Did you expect to have more money?
I think I expected to have less struggle. Times of ease and joy, rather than just constant grind to survive. It isn't that I have done badly, just not as I had hoped. I wish I could provide more for my family than I do, across many areas.
I went into feeding people, and that was that.
Was there a clear guiding force, or did it just happen?
All he needed to do was to let go of his lifelong plans. So was that "bad" choice really bad?
It is the "letting go" that we mostly struggle with, right? This is what holds the status quo in place, because people don't want to lose what little they have, even if it means having more of something else more valuable.
One guiding force for many is that once you have had a job in a restaurant, it is easy to find employment everywhere you go. An incredible opportunity landed in my lap while I was looking for a job in computers programming. All I had to do was say "yes" when a the only restaurant I applied at called me in to wash dishes one night. And the rest is my history, up until age 55. My father may have asked me when I was going to get a real job until then, too. I didn't live up to his expectations. Maybe a lot of these traps are because we are trying to live up to someone else's expectations.
AND what causes the status quo option range to become narrower and narrower, until we are essentially slaves.