the same, video game development. It was my dream since I was very young. I spent all of college working towards it and worked an entry-level dev job and then a mid-level dev job to get prepared."

"Finally, the time came and I was hired by a game development company. My dream job! I lasted 18 months and I will never, ever consider doing it again."

"Game developers are not only worked to the bone and paid poorly (by software engineering standards), but they are also treated like college students working on a team project. No autonomy, no flexibility. Management was h**l-bent on butts being in seats exactly at start time, exactly 60-minute lunches or you are written up, work until 6:00 PM if you’re lucky and until 10:00 PM if you aren’t, but hey, they would spring for s**tty delivery food!"

"Everything about the job, I hated. And, the kicker, the main difference between the business apps I was building before and the games I was building during was the variable and function names."

"Unless you are very young or very VERY passionate about making games, DO NOT go into game development. If you want to build games, do it in your free time."

- hightrix

The Glamorous Pilot

"Being a pilot. I dreamed about it constantly as a kid. I finished all my ratings by the age of 20 and lasted four years on the job before I realized how shady the industry was (the charter industry back in the early 2000s)."

"I drive ships now."

- prominently_hidden

The Long-Awaited Name Change

"I changed my name. When the name change was accepted and I received the letter with my new name on it, I freaked out and changed it back the same day."

- sour-d

​The Idllyic Psychiatrist 

"I thought I'd be a practicing psychologist, but I had a very idealistic view of it. Like the patient lying on the couch, telling you about their life problems, then you telling them something and giving them a breakthrough. Mental illness cured!"

"I did complete my psych undergrad, and I loved the subject matter, but after doing my internship at Child and Family Services it was very clear to me that I wasn't cut out for clinical work. I certainly would have burned out, and barely made enough money to live as a case worker."

"I got my masters in HCI/UX and made my career in tech, which was a great decision. I have nothing but respect for the boots-on-the-ground social workers, but I'm gonna continue to read books about psychology instead of working in it."

- plasma_dan

Romantic Dream Come True

"I grew up watching romance movies and reading romance novels and always dreamed of a guy coming and sweeping me off my feet and then having hot sex with me."

"When I actually got into my first relationship with a guy, I realized I was gay."

- ukrainianironbelly92

Not Just Curing Cancer

"I dreamed of working in a lab. I wanted to help cure viruses and diseases. But it turned into monotonous days of pipetting, plating germs, and tediousness that was soul-sucking."

- deoxy75

The Aspiring Architect

"I wanted to be an architect so I became one. I quickly learned that the only people who actually get to be creative are the people who own the firm."

"The pay sucks and they grind through young architects but you require a very expensive degree and testing to get your license is expensive and difficult."

"It's very dependent on the economy and at the first sight of a downturn everyone gets laid off Slow to recover as well as construction sometimes lags."

"There are long terrible hours doing sh*t work to make some stupid design some partner thought up actually work in a technical sense for months on end only to have a client say it’s too expensive anyway and you end up with a square glass box."

"It's also very deadline driven like, 'we’re digging a hole on Monday so be done or we’re all fired,' so high stress for s**t pay."

- Lejanius

The Successful Tech

"I wanted to make it big in tech, like my mother did, who spurred my interest in tech as a child."

"Then I got into tech and understood my mother survived in tech because she was one of the megad**ks that make tech so toxic."

"I was the 'I'm here to get along and make money' kind of tech. She was the 'You can't take my promotion from me if I get you fired' kind of tech."

- Surprise_Corgi

The Joys of Pet Care

"I thought I would love being a dog groomer. I love dogs and working with my hands."

"What a load of s**t. Owners are a**holes, some dogs were a**holes, horrible bosses, unrealistic targets, and you get scratched, bitten, s**t on, and hair gets everywhere, even in your eyes. Unless you work for yourself, it’s a crap job, and maybe even then."

- posh_old_bird

Visiting Las Vegas

" Vegas was such a huge letdown for me. I grew up in Atlantic City and 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..."

- UncleGrako

Veterinary Care

"Being a veterinarian. I never became a vet, but one of my first jobs in high school, having wanted to be a vet my whole life, was in a vet clinic. I was ecstatic."

"But vet clinics are depressing as f**k. Dogs and cats hit by cars coming into the clinic in horrendous pain. It always smells like s**t from fecal floats (checking for worms), pets that got put down but could have been saved if only their owners could have afforded it."

"There are always two freezers in the basement, one for dead dogs, and one for dead cats. They get hauled to the basement freezer in trash bags in case they release waste after they die. I couldn't take it after only a few months and left."

- Competitive-Ad-9662

The Chopping Block

"Being a Chef. I left high school in year 10 to get a certification in commercial cookery as I loved cooking and making dishes at home."

"I loved it for the first few months and then realized how draining it is. I do split shifts 9:00 AM to 2:30 PM, and then again from 5:00 PM to 9:00 PM, sometimes 9:30 PM. It's exhausting after doing it for four years. You lose your appetite completely."

"I recently had a knee injury and have been off for a few weeks, and it's really made my anxiety and depression calm down after not being torn to bits by chefs who have had 20 or more years of experience and 'know' everything."

"It's making me realize that I've made the wrong career choice."

- Acats3

Confessions of a Not-Shopaholic

"I know it sounds stupid, but mine was a shopping spree."

"My family never really had much money, so I could go out on a shopping spree with friends, and if I did go out with them, I was always the one left holding the bags or feeling left out."

"When I did manage to get a few things for myself on occasion, like if I had a birthday or Christmas money, it was always what others wanted me to wear and never anything for myself that I truly loved."

"I felt weird because I was always told girls are meant to love shopping, like my friends did, but I just hated it and chalked it up to not having much cash and being dragged about from store to store."

"I came into some money years ago and was able to have a shopping spree. I decided to go alone so I could buy what I wanted without others' influence, but I hated it still. I couldn't justify the prices I knew my friends usually would spend, and I felt so overwhelmed by everything."

"I also found that while being alone, I could be honest with myself, especially with nobody pushing me to buy their style, and I very quickly realized I was quite alternative and gothic, and none of the shops fit my style."

"I left overwhelmed, sad, and disappointed and realized I never felt off because I didn't have money or felt left out. I felt off because I really didn't like shopping or crowds, and I was not accepting my true style."

- HotTemperedGoose

'Never Work a Day in Your Life' ...Maybe.

"This whole thread is a good reason why you should never turn your hobby into a job."

- somethingweirder

"Don't ruin something you love. Do something you're good at, instead. And do what you love as a hobby."

- jprause

From the time we were kids, there were things that we always wanted to do.

But like anything else in life, some things are not going to be as great as we thought they would be.