On working, life, and growing up

I want to talk today about my experience as a non-traditional student and working gal! 
I graduated high school in May 2013 (that's 3 years ago!). While most of my fellow graduates went on to college, others got married and had children, and still others went on to move to other towns and pursue their hobbies, I merely stayed in my hometown and hung around. I couldn't afford to travel on a big, lavish trip like some of my friends. For me, the day after graduation was just another normal Saturday. I was pretty tired because I had stayed up pretty late that Friday. It was very normal. 
Starting in 8th grade, they drill into your brain that you MUST go to college. It's A NECESSITY. If you don't go to college you are a FAILURE. 
I do NOT agree with this.
I believe that it's a personal choice. Sure, there are statistics out there that say college graduates make 78% (I've made this number up) more money than non-graduates. But then again, look at people like college dropout Mark Zuckerburg- he's a billionaire. And yes, there's a one-in-a-gazillion chance that we'll too become billionaires, but if Zuckerburg's experiences tell us ANYTHING it's that if we pursue our true dreams, then we can achieve success by our own measures.
So yes, my take on the issue is: pursue your dreams. If that's college, sure, if it's taking 3 years off to go on a sabbatical in Thailand, go for it. Just be realistic. Because at the end of your life, I highly doubt anyone looks back and wishes they'd gotten a degree instead of starting a family. Or sat hours in a classroom when they could have been seeing the Grand Canyon.
Life is short, for goodness sake just do what you want!

Moving on, I want to talk about my own experiences growing up.
The night shift life was NOT fun. I'd be getting home by 5:30am and in bed by 6am. I'd get up around 1pm or 2pm to use the bathroom, then fall asleep again until around 5pm when I'd eat dinner and shower and start getting ready for work again. I'd leave home by 6:30 pm and get to the factory at 6:45ish. By the time I clocked in and made it to the back to my post, it'd be 7. We had a break around 9:15. Most of my coworkers smoked, so I'd just go back there with them and sit outside just to get out of the hot, paint fumes from the station next to us. 
We make our own way.

Soon after high school, I realized I needed to do something with myself. I'd had my break, now I was just laying around the house being unproductive. I knew I didn't want to go to college just yet, so I decided to get a job. I applied at a lot of retail facilities and even thought about doing CNA classes. 
Towards the middle of July, the only place who had called me back and offered me a job was an automotive factory. I accepted and started in a few days. I would be working the night shift- 7pm to 4am, sometimes 6am.
It was HORRIBLE.
The place was huge, hot, smelly, loud, and just generally depressing. My job wasn't too bad, just hanging parts on a rack for painting, then sorting the parts once they came back from Paint. It was a boring job, but an easy one for my very first job. I soon learned that this was not something I was interested in. After just a few hours of hanging L and R parts, I was overcome with this intense feeling that I'd rather be doing ANYTHING else other than this. My coworkers were super nice and helpful, the pay was awesome, and I got the weekends off, but the job itself was purely sad.
Lunch was at 11pm. The cafeteria had yummy food and I mostly ate burgers and one day they had breakfast for dinner. It was weird, eating at midnight. My body was super confused. We'd go back to work and had another break around 1am or so. This was my favorite time because we'd go outside and it was usually very cool. The stars were out and the world seemed dead- yet life went on for us in the factory. We were wide awake while everyone else was fast asleep. It was strange.
Work was over at 4am, unless we hadn't reached our goal that night and our team leader decided we needed to stay.
This happened almost every night, so I'd end up getting home by 6:30ish and asleep by 7am. 
About a week into my personal hell, a friend of mine told me about a job opening where she worked as a translator. I applied and was offered an interview.
I got the job! So just 2 months after getting out of school for 12 years straight, I was going right back to the school calendar/schedule. 
I love my job for the most part. This fall I will be starting my 4th year! It's truly been an amazing job where I have learned many new things and have grown as a person. 
So yeah, I didn't follow the path everyone else did. So what?
I'm fine with that.