A joke gone terribly awry

I guess I should explain something that was posted here last week. The Poll. After talking to several people, I was sort of dismayed to find out that no one was taking it for the joke it really was. I really don't need help deciding what to do with my future, or at least I didn't until some folks made me question my own life choices in a negative way.

I don't know if I'm just particularly sensitive right now, but after hearing what was said, I was immediately hurt by what I perceived to be was a lack on confidence in my professional choices. Now, I'm not writing this to make people feel bad because quite frankly, they have just as much of a right to think/say it as I have to feel hurt by it, but we can't shy away from taking responsibility for our parts in the whole thing. I overestimated how the joke would go over, so I take responsibility for its being the catalyst, but by the same token, everyone needs to accept that my life choices are made between myself and Rod, meaning I know what's best for me, and I'm making informed decisions based on the options available to me. If people can't trust that, then what else about me are they not able to trust (Rhetorical question, do not answer)?

So I'm sorry that I put that joke out there. I had intended for lighthearted banter to be the primary consequence and not what actually happened.