Another 'blossoming young adult' here and I feel like talking with a third party opinion might help me. I need to make a choice between choosing a career that I feel I need to do vs doing something I personally love. And that choice is between being a doctor/medical field or being an animator.

It seems straight forward, and the simple answer could be to animate cause it's what I love. But when I think of taking a uni course related to it, I feel really bad for not choosing medicine because of the idea that I'm ignoring people that are dying.

I have this strong need to help people. So much so that it's annoying and frustrating like a bad habit. Sometimes trying to deal with people's problems is relieving. Other times it's so stressful that it hurts and makes me depressed. But it could never hurt more than the regret of choosing to ignore them. I don't know why I'm this way, maybe it stems from a selfish sub-conscious feeling of wanting to be someone important. Maybe it's because there's 'doctor's blood' in me. Or maybe it's because I empathise with people who are in need of help, as I have similarly experienced in a situation where not getting any lead to the death of a family member.

On the other hand, drawing and animating makes me truly happy. I've been drawing since I was little and I've animated as a hobby. It's never been stressful, but rather a stress-outlet. This goes with watching animated shows as well, since more often than not, I've been able to focus and pull myself out of negative thoughts through drawing and watching films. As a result, it's something really special to me. But when thinking taking the career path, there's always a thought that I'm being selfish because here I am living my dreams when there are countless lives that could be saved if I had just decided to take the medical field.

I feel like I can't ignore people who are in bad situations - I can't help it. But at the same time, I want to pursue something I love doing. In the end I know I'm going to have to sacrifice something, so it is a bit of a tough choice for me, and I'd like an outside party's thoughts please.

I can't really tell you what to do, it's a decision you have to make. But I'll just add a couple thoughts that might help you sway one way or the other.

For some people it's better to do what you like, not what you're passionate about. If drawing/animating makes you happy and has never been stressful for you, then you have to consider the possibility that doing it as a job /will/ make it stressful for you. Some people can cope with that, others not so much. Sometimes it's better to keep your passion as a hobby and have your profession just be something that you like or are content doing. This preference will vary from person to person though, so it takes some self-reflection.

But also consider the fact that you do not /need/ to be a doctor. You may feel a calling to do it, but you're not morally obligated to sacrifice so much (SOOO much) time, money, sleep, and hard work for strangers. It's not as direct, but animation can also save lives, or be an important part of a person's development, or be what makes a person's day worth it. Both professions are valuable and selfless, just in different ways. And if you pursue animation, you can also still contribute to medicine by donation (money, blood) or spreading awareness.

I think that's about all I've got to add to the conversation. Hope that you're able to work this out soon, good luck.

I basically agree with everything said with the post above.
A good quote, though slightly overrated, is," Make your passion your profession"

The simply idea is, if you both enjoy something and are good at it, it's the ideal career.
However, making your main stress-reliever into a profession can be a bad idea, but it all really depends on the type of person you are.

As for the rest...well, there are many ways to help others. Not to dampen your mood, but unless you are a genius at being a doctor, you won't be helping others that much. As such, you can donate your money, blood and free time if you want to help others, but choosing is at a profession is not that necessary.

That said, my thoughts are just that, the final decision is to you.

Hi, I'm currently a junior in college and I can tell you that my dad's side of the family was absolutely shocked when I didn't choose to major in art.

I do enjoy art and I have a lot of fun drawing. It's my main hobby. But that's also exactly why I didn't choose to make that into my career. I didn't want a job to take the enjoyment out of creating art. I'm very passionate about drawing and I would hate to lose that passion because of the stress that comes with a job.

I'm instead majoring in software engineering for two reasons: 1, I like programming and working with software enough that I could stand to make a career out of it and 2, software engineers make a pretty good salary. Being a junior, I'm pretty far into my degree, and it's still something I enjoy doing. I don't quite have a passion for it, but I also don't hate it. I absolutely don't regret my decision.

Now, here's where you kinda worry me. You feel like you need to be a doctor? Never do anything as a career because you think you need to. Only do it because you want to. There is NOTHING selfish about not being a doctor. Not everyone is cut out for it and it is not suitable for everyone. There's A LOT that goes into it, so it's not an easy thing to do. If you can get rid of the idea that you need to be a doctor and instead come to realize that you would genuinely enjoy being a doctor, then I'd say go for it! But as long as you feel like it's more of a need than a want, I would personally not suggest it.

On the other hand, with animating as a career, you could either spark your passion even more and create wonderful works or you could be burnt out by having your passion, your stress reliever also be a job. It's hard to guess how you'd adjust to it, but I know that I would HATE doing art on time constraints, having other restrictions, and not being able to enjoy myself as much. Maybe you'd thrive as an animator. Maybe not. You have to think about it.

Basically, think about it and weigh your options. Ultimately, what could you picture yourself doing as a career? What would you want to be working on every day? What will bring you more satisfaction?