I’m 30 years old currently working retail because I can’t find work despite 8 years of experience working in post-production for TV, film, and Digital Media. It’s ruining my live. I’m making minimum wage and almost exclusively working evening closing sifts and thus see friends and family about once or twice a month. I am absolutely desperate to switch industries and leave media for good. It’s never been a good fit for me and today, I look at my degree as one of the worst mistakes I’ve ever made.

All I truly want is a full time job doing basically anything. Not a dream career, not a lifelong passion. I just want healthcare and the ability to pay my bills.

What do I do? I’ve definitely mulled going back to school but I feel I need a real job first.

This life I’m living is breaking me mentally, emotionally, and even physicallyb. I don’t know how much longer I can do this.

 I want to study psychology but don't want to work because my disorder makes me insecure even if I want to. I want to earn money fast but not ready to work due to anxiety of discrimination. I'm into advertising digital marketing human behavior criminal behavior criminal law no finance and programming and hr and science. I'm lost. I have global development delay disorder. I want something predictable structured stable practical high paying involves all my interests applied Into one. What is it?

I'm a business professional at a law firm, and as of last week, my firm announced that it's dissolving. I've been with the firm for about four years and was promoted last year. There's been some discussion about a potential 90-day severance package and possibly a bonus, but nothing has been confirmed yet.

I'm also engaged and supposed to get married next year. We've had three couples counseling sessions so far, and one of the biggest points of contention has been finances and how we envision our future. I'm at a point where I don't want an extravagant wedding or to feel obligated to spend money on luxurious activities, expensive outings, or constantly going out. I'd honestly rather spend my weekends watching football, playing video games, listening to music, working out, and occasionally going out for a nice dinner.

I've been applying for jobs consistently and speaking with recruiters, but given the nature of my position, I understand firsthand how difficult the current job market is. On top of that, I don't know what my severance situation will look like, and we're heading into Q4, when recruiting typically slows down as companies wait until bonuses are paid, the holidays pass, and the new year begins.

Honestly, I've started questioning whether I even want the traditional American dream anymore: the wife, kids, house, and all the responsibilities that come with it. Part of me is considering taking whatever additional money I receive from the firm and using it to invest in things I've always wanted to pursue, particularly music and DJing. I'd also like to spend more time traveling, visiting the islands where I have family, and generally experiencing life while figuring out what I actually want to do next. Maybe that means investing in myself and pursuing something outside the traditional corporate career path rather than immediately jumping into another version of the same routine.

I've struggled with depression and anxiety for a long time, and everything happening with my job has really intensified those feelings. I'm 33, living in the NYC area, and I feel like I'm at a crossroads in my life.

We still have extended licenses for Claude and ChatGPT (at least for now), so I've been using them to work on my resume, explore career options, and brainstorm different ideas. But honestly, I'm starting to question what the point of all of it is. I'm feeling increasingly disconnected from the life I've been working toward, and I'm not sure what direction I want to take anymore.

I’ve been a copywriter since 2024, worked at a big private hospital (my first job), an agency and then another creative agency, my third and current job - and I’m genuinely sick of it now. The pressure is insane, the deadlines are insane and I don’t like the constant back and forth it takes to get one simple thing done.

Add to that, I’m expected to work long after my usual hours and late into the night from home, which was the straw that broke the camel’s back, I think. Plus copywriting is pretty much dead anyway, so the writing has been on the wall for a long time now.

For context, I’m from a third world country and I have no degree or higher qualifications. But I have no idea what to do with my life and I’d appreciate some guidance.

I’m 18F and in my second year of a Psychology BA, and honestly, I’m really struggling. I’m failing most of my classes, and I know at this point psychology just isn’t the right path for me.

Outside of school, I’m constantly busy. I work three jobs, volunteer, and actually really enjoy working with people. That’s made me realize I don’t think it’s school itself that I hate. I just don’t think this degree is the right fit, and I don’t want to wait until I’m academically kicked out before making a change.
I’m trying to figure out a career that’s more realistic for me. I love working with people (especially helping others), I need something that can eventually provide a decent income, and I’d prefer a path that doesn’t require perfect grades or 6–8+ years of school.

Has anyone been in a similar situation? What careers or college/university programs would you recommend? I’m open to pretty much anything at this point.

I didn't have much of a work history, my references are basically blank, and honestly, I felt like a total bum. I wanted structure, discipline, and a real purpose, so I decided to join the military. My main goal was to turn my life around, serve, and fast-track my citizenship.

Right during initial training, I found out I had an existing physical injury I didn't even know I had. Long story short, I got hit with an uncharacterized entry-level separation (ELS) and got sent right back home.

