Sometimes I think I am, but blue Picard has a good secure job that he does well and seemed to enjoy until Q swapped it all up. He was doing alright. I’m more like Nexus Picard, but without the big house, and his kids were impossibly well behaved, and I’m the one that prepares Christmas dinner.
hig houses are much overrated imo. Just think of the time you'd have to spend dusting and cleaning. And of the heating bill!
I have a horrid government job. But On week ends I play with my dogs, paint (art) and fence. My job doesn't define me. In fact, it's sad to think of a man like Picard who was really only his job and outward appearance. If rather be a peon with an active social life and interested outside of work than spend my off time as only a continuance of my work day.
Yes I am a blue shirt. Now where is Q for my do-over Can't really complain much though. I work a steady 40 hours a week, weekends off, and have good benefits. Could be worse.
I set my goals extremely low and have never deviated from that course, and i have yet to be dissapointed. lol
I certainly didn't live up to my potential, and I'm doing a middling job right now and I haven't had an extremely glamorous life by any measure really. I was very depressed when I was sixteen, and I was suffering under emotional and mental abuse from my parents (and I didn't understand what I was going through until later), and I became very withdrawn and apathetic. If I'd been aware how I wasn't the problem, but my parents were, I could've done much better. I did really well in school mostly, when I applied myself, and I had such a great interest in sciences, I would've loved to go to medical school, and I'm sure I would've done well. Instead I just did what was easiest and quickest, and now I'm doing very menial work and I don't have a terribly bright future doing something meaningful. Oh I'm very comfortable with my life, but so is Blue Shirt Picard, right? But I think that's sort of what that point's all about, you can just do whatever's easiest for you, and you'll probably be "okay", or you can really apply yourself, take chances, and you can be great and live a life you're really proud of. If I could go back to my sixteen year old self, I'd help her understand how she's not responsible for how her parents treat her, and she's in control of her own life if she wants to be.
I was a red shirt Picard until I worked myself too hard and burnt out. I’m still not fully past it but it’s getting better all the time. Now I strive to be blue shirt Picard. It took a while to accept that it is something to be content with and happy about. .
I started as a Red Shirt Engineer then passed the command qualifications by age 28, kept my Red shirt on for years in my various dual roles, but eventually, I put on the Gold shirt for the last 13 years. Now I wear cool civilian costumes.
I have no idea what red shirt me would be doing. If Q came along, in a slightly good mood and said ‘You there, name your shirt and it’s yours’ No amount of time would be enough to answer. Successful people know what they want and pursue it. Me, I want everything and nothing, in no particular order, and that’s what I get, to some extent.
I'm getting shows mixed up. My original comments are TOS shirts. In TNG, I'm first Gold pajama, then lastly I'm Red pajama.
I take the question asked in this thread to mean, "do you feel you are doing what you want to be doing with your life," since the point of Blue Shirt Picard was that he ended up somewhat dissatisfied with his life and not living up to his true potential. It wasn't about whether he was in the sciences or was a starship captain. No matter who you are or what you do, if you enjoy your life and feel your place is the right one for you, then you are Red Shirt Picard. I am Red Shirt Picard. I thought I was going to be Barclay for a while, always dreaming of a better, more exciting life, but I found my place and am pretty happy with who I get to be in it.
An interesting question, as I'm in the middle of a transition right now. I've been on my current career path for 7 years, and in that time I started as a gold shirt and then moved up to a red shirt. I listened to those along the way that encouraged me to jump at promotional opportunities, because I was so smart or so good at it or I have so much potential. "You'll be running this place one day!" was a common mantra around the office. Some changes happened and then they said that they NEEDED me to step up and be a leader. There was no one else that fit the role so perfectly. So I did it, and I'm good at it, but it has made me miserable. Even though I've tried my hardest to maintain regular hours (and mostly succeeded), the job drains me so much that I am a zombie when I come home at the end of the day. I have no life, because I don't have the energy for it. I earn more money, but there's nothing I even feel like spending it on once I've paid the bills. I'm so tired from interacting with people all day that I have no friends, because the thought of spending time with people outside of work sounds exhausting. My marriage has suffered, because I don't do my fair share of chores and I'm boring. Worst of all, I find no joy in the work that I do, no meaning. Exhausting myself every day for a higher purpose might be worth it, but this is not. The other day I heard someone say "just because you're good at the job, doesn't mean the job is good for you." So fucking true. So, I took the chance and got another job in an entirely different line of work, doing something I know I'll love, and I start in two weeks. It's what I've always had a passion for, got two Master's degrees in, and find very meaningful work. It pays nearly half as much as my current job, and I'll have a worse commute. But I am SO excited. My current boss and another coworker discouraged this and are upset that I'm leaving. They've actually said "how can you do this to us?" It's basically unheard of for people to leave my current employer, as it's a very safe and stable job. People gasp when I tell them (which I have to say, I delight in). But then they're happy for me when they see the genuine smile on my face, which is probably something they haven't seen in years. I could stay at this place and be "okay," but I want more than that. So it's kind of funny, I'm leaving a "command post" not because I lack ambition, but because I have the ambition to go for what I really want, even though that means a lower rank. I've learned that success has a different definition for everyone. From the outside my current life probably looks like success, but for me it felt like failure. When I got the call offering me the new job, my thought was, "I made it. I did it." Maybe some day I'll be ready to take on a leadership role again, but not anytime soon!
While I believe at the moment that my work is satisfying and my life comfortable, I may perceive my life right now as Red Shirt Picard.... but any number of close friends or relatives may see from their perspective that I've come short of my own success and they see me as Blue Shirt Picard. I guess the point I am trying to make is... greatness is highly subjective.
Good Luck of your endeavors, Meow! My wife is currently doing something similar. She quit her career in her early fifties to go back to college to change careers. This is her last semester, and she is currently interning at the place she thinks she would like to work at. She's excited and much happier. Happy wife, happy life.