[tombrown]

I have been at a local restaurant for a year and a half, since the tender age of sixteen, and now I see everybody else my age going to school, and moving on with their lives, getting an education, moving out, etc. For a long time, I wanted to be a cook, I figured that if I could work my way up to a line cook as a 17 year old, why not? Granted, I work in a small kitchen, with an exceptionally tight staff, and I am given a lot of creative freedom with what I do, which I think has allowed me to grow to the point where the idea that maybe I am a decent cook managed to niggle it's way into my head. My problem is that I am insanely burnt out. I have serious doubts about whether or not I would be able to cut it in the long term- like the sous-chef says, "if it was easy, everyone would do it", add on to that the fact that I have a very bad back.

I graduated with the grades to do pretty much whatever I want to, so I have the luxury of sort of picking and choosing, but I really do love cooking, just maybe not the lifestyle (shifts till 3 am, life revolving around the kitchen). I wonder if there are other career paths within the culinary discipline that maybe aren't so physically and mentally taxing (catering, maybe?). I just want some advice, as I try to make the decision about what to do with my life. Thanks!