When history beckons you onward, what do you do?

My dilemma: I'm pretty sure I was born to be a doctor. Everything about my personality points me in that direction. I am passionate, my reflex to help people in need is as strong as ever, I enjoy solving problems, my primary source of motivation comes from people, I can relate to people from nearly every walk of life, and all of my friends and family repeatedly tell me what a great doctor I would make (to further add to the emotional complication of it all).

Yet here I am, age 24, holder of a newly minted B.Sc. in Biology/Psychology and I am happily toiling away on my second degree, an B.Sc. in Astronomy/Physics. It's not that I think I would want to do research for the rest of my life. Really, I don't think I'm cut from that cloth. However, astronomy is in the middle of a fantastic golden age; one that is certainly unprecedented and perhaps only even touched by the great astronomers of the Enlightenment and the philosophical and scientific golden age of ancient Persia. What a time to be alive! All of the subject matter simply fascinates me and gives me that "wow" feeling. I am addicted to it.

Yet the constant, nagging questions persist. Do I spend a few more years of my life exploring the universe? Won't that waste some of my precious professional development years? But is it wasted time if I am truly enjoying myself? If I love it so much, why do I not enjoy the research as much as the learning?

The key is to be confident in my direction, which is to become a doctor. Perhaps I will make a detour through the cosmos on the way though. That might be nice. If I am presented with an opportunity to be a part of the Golden Age of Astronomy, should I not take it? Most people toil through their lives, never becoming a part of something like that.

"Not all those who wander are lost." - JRR Tolkien

If I had a quarter for every time I have had to tell my self that. Here's to wandering.