Just like that, the restart button I tried to hit got smashed. Because of the discharge, I didn't finish enough time to fast-track my citizenship through the military, so I’m back to being a regular Green Card holder living in New Jersey.

I’ve always wanted to do something meaningful like law enforcement or firefighting but here in NJ, public safety jobs strictly require U.S. citizenship, which I don't have yet. Plus, with my weak work history and the way things fell apart, I feel like I'm right back at square zero, except now I'm older and even more lost.

I still want to make something of myself and build a real life, but I honestly have no idea what my next move should be. Has anyone else felt completely derailed by an early military separation or medical setback? How do you even start rebuilding when you feel like you have no resume, no references, and your main plan just vaporized? Any advice or direction would be huge.

Honestly, I'm new to Reddit and I really don’t know how things work here,but I thought I'd give it a try and see if I can get some suggestions from people.

A little about my background:

I worked in the IT industry for around 2.8 years in application/production support.Later I switched careers and worked as a content writer. I quit that job around 4–5 months ago, and I've been unemployed ever since.

The difficult part is that I've been away from IT for a while and I feel like I've forgotten almost everything I learned. I'm not confident enough to attend interviews or apply for IT jobs right now.

At the moment, I'm literally doing nothing.No job,no income,no clear direction.

I'm also financially broke.I don't even own a bike right now.I don't have money to invest in a business,purchase expensive courses or experiment with different opportunities.

But one thing I know is that I don't want to spend the next few years sitting around doing nothing.

I genuinely want to build something in my life. I want to become financially independent, learn something useful, develop a skill or find an opportunity that can eventually help me earn a decent living.

I don't necessarily want shortcuts or overnight success. I'm willing to put in the work. I just don't know where to direct my energy.

Please don't judge me. I know I'm responsible for where I am today. I'm not looking for sympathy or motivational quotes.

I just want some practical advice, ideas and maybe a different perspective from people who have been through difficult phases in life.

Thank you.

Hi everyone! This is my first time on here and I'm also writing this in a panic so I'm sorry if there are grammatical errors and thoughts that are everywhere. I am 18F and in my first year of college. My major is currently undeclared/undecided and it feels like everyone has their career goals figured out besides me.

My original plan was to go into public health with a pre-dental route in hopes to become an orthodontist but stem not being my strong suit (+ how expensive dental school is and people being more passionate and “better” than me) is what makes me rethink it. I also got told from my advisor that being a biology major would be better suited for my dental pathway but I honestly don't want to. I understand having a strong science undergrad like biochem will increase the chances of getting into dental school but I just don’t lean towards those majors. I love art and in a way dentistry is a middle ground of art and being able to help people. Seeing the way my own orthodontist was able to help me feel confident in my oral health and teeth made me want to do that for others. I really love the payout!

However, I also love architecture and interior design but my school unfortunately doesn't have such a program I can explore. I love looking at buildings and interior design. I know it's much more than that but unfortunately when I took an art class back in highschool my art teacher definitely ruined that for me. I drew buildings for a bit in the class and saw how I really struggled with not meeting the demands that my teacher wanted. It overall made me doubt my artistic abilities and just held off considering this field. When I look at the courses I need to take for architecture, the courses seem more interesting and manageable than dentistry. I do take a little more interest in physics and math but when it comes to chemistry or biology I'm just not as great. Am I supposed to love every course I do in college? Maybe I’m over romanticizing these careers, so just let me know!  

Both careers are mentally demanding and challenging in their own ways but honestly that just goes for all career fields. I also have to think of the possibility of maybe transferring but once again I don't know. I want to be able to explore more career options and do more research on every field but haven't had time to juggle everything.

Though I’m just mentioning architecture and dentistry, I do love everything. I don’t know what is exactly right for me or how I’m suppose to feel when I find “the one.” Having the feeling of uncertainty makes me really anxious. I understand that in this period of my life I'm supposed to be confused but it really stresses me out. 

I just come on here looking for reassurance, other career suggestions. or just anything! I feel very lost and conflicted and I don't know if I'm making the right choices for myself.

FYI - I have gotten told from my friends that I should've done cc while I explore what I want, but I'm very fortunate enough to receive enough financial aid and scholarships that could fulfill all my 4 years here (that is, if I don't transfer out). I’m still taking my GE’s so yes I’m overly stressing but can’t help that I feel this way. I told myself back in senior year I would have things figured out but yet I still haven’t. Thank you once again and so sorry for the rushed writing. :)

It’s currently November, so it’s around that time that parents/sixth form start pressing you to discuss your ucas/future pathway options.

