Hello -- I am about to shatter your dreams about teaching being the ideal career for someone who is ill but not completely incapacitated. I was a newspaper reporter and editor for 19 years (the "I can write" talent), before fibromyalgia/arthritis set into the neck and shoulders, making it torture to sit a computer all day.

I got my Ph.D. and became a professor. Within a few years, my digestion was shot as well. I lost my job -- and I am now "overqualified" and "too long out of the business" for newspaper. There is constant, very picky evaluation in education. K-12 teachers around here have their jobs on the line if students don't reach benchmark goals. In higher ed, there is constant politicking for who gets what -- which can be as little as a 2 percent raise.

If you want to go to college because you are hungry for knowledge, love to read and study, and crave the intellectual stimulation, or even if you have a goal, go to college. Even if you think your health is not good enough to permit you to reach the goal, try a little anyway. You won't know until you try. People achieve marvelous things, even when other people say they can't.

There are many rewards in teaching, and I keep a blog so that I always keep them firmly in the front of my mind. But I loved newspaper, and I never had to remind myself that I loved it, because it was a passion. I am glad I have my education, because it made me a bigger person, less prejudiced, more understanding, and eventually, more compassionate, as I work with students who try so hard but don't really have what it takes.

I think it's great that you are thinking about what you want. Best wishes clarifying your thoughts so that you can go after whatever you decide on with your whole heart.