Well, I can attest to the need to change your career and everything. I've been a steel stud framer for a decade with a few years of service rigs and well servicing in there and it's really taken a chunk out of me psychologically and physically. Coupled with a really destructive passion being competitive lifting, I was left with no other choice but to change my career otherwise I just wouldn't last. I was pretty close to committing suicide just one year ago. So anyways, with some guidance from one of my physical therapists, it has been suggested to me to go into the realm of physical therapy. While you're studying Physical Therapy you can study for a trade in which you can make real money working on people and learn about related topics.
Worst case scenario is, you will make out of school with a well-respected trade, and a practitioner license number under your belt and you will be able to charge top dollar for physical therapy. Now the benefit of this is that, once you're finished you can start working hard to pay off your loans, and in the meantime if you have any extra time, you can continue your studies part time. This is my plan, I'm one year into upgrading and will be going back to framing for about 6 months after I finish a couple more High School upgrades.
I started this journey as a high-school dropout with a 4th class power engineering certificate as of 2013. Power Engineering isn't as technical as it sounds. You're basically certified to test the water in a boiler and call services to do any repairs that you are unable to perform yourself on the plant. The main job of power engineer is basically to clean and maintain the plant and make sure that all the equipment is running as it is supposed to so that processes can occur in a timely fashion without disruption. Flow is key in the plant, time = money.
So anyways, I struggled in construction, and I pulled out to do this power engineering after saving cash for school on the rigs. Power Engineering didn't work for my personal lifestyle of competitive lifting and it also drove me insane but with the night shift and having a very hard time training on my "on" shifts adjusting from day to night shifts working 12 - 16 hr shifts ect. I suppose it would also be useful to understand that I got seriously addicted to fentanyl and meth during this time and this was one of the most difficult periods in my life. I was chasing money and taking jobs for all the wrong reasons. Doing drugs so I could work harder and longer than other workers. I was a fucking savage about it.
Fast forward to 2016. I started framing again and my general depression continue to develop. I felt very trapped in my trade and like I was only being used as a laborer because that was the main thing I was good at. Working with my body but my body had an expiry date. As you may be able to tell, my situation was deteriorating at an accelerated rate. I was becoming more and more efficient at my occupation, even getting ready to hire guys and I was training people on the job, accumulating tools and equipment up to around $17,000 worth of equipment for the job. And I fucking hated it. I wanted to kill myself. There were good days, sure. But at the end of it all, I was hollow inside my soul, waiting for death, playing russian roulette with IV opiates, xanex, amphetamines, and liquor every day. I could not drive past a liquor store without stopping, every day I would tell myself "not today", but I would stop and get a 6 pack or a mickey and be drinking in traffic all the way home before I'd eat and go train. I don't know how my liver, heart or brain still work at all. I suppose it was genetics and luck of the draw.
I was searching for an answer with a lot of professionals in the physical therapy realm. Seeing that I needed so much of it myself, my chiropractor suggested to me that I go to school for massage therapy. So I've been on the path to switch my career to that ever since. But now massage therapy isn't my intended destination. I intend on continuing far beyond this trade because I would like to end up in a lab someday, and what with understudied systems such as the lymphatic system, our rudimentary understanding of the interplay of the neuroendocrine system and it's scope of influence on literally every metabolic process in the body, genetic predisposition, micology, neurolink, nootropic drugs ect., there seems to be endless possibilities for exploration and discovery. Renewable energy ect ect. Literally it never ends with what promises to be fields of science that will undoubtedly experience revolutionary discoveries that will change the world of science. I think limiting yourself to just the study of drugs may be a little bit... limiting for lack of a better term, but that's part of the academic process. You will find things that speak to you along the way, and this process is important when considering a life long career.
Personally, my plan is to finish my college education as a massage therapist, and it may or may not count towards credits for another degree in university. Which one I might pursue I haven't completely decided on yet. There are so many fascinating subjects that are getting a lot of attention these days and it's really hard to pin down where your heart wants to go with this whole information explosion. You could change your mind half way through, who knows.
It also depends on how much money you're willing to owe at the end of this journey. I've been fortunate that my finances have been fairly forgiving and that I shouldn't have loans over 60,000 owing when I'm finished College. It should only take about 2 or 3 years to pay on the salary of an experienced athlete who has been on trades for over a decade and has a wide range of skills, experience and knowledge at their disposal.
This is just a suggestion, but you can't go wrong with trades. The fact of the matter is, even when I do finish my college education I'll still have all the tools that I need to be a steel stud framer and Interior Systems mechanic, I still have my vehicles, I'll have even more education relating medicine and the sciences and I can work anywhere in the world with these skills. I will never be out of work should I choose to pick up the tool pouch or open my massage table. Also, I have a new lease on life and am no longer suicidal. I'm slightly crazy, a little manic at times, up, down and everything in between. But I dont wake up wishing I was dead before I strap my boots on and pound a shot of testosterone with some stims into my body before I labor my fingers and vertebrae down to the bone.
I took the resources I had and got myself a backup plan, the first course (RMT) which I should be done in 2023. But this path also leaves doors open for many other directions of academic achievement, should I desire to pursue them. But the most important thing is, I found a trade that will earn me real money, that I am happy doing.
Look at the cost of the first plateau and what it can potentially earn you. Weigh the pros and cons of taking an extra step just in case you do settle on that plateau for whatever reason. Make sure you can support yourself on the wage you can earn from the degree you are looking into, but I suppose more importantly than anything, make sure you chose something that you are fairly certain that you will be happy doing.
I suppose it doesn't matter if you make 100k a year, because I did when I was a power engineer and I wanted to drive my new SUV into an oncoming semi every day on my way to work. I had a new appreciation for construction when I got out of that trade, but was still looking down the barrel of a shotgun because of the damage my level of work demanded I perform at daily.
I've spent almost 85% of my savings on my first year of upgrading and I'm still almost 3 years away from the end of the first stage. But I am genuinely happy pursuing this goal. If I continue into another field of medicine, sweet. If not, that's cool too. But even if you do find yourself in a certain occupation, that by no means limits your ability to continue to pursue additional skills and knowledge. Don't let anyone or anything stop you. Don't get comfortable. Just keep reaching, and you'll find meaning in every day for the rest of your life.
I hope this long winded snapshot into my tortured past helps somebody make an intelligent decision on which direction to take their attention in regards to this journey for the discovery of self. There is no distain worse than rotting at your job, a fate more disheartening than the idea of death itself.