I'm so stumped

[ftfipps]

Hey, peeps. I apologize for being distant. I feel personally like I was blaming autism for all my problems and I ensconced myself in my own little echo chamber for a long time. That is why I was away. I have read stuff on this site that was the smartest stuff I've ever read.

I need advice, I have 10 years before I hit 40 and I need to make some moves toward the future. My problem is, I don't have any direction. When I was a kid i wanted to be a comedian. When I was a teenager, I was a musician. Now, I don't know what I want to be as a man. Do I go to school? Do I learn a trade? Do I work 60 hours a week? I don't know what I'm Supposed to do with my life and I'm a grown man!

I know I've posted similar stuff in the past but I need advice. I get that a job is a job. Any job is helpful. I need a miracle. Please, what do I do?!?! HELP ME!

 

[watersprite]

What is going on at the moment?

Can you clarify a bit, narrow this down to a question or 2?

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

what skill set or serious interests do you have to build on?

 

[NeilM]

You might check out the Campbell Interest and Skill Survey. (Link is too long to post here so have to Google it.) Once you answer the questions in the survey, they provide several career options that it feels you would be comfortable delving into. Its not free but its not expensive either. Hope this gives you some direction.

 

[Fino]

This involves understanding yourself as a person. Have you spent much time in introspection? What do you typically think about?

 

[Thinx]

What have you done so far? How was school? Is there anything you feel drawn to at all? Anything you think you'd feel comfortable doing? Have you done some paid work, and if so, how did it go?

It's ok not to have this worked out yet. Many here would have similar experiences. Lots of people just end up doing something and then decide if they like it, and change or don't change. Lots have more than one career over the years, I did. Tell us more about what you think about all this, and where you are up to, if you can sum it up?

 

[Au Naturel]

Get a job that you are capable of doing, pays enough to survive on, and doesn't cause you to want to explode at the end of the day. What the job is doesn't matter. Once you are at work, the experience will help give you direction.

But first, get the job.

 

[Suzanne]

I know that feeling so well, because I floundered so much on what to do with work situation. The idea of 9 to 5 was petrifying, but figured if I liked what I did, that would lessen the horror of being controlled. However, I did not even know myself, never mind, being able to figure out what my passion in life was.

What you need is someone who cares about you, who can talk with you guide you. I never had that and it is only now, when it is too late, that I discover things that I could have done.

I am now a "glorfied housewife". Because, despite having a mutual hatred of math; I am pretty good with accounting ( which came as an utter surprise to me) and now, I am the one who takes care of my husband and my finances. However, I could never train, because of my math problem.

I wanted to be a psychologist for some years, but told it was impossible with my childhood background and I did not have the confidence to prove, that actually, that would have helped me to empathise with others, so missed out on that.

My "job" now, I consider to be the best in the world and that is helping interested people to know my God, Jehovah. It is an utter privilage to study with someone and share my faith with them and see them blossom in their appreciation for spiritual things. I say that Jehovah is the best boss anyone could have and Jesus is the best manager anyone can be guided under.

 

[Rasputin]

Hey, peeps. I apologize for being distant. I feel personally like I was blaming autism for all my problems and I ensconced myself in my own little echo chamber for a long time. That is why I was away. I have read stuff on this site that was the smartest stuff I've ever read.

I need advice, I have 10 years before I hit 40 and I need to make some moves toward the future. My problem is, I don't have any direction. When I was a kid i wanted to be a comedian. When I was a teenager, I was a musician. Now, I don't know what I want to be as a man. Do I go to school? Do I learn a trade? Do I work 60 hours a week? I don't know what I'm Supposed to do with my life and I'm a grown man!

I know I've posted similar stuff in the past but I need advice. I get that a job is a job. Any job is helpful. I need a miracle. Please, what do I do?!?! HELP ME!

Building on Au Naturel’s advice, I would try to learn a trade. Is there any type of trade school that you could attend to learn a trade. Perhaps a truck driving school?

 

[SusanLR]

It doesn't matter what you may work at or what you feel you want to do.
Find something you can be comfortable doing, change if you find you don't like it.
But, looking back, and I had many different work status' also, the one direction I missed
out on was looking far ahead towards the day age would put me in the position to need
help and enough money to live assisted if need be.
I lived at home and no one advised me of the future.
In fact they took all of my money for the "family fund", and I gave it to them.

Now growing old and decline in health is certainly not cheap.
Start thinking about someway to build for that future when you'll really need money
to take care of your health and live as needed.
Investments, CDs, stocks and such. Even if you can only put a little into them.
There are Insurance policies that build money if you keep paying on them and they
can build a good amount.

It's never too early to start thinking about being a seniour.

 

[Neonatal RRT]

I agree with others here regarding some form of trade school. If you are not one to thrive in a classroom situation, but learn by doing,...then there are plenty of educational programs out there. Skill centers, community colleges, truck driving schools, even corporate training centers (Caterpillar heavy equipment training, etc.). As a person with a few degrees, and then knowing the guy who put the roof on my house is making 3X my income, my brother-in-law is a truck driver making 2X my income,...I know people can obtain a job without running into significant financial education debt, and make a decent wage.

 

[Misery]

First of all, try to calm down. That's the first step.

If you let emotion control you, not only will you find it very hard to make a decision, but you will have a hard time even seeing the potential options available and could miss some good ones entirely.

But also, this isnt really the sort of thing where simple advice of the "choose this option" sort on a forum is going to be particularly helpful. There's just too many factors to consider, and what's more, everyone has a different point of view and different reasons for thinking how they do. So, while everyone wants to help, answers are likely to be a bit all over the place. And what you need is specifics for your own situation, which we know nothing about.

My own advice is simple:

1. Sit down, get into a calm state of mind.

2. Think hard about what sorts of options might be available to you at this time. Consider your current skill set when doing so. Think also about what resources you have... after all, going after something you simply cant afford will only lead to more trouble.

3. When you've got some options written down, research each one in a very careful and thorough way. A lot of people say things like "I'm SURE I want to do X" while having no bloody idea as to what X is *really* like. Then they get there and find that the reality aint what they thought it would be, and then they're just stuck with it for awhile.


Overall, just take a careful and logical approach to it. This isnt a problem that someone else can really solve for you. What's important is your mindset and attitude towards it... that's all. From there you can figure it out and make a good choice that you'll be content with.

 

[Tom]

It is reported there is a labor shortage so the environment at the moment is favorable for entering the workforce.

Just a technicality, but you are saying here you are 30, but your profile says 26. Which is it? Or shall we split the difference and call it 28?

 

[Richelle-H]

I have nothing to add to the suggestions here. I do however have a word of advice.

Once you secure a job you are comfortable with, try to open an IRA of some sort and put as much into it as you can afford. The smallest amounts do accrue and it will provide a source of money when you get to be my age and are no longer working. They will offer some tax write-offs as well as you save for retirement.

while I receive an amount of money every month from social security that I live on comfortably, it is nice to have a pile of money somewhere earning interest and dividends that can help me through tough times, or allow me to indulge myself from time to time.

Hope you find a compatible match with whatever your skill sets happen to be.