Putting the F-U-N back in C-A-R-E-E-R

I've been meaning to post this thought for a while, but didn't want to make it seem like I wanted to change my career. I don't. I like my job and the its overarching objectives. Who knows what I'll be doing in 10 years, but for now, this works.

But I always wonder, how do you make a career? Is it ever too late to create a career? Does it need to begin after college, and end with retirement? A career is essentially a set of building blocks in the same overall direction, but do you need all of those building blocks in order to make the next step? Can you carry over any of them in order to move in a different direction? Basically, can you be doing the same thing for 5-10-20 years, then pick up and attempt to start a new career? Is it ever too late? If you're 31 and somewhat enjoying what your job entails and where you're going, but always have a longing for something different (which you can define, just don't know how to reach), have you wasted around 8 years of your life in another direction? What if you make an uneducated guess and take the first job that comes out of college, and end up sticking with it, just because it would take too much effort to go backwards, for 40 years? Is it worth it? Any why don't Americans generally support the "gap" year either between high school and college, and college and "life," to help us become who we truly want to become? I think that many of us would not be facing these challenges if we just slowed down and reprioritized.

I'm not sure about all this. Maybe it's that changing a career mid-life requires time, effort, and risk, which many are unable to take. For many reasons - family, location, financial, etc. I guess you can have anything you want, ever, if you are able to take the risk and work hard.