I don't know what to do with my life. I'm in a quarter life crisis, any advice?

jezebel

There are a lot of elements of your post that resonated with me, kingslayer.

I don't pretend to be an expert on this, but having recently reached 33 I'm still struggling with what I want to do with my life, and at times what my anxiety/depression allows me to do with my life and what career I want and can have (which, I've found, are two different things)

The best advice I've come across on this topic is:

Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't.

From: Wear Sunscreen: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-schmich-sunscreen-column,0,4054576.column

Maybe I just like to think I'll be an interesting 40 year old in a few years time!)

I've done traditional university in my teens/twenties and OU study later on, I think about going back to get my Masters but can't decide on a topic and I keep telling myself that if I study that it ought to end up in a career this time (the last two didn't help me in work that much, although it did build confidence).

I would congratulate you on making an early decision on university not being for you at that stage in your life, I struggled a lot at university to get through mainly because of the pressures to attend and conform- I nearly dropped out twice and started to self-harm from the pressures.

If you struggle with motivation then Open University might be harder as it does require some self-motivation, but it also means you get to meet a wider and more interesting group of people. If you think this might be for you then start with a shorter course before you commit to a full degree, the great thing about OU is you can do Science and then if it doesn't work out switch to something completely different!

I would suggest volunteering, or finding a job doing *something* to start to identify the types of work that you want to do and don't want to do. I fell into my current job from a two week data entry position - I found an employer I liked and this led to a series of jobs following four years of switching from one thing to another.

There are two things to remember which I wish someone had told me.

There is no shame in changing jobs if you start something you hate and there is no shame in trying a few different things (particularly when you are young) to decide what you want to do.

kingslayer

jezebel wrote: »

There are a lot of elements of your post that resonated with me, kingslayer.

I don't pretend to be an expert on this, but having recently reached 33 I'm still struggling with what I want to do with my life, and at times what my anxiety/depression allows me to do with my life and what career I want and can have (which, I've found, are two different things)

The best advice I've come across on this topic is:

Maybe I just like to think I'll be an interesting 40 year old in a few years time!)

I've done traditional university in my teens/twenties and OU study later on, I think about going back to get my Masters but can't decide on a topic and I keep telling myself that if I study that it ought to end up in a career this time (the last two didn't help me in work that much, although it did build confidence).

I would congratulate you on making an early decision on university not being for you at that stage in your life, I struggled a lot at university to get through mainly because of the pressures to attend and conform- I nearly dropped out twice and started to self-harm from the pressures.

If you struggle with motivation then Open University might be harder as it does require some self-motivation, but it also means you get to meet a wider and more interesting group of people. If you think this might be for you then start with a shorter course before you commit to a full degree, the great thing about OU is you can do Science and then if it doesn't work out switch to something completely different!

I would suggest volunteering, or finding a job doing *something* to start to identify the types of work that you want to do and don't want to do. I fell into my current job from a two week data entry position - I found an employer I liked and this led to a series of jobs following four years of switching from one thing to another.

There are two things to remember which I wish someone had told me.

There is no shame in changing jobs if you start something you hate and there is no shame in trying a few different things (particularly when you are young) to decide what you want to do.

Just wanted to say thanks for this enough. It is really helpful. It's interesting how you fell into your job, though. I would have thought your degrees would have helped you a lot. What did you study?

I am considering the access course in health studies this september. The only problem is, i have just found out recently that the colleges have implemented new rules this year that for any students starting in September, they have to have minimum of grade C at GCSE. I studied for my grade c equivalents at the adult community college a few years back, but i have heard they no longer accept the equivalents, only the traditional GCSE's, so i've had to put my name down for the GCSE exams in September. Hopefully the college i'm looking to study the access course at will allow me to attend the course this year, otherwise I'll have to do my GCSE's this september and try apply for the access course next year, which obviously isn't ideal, but i don't have much of a choice if they don't accept me.

Oh well just got to try and see what happens.

kingslayer

Actually, one thing i did want to ask is, do any of you know how i could supplement income? I have been looking into buying & selling on Ebay, but some people have said that it's a waste of time as people don't earn much on the site these days.

I'm trying to figure out other ways to make more money. I would like to start a small business, maybe an online business so i had some kind of income, but i'm really not sure how i would go about it, or what i would even sell.

Any advice on starting small/online businesses or buying/selling on Ebay? Or just some advice on earning some extra money?

Thanks, guys.

Viberduo

bevanuk wrote: »

Get up and get out there is the only thing you can do.
Nobody else can help you but yourself.
Go and do something with your life, even if it's not your "dream" it's a start to normality.

I am sorry but this is not helpful to the OP, in the sense it does not take into account mental health issues, my situation is almost identical except I had a family death age 22 that now age 30 I never recovered from and I have heard similar words before which basically says get off your backside and do something but when you are so bad you may not leave the house and getting out of bed is more effort than another person getting out of bed early and long commute or even a simple task like having a shower takes more effort than someone spending over a hour doing their hair and make up, ironing clothes, doing their nails etc.

Its just that at the back of peoples minds even unintentionally we link activity/work with effort therefore if someone does little to nothing they are not making an effort not that they are making a huge effort to get less results.