Everyone loves the idea of being their own boss—of making their own schedule and doing what they want. It’s easy to romanticize.

At 18, when I took a long draught of this freedom, everything fell to shambles. After many years of schoolish homeschooling and two years of private school, my ability to guide time and energy towards meaningful endeavors had atrophied.

With ADD, all the imposed responsibility in the world couldn’t make me want to execute irrelevant homework tasks. I tried a bit, because I loved my parents and appreciated a handful of teachers, but that was only a drop in the ocean. The only thing that got me through school was my excellent reading comprehension.

Since graduating from high school in 2014, I have been in the business of deschooling myself—of seeking to reclaim my education. There are many aspects to this, but perhaps the most important was discovering meaningful work. I explored dozens of career options, some in reality, and some in my imagination:

  • Graphic designer
  • Robotics educator
  • Web designer
  • Full-time dumpster diver
  • Montessori teacher
  • Barista
  • Copytech
  • Camp director
  • Traveling English tutor
  • Aerial photographer
  • and gobs more

I’m tempted to believe that data science, the field I’m working towards right now, is some kind of end to my search for meaningful work, but I would only be fooling myself. I mean, look at my idea bucket! There’s several lifetimes of plans there.

Now to redevelop the persistence required to defer shiny novelties and flesh out the work at hand.

***SOMEDAY I WILL WRITE AN IN DEPTH ARTICLE ABOUT WHY I OPTED OUT OF COLLEGE, BUT TODAY IS NOT THAT DAY***