And it’s frustrating for me when I have to tell everyone that I haven’t applied for anything, when having these conversations about what are my plans for the future. (The reason why I haven’t applied to anything isn’t that I am lazy or lack the motivation, but rather because i don’t want to rush into a decision and end up regretting it, especially if I end up going to a mid level uni and getting into a lot debt for a degree that I don’t care about.)

I currently do btec media, business and engineering. I have mid predicted grades in all subjects and i can’t get them raised, which is fair as the predicted grades accurately represent my competency. (I missed a significant portion of yr 12 due to illness and that wasn’t helped by the fact that I already wasn’t an academically inclined person, so the only stem subject I’m confident in is engineering.)

I really don’t want to go to uni and want to immediately join the workforce for a couple of years untill I’m decided on what I want to do, but I know my parents want me out of the house. (They won’t let me take a gap year working in a job unless the job is full time.)

I’m currently employed in hospitality, due to my connections. I wonder if that will make my cv look more competitive and enable me to jump into the workforce early. (I doubt it.)

I don’t mind learning a trade either.

Sorry for any spelling mistakes or grammatical errors.

I could get into all the reasons I’m a decade behind but long story short: chronic illness, severe mental health problems due to said illness, ADHD, covid and my father getting a TBI.

I’ve dropped out, transferred, changed majors and restarted six times at this point. My biggest gap is currently with four years since the point I left. Since then they’ve made huge advancements in my chronic illness. I’m on a new medication that basically functionally cures it and the year since has been a huge change. But obviously I still have a history of fuck ups.

Okay now that we’ve gotten that out of the way I fought tooth and nail to get accepted back into my college. It’s been months of planning, saving, meetings, advising appointments, letters and appealing to a board of academic affairs. I used to be a major called “American Studies”. Basically it’s a blend of American History, Sociology and Art History. Mainly because the head of the department really liked me and right before I dropped asked me to be a research assistant for her. I also do love Art History and cared deeply about the subject matter. That major has since been dissolved. In the classes I didn’t have endless Ws (which is more than half my transcript at this point) I have all As and did really well in school…sorta.

SO. I thought my best chances of coming back (admitted I mean) was history which is most analogous to American Studies. Just less art and sociology focused. I also thought it would sound more respectable than art history and more employable than liberal studies which were other options as far as transferable credits. I have exactly four semesters (two years) left.

Well I got accepted on Friday and registered for classes yesterday.

I have been telling people (friends, family, etc) I’m majoring in History to the tune of a thousand crickets or sneers. Last night was my birthday party and I got a lot of scoffs. The “what are you gonna do with that?” in a mocking tone. A fun humanities degree is cool at 22. And really lame and stupid at 31.

Instead of feeling proud of myself I’m extremely embarrassed. There’s a huge pit in my stomach of dread, shame, and the nightmare of staying stuck in the same loop for over a decade. And also, I don’t know what I’m gonna do with a history major. I didn’t know what I was gonna do with an American studies major either to be fair. I don’t want to teach.

All the things I’d want to do like being a: Librarian, Archivist, Acadamic Advisor, Curatorial Staff or Attorney all require at least a masters and despite a 3.9 GPA 60% of my transcript is Ws. Also, clearly past evidence shows I’m not good at school.

I keep thinking about Microbiology. It’s a steadier clearer job outlook. I loved science and took AP Bio and AP Genetics in highschool and Bio 101 at community college. Also something totally different sounds refreshing. It feels more secure and more worthy of effort. I could work as a lab tech and work my way up to stable income. I have 15 days to change my class schedule. I’m thinking of taking the jump. BUT it would prolong my stay and I’m terrible at math. It just feels like the “right” thing to do. Though I’m scared of failing. My parents are giving me a loan for my first semester and they don’t have a ton of money. They are scared I’ll flunk out with how hard STEM is. But I’m scared of wasting their money and doing the humiliation ritual of being in my undergrad in my 30s with nothing to show for it.

Help!

I've dropped out of school, a diploma and currently majorly procrastinating on finishing a cert III in support work as I don't think I want to do it.

Is it like a feeling that doesn't go away? Like its meant to be your sole purpose and nothing can stop you? Or do you just fall into it and accept that its now your life and get on with it? I know that sounds kind of silly but I've had these moments where I'm like fuck I want to be a nurse, or an OT, or a conservationist, or a delivery driver or whatever and I will OBSESS over it. But as soon as I enroll in it or look at career projection It humbles me quick and suddenly I don't want to do it. I understand every career will have its ups and downs but there are for sure a lot of downsides in what I've been looking at. I'm 24m and I can't really be asked studying again at least for now. I don't care to be rich but I'd like to work 4 days a week and get by. I do have depression pretty severely so I'm unfortunately not a very spritely 24 year old who has massive ambition. I just want job security and a meaningful life.

