I'm finally starting to figure my life out.

I went into work today for a few hours to train on a new machine.

Over the last six months at this job, I think I've discovered that I like welding and machining.
I've spent half my life pursuing electronics to finally realize that I hate it. Why is it I'm now closer to 40 than 20 that I finally learn what I may actually enjoy as a career?

I know success doesn't have a finish line, but it would have been helpful to learn this before I wasted all that time in school and wandering down a career path that has mostly caused me misery. Maybe it is because I have been such a coward that I just let people, especially my family, tell me what I should do with my life based on their expectations.

I think my true calling is just to be a simple laborer. Logistics and assembly have been the jobs I have been the happiest since I first entered the work force 20 years ago. I've been made to feel that using my hand rather than my mind is something to be ashamed of. Yet I've always been able to use my mind more freely while doing menial repetitive tasks than I have trying to concentrate on logic circuits. Being able to listen to audio books or letting my mind wander while working has contributed to more creativity in my writing and I've even begun designing and inventing again. Something I've not done in over a decade.

I'm no longer going to feel shame for being a laborer.