I am almost done with college but hate the field I'm studying. When I was 17, I was a stripper and tried running away, but my parents found out and cried and apologized for the abusive situation they had created that made me decide to leave in the first place. They're much nicer now, but still controlling. If I don't make the choices they want me to make, instead of hurting me, they now become very scared and sad because they know I could leave, and also that their becoming upset really upsets me in turn, because I do care for them. I also have other siblings whom I love to death, but they completely agree with my parents' choices for them (these are mostly cultural and religious, I should mention), so - at risk of sounding unfortunately both teenage and trite - they just do not understand. Because I do not agree, and if I'm wrong not to do so, I'd like to please find out for myself.

I like to consider myself a considerate person, and last time, it was morally okay for me to leave because they's really created a despicable world for their child to live. This time, it would be much more cruel on my part to do so, and this unsettles me a great deal, but I still desire the opportunity ever so much. I was extremely good at stripping - upwards of five hundred a night with my "physical" boundaries entirely intact. I never smoked, drank, or did drugs, and I like to say I'm too attracted to women to lose any part of myself to a guy voluntarily. (I am, however, inclined to honor my parents' wish and get married to a nice man from my culture... someday.) I am also very artistically talented (not my own opinion), and I could do some freelance, but I do know this won't keep a roof on my head. So I could strip for some months and a year before finding something I actually wish to pursue. Maybe get another degree on a scholarship.

Then when I'm settled with all of my choices - and no later - I'll revisit them with tears and kind words and apologies.

Is all this terribly far-fetched and inane?

At 18, you're a legal adult and can leave...seems that the only thing holding you back will be you. There is no easy way to do it but what are your long-term plans? You can't expect to live with them until you're 50, right?

You also aren't entitled to any monetary support once you leave either... also keep in mind... they also won't have to take you back when you come crawling back this time. There is a steep price to pay for having to do things your way. You may find that Stripping is going to slam shut some doors of opportunity in a lot of job fields. But that's a choice and a price you as an adult will pay for your choices.

Also... its pretty obvious... that its not them that have trouble understanding... but you. Also remember just because they took you back once... doesn't mean they will again... false tears and apologies aside.

What's the old saying... fool me once... shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

Even the best parents have limits as to what they will accept. I know many that would not have given you a second chance..... much less a third.

How can you be almost done with college at 18?

I suggest that you get the degree in the field you don't like, just for the degree. Change majors for an art one.
Then move far away and do what you want, and don't tell them. If stripping, just be ever aware of the dangers. Save $75,000 in one year, use it to buy a condo, and get an art job, and be a starving artist.

I am not looking for monetary support from anyone but myself. That's why I want to leave. And by no means will I be crawling back when I return, because if it's a crawling position in which I'll happen to find myself, I'll try with my life to find crutches and a way to my own two feet alone, before bothering any poor souls with it. I wish to return to try my best to heal wounds I selfishly inflicted.It is rather for my own benefit, not theirs, admittedly, but there should be no leeching of real resources on my part. Just emotions, maybe.
Thank you for your responses thus far. I sought out this community because it seemed to offer less frivolity than that of the ever-popular Yahoo! Answers. I daresay I am not mistaken.

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Originally Posted by joypulv

How can you be almost done with college at 18?

I suggest that you get the degree in the field you don't like, just for the degree. Change majors for an art one.
Then move far away and do what you want, and don't tell them. If stripping, just be ever aware of the dangers. Save $75,000 in one year, use it to buy a condo, and get an art job, and be a starving artist.

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Yes! I do plan for a condo. Perhaps more than one.

I assume you are not in the us and college is your equivalent of what we call high school? So you would next go to university?

Personally, I could not approve of your plan. The money is appealing but stripping puts you in company of some seedy people. You could be raped , kidnapped , sold. Why not just go to university and get a real job?

I was born and reside in the US, and was fortunate to have finished high school (very) early. My parents were strong on education; I do admire that.But this all is rather far from the point.

Hard to believe this claim. You skipped four grades? Wondering if this whole thing is made up.

What benefit would I incur from making this up?
This is a typical reaction whenever I ask this question online. Why is skipping grades so difficult to believe? Or does no one know their own mind enough to take control of their education these days?
Sorry if I sound vexed, but dear God. Answer the question. Please.

Its difficult to believe because very few people are actually able to skip one grade... much less four. You would have been required to prove you have mastered the entire curriculum in a grade by testing before it would even be considered... and very few school systems would even allow it.

I've known some incredibly gifted people...and only one of them was able to skip a single grade.

In regards to your parents, what is it exactly that you don't agree with? (Also - you have to understand how farfetched your story is, ridiculous even. A child prodigy finishing college at 18 who stripped when she was 17, making $500 dollars a night (where did all that money go?) who isn't terribly worried about losing any part of herself to a man (voluntarily that is) because she is more attracted to women anyway, who thinks that stripping again for a while to save enough money to buy a few condo's is a good idea... come on.)

If you were bright enough to skip four grades you would have full scholarships and be at the elite college of your choice on a full ride. Maybe you would work in the college library for pocket money. You would not be living At home and would not need to strip for money. This is bogus.

I understand. I have not met people like me, either. Well, except for my sister, who skipped two.

My parents, it would seem, were not in the financial situation that scholarships favor.
And nothing pays as well as stripping. Nothing.
I'm not talking pocket money, here.

I don't wish to pursue the career, to be devout in the religion, and to marry in two years.
Wow. It is far-fetched, isn't it?
I'm a little scared. Maybe my identity could be discovered because of its sheer singularity.

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Originally Posted by spareaddress

My parents, it would seem, were not in the financial situation that scholarships favor.

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Scholarships don't favor parents and their financial situation. That's why there are scholarships -- to give not-wealthy students a way to finance their education.

That's the thing. My parents were more than able to pay. I was not at all not-wealthy.

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Originally Posted by spareaddress

That's the thing. My parents were more than able to pay. I was not at all not-wealthy.

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So why no college/university?

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Originally Posted by spareaddress

Sorry if I sound vexed, but dear God. Answer the question. Please.

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Dear God ? Are you not being answered thus far ?

I am graduating from university. There is very mild local press on me (the way it like it), which of course, I'd do better not to share :)

Yes, they are being answered. Thank you all.

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Originally Posted by spareaddress

I am graduating from university. There is very mild local press on me (the way it like it), which of course, I'd do better not to share :)

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Sorry, I don't believe a word of it. Oh share, please do ! We won't tell. So, what did you do with all the money you made stripping ?

This all sounds very familiar from someone else in the past few months.

Haha, good one.
I worked twice or thrice a week for about eight months.
Much of it was for high-end beauty treatments and gowns, I'm rather chagrined to admit.
Then there was an Origin computer and Sennheiser headphones. Art supplies and a Wacom Cintiq.
Oh, and the piano.