1) quitting smoking 2) Leaving engineering to become a firefighter paramedic at age 36 3) Getting a master's degree in computer science 4) working a crap ton

1) quitting smoking 2) Leaving engineering to become a firefighter paramedic at age 36 3) Getting a master's degree in computer science 4) working a crap ton of over time and 2nd job to pay down mortgage 5) leaving firefighter paramedic after 14 years to work as a software developer fulltime.