If it weren't for the fact that I started studying Japanese back in my stupid fangirl days and did the whole scanslation thing, I would never have discovered my love of learning languages and I would still have "no idea what I want to do in my real life" instead of having an actual career aspiration (which is to become a translator -- and not of anime/manga, either). I may have picked it up for all the wrong reasons, but on the whole, I'm glad I did.