Tuesday Feature- Ask Boyfriend

Hi Boyfriend,

I am planning on making some big life choices in the next few months and I was wondering if you could make them for me. I don't really enjoy my field of work and I've been thinking about going back to school to get a master's degree in a different, more specialized field. Education is EXPENSIVE though. Do you think student loans are worth it, or should I just try something else new that doesn't require an additional degree?

Also, because school is EXPENSIVE and I'm not sure what I want to do when I finish the job I have now- should I move back in with my parents to save money or try to find a cheap place to live so I'm still on my own?

Can you just tell me the winning lotto numbers so I don't have to worry about any of these things?

Thanks,
New Jobberry

Dear New Jobberry,

Given that I am unaware of the specific intricacies of you personal life, I must respond to what I can infer from your textual query, and I do hope that this approach is adequate. You state that you are planning on "making some big life choices," which you proceed to describe as A. either delving into academia further or switching jobs, and B. Moving in with your parents or finding a financially viable domicile and thus remaining 'independent'. I must first address your initial statement about big choices. "Big" as a qualifier of import relating to decisions, is perhaps the wrong approach to this situation and implies a certain level of irreversibility to the possible scenarios as well as temporal imperative in their making. You have time and nothing is permanent (except death), so make choices, make mistakes, and live.

Both parts of your question seem to also hinge on the monetary impact the path you are choosing to tread. The conventional sentiment is that school loans are the best type of debt, and while this is undoubtedly true in a fiscal sense, I suspect your concern should be more aligned with your personal interests than affairs of hard currency. If there is a particular area of study out there that really piques your interest, portentous nightmares of dire financial ruin on the other side should have no bearing on that decision. You will come through, I promise. Should you "just try something else new that doesn't require a degree?" Sure, fuck it, who needs traditional schooling, do nothing more or less than what you think will make you happy. This applies to your living situation as well. Do you see moving back in with your parents as regression? Do you place value in the significance of being on your own? Do you like your parents? Do you like yourself?

Live on a commune in that Dakotas, raising alfalfa, move to Bollywood and try to be an actor, work at a non-profit office job in DC with long hours for minimal salary but with good intentions, move back in with your parents and eat whatever your ethnicity's version of Sunday family dinner is each and every Sunday or whatever day of the week is important to eating. There is no wrong answer here, it's your life. I have faith that until you shuffle off this mortal coil you will make decisions that will make you happy, sad, frustrated, elated, the whole gamut. That's life motherfucker and it's beautiful and pointless, and it's yours.

Thank you,
Boyfriend

[Submit questions for Boyfriend in the comments, and answers will come out next Tuesday]