I have this fear of the mid-life crisis

Right now I'm trying to figure out my major in college, and it sounds very practical to just do a job you don't mind doing and support the family but what about when I'm middle-aged and the kids are out of the house. Am I just supposed to make more money? Money I never wanted from a career I never cared about? It almost seems like there's no middle ground. Either drive a taxi or being a corporate employee.

Define "middle-aged" for me. I'm 46 and I'm certainly not middle aged. I just got married for the first time eight months ago, just completed my MBA, and my bride and I are thinking about starting a family.

You're trying to figure out your college major. So you're what, 17? 18? There is a lot more to the workforce than driving a cab or working for a corporation.

Find something that 1) you can do well, and 2) that you enjoy. That solves your college major and your employment if you can find a job doing it. By this I do NOT mean "play XBox".

When I was finishing high school, I wanted to be an aerospace engineer. Why? Because I thought planes were cool and back in the 70s we were just being introduced to the SST. I figured out quickly that there wasn't a lot of demand (because not many schools offered AE is a major). So, I switched to Electrical Engineering. That was fine for a while, but I had problems getting past differential equations. I switched to... Accounting. Boring to me. I switched to English, partially because I wrote well and partially because Mom taught English. This wasn't where I wanted to be and limited my career choices. You see, I did (and still do) want to make enough to live a comfortable life and provide for my family. After managing pizza restaurants and working security, and a short stint in the Navy, I fell into a job as a writer. Writing tech manuals and other documents came naturally. I had an engineering background and a writing background.