help!
so i'm looking at the military, the navy in particular. i need to go Somewhere with my life fast, and it seems like a good strong choice. make a decent wage, get benefits, help with education, and get uprooted from this rut and put somewhere fresh and new and interesting.
on the other hand, the military seems to be too easy. i have to wonder what the catch is. it also seems like a prepackaged, preprepared meal. kind of generic. i am always tempted, and usually give in to, eating premade food instead of cooking for myself. the result is that i eat a lot of things that i know are bad for me, and i spend more money than i should, and i give in to being lazy.
i also am afraid of the affect that the military would have on my personality. a manager at work said, "there's one thing for certain about the military: if you aren't arrogant when you go in, you certainly will be when you get out." this manager was never in the military, but most of the rest of her family was.
on the other hand, i don't really know anything about it, and the best way to find out is to try. it's kind of scary to sign a multi-year contract for something you know very little about, but it will be over eventually.
(speaking of contracts, i have a bad feeling about them. i associate them with cell-phones, which are ridiculously expensive, and with rock bands, which get gouged by record labels.)
i wrote out a list of pros and cons, and the pros seemed to be mostly practical and straightforward, whereas the cons seemed more abstract and idealistic. i'd like to go for idealism, but i don't know if i really have the strength to stick with it, or to pay the cost. but what will be the cost of the practical gains?
sadly enough, this comes back down to solitaire. i have to make a move, not knowing what its ultimate consequences will be, and i fear that i'll make the easy move and then find out that i missed the perfect opportunity.
but not every opportunity is perfect. geez, i am thinking about this way too much. i could go on forever.
here's something appropriate that i just read on bareSquare:
"It's the job that never gets started as is hardest to finish."
--J.R.R. Tolkein in Lord of the Rings