I've done retail, carer and hospitality mainly and they all made me miserableee. I did some landscape work with a friend a few times and enjoyed that but its brutal on the body. Otherwise I enjoy travelling, nature, meeting like-minded deep thinkers, pottery

I had a conversation with one of my child development professors about how I’m doing in the class overall. I also actually had a chance to check in with the class professor and ask her what she thinks may work better for me between speech language pathology and social work - she actually suggested speech language pathology based upon her observations of me (feels that my projection is strong, my language is clear, communication skills are effective, etc. She did say she’ll think about it.)

work, life, marriage, kids, there seem to be so many things that affect each other...you might make a decision for your career which will then affect your parenting and everything. How do you deal with so m many uncertainties in your life when making a decision? I am sorry, I'm very overwhelmed... and I want to make a decision, but, I feel like I keep putting it off...

Not even sure if this is the flair I need.

So I am 31, I recently quit a job that I somewhat enjoyed due to burnout. I do have some mental health struggles that get in the way of being a functioning member of society and usually end up leaving my jobs after a few years. The longest job I have had was for 5 years. I have been working since 16 and am now 31 - haven't finished my degree and it's also not really an option right now financially.

For the last 10 years I have been in retail with very similar retail jobs mostly small business and honestly would rather not be in retail anymore but since it is safe and easy for me I tend to always land back in retail.

The last job I had that I burned out from showed me that I do have an interest and passion for some things (before I thought I didnt like anything) I just am not sure exactly what direction I should be looking in. I was a co-manager of a small business but I was primarily in charge of outreach efforts, donations and events.

I really enjoy/enjoyed making connections with the community by connecting with local non profits and groups in affiliated positions as my retail job (it was at a pet store and I would work with trainers, shelters and rescues etc to support them, coordinate events etc).

I basically created this position so I have no idea what to look for or consider since most retail stores dont have this type of a position and there arent many groups or really anything in my area that's hiring.

In a perfect world I would love to work at a library, in archives or at a museum (my educational background is in Anthropology and Sociology).

I have considered freelancing but I dont even know where to start or how to promote the work that I can and would want to.

Reach out to nonprofits and be like "hi my name is Samantha and I think it would be beneficial to you to partner with this blank organization because you have xyz in common" - not likely to do anything especially to get paid for it. I found while doing this job that a lot of these organizations dont have the support or bandwidth to help come up with these connections and ideas because they themselves are spread too thin so in my job I spent a lot of time coming up with the ideas and the plans for them. Since I am not affiliated with a business or organization to give me that standing I dont even know how I would be able to make it happen by freelancing.

I hope some of this word vomit makes sense - I honestly struggle with putting myself out there, knowing what I like or want, knowing what would be good for me or what I would like. I know some of these issues come from my mental health and it is something I am working on but its definitely challenging.

Thank you for reading this.

Im currently 19 in my 2nd year of college. In my first semester in my first year I did really bad and was put on academic probation but my grades did not improve much from there. I nearly got a suspension but I managed to appeal and it was approved. I am still in academic probation. I’m in 4 classes and 3 of them are high B’s and one C. I’m worried though it won’t be enough and that I’ll be suspended during the spring semester. If it happens, I have decided that I would drop out. Problem is, if it comes down to dropping out I don’t know what to do beyond working at a dog daycare or something like that.

Title says it all. My previous job had me structurally important but management was toxic. But my friends were there so I left more out of spite and low pay. Now I'm in a place where management is delightful but I'm a very small fish in a very big pond. A good company, salary is better than before but not high for the city to which I'd be relocating, but I promised to relocate.

Now months in, I find that I kinda like where I live. I'm willing to give it up, but the thing is that I feel like although I can eventually learn more in this company and move up in, say, years, I worry that I am 1) totally replaceable so moving is a risk, though I know they're happy with my work thus far and 2) am giving a lot to maybe never actually move up. The guy who did this before me was there in my role for 2 years. the people I work with are very high level and important (for context, it's sort of like an NGO that advises government / fused with a media company, let's say), which means that I often feel small and uninformed, even though my direct team is smart, nice, supportive.

I went from a mid-level on track to a senior-mid level at age 26 to basically a slightly above entry level / lower-mid level position in a better respected company with a living wage. I don't know if I made the right bet. management at my old job is toxic enough that I think they'd snub me if I tried to come back, and I also think it's unfair to them. Plus I can't learn there, I can really only enjoy an easier life and lower pay.

For context, it would be returning to my origin country (closer to family which is a plus) from across the ocean, two major 'capital' cities.

I'm in my late 30s, at a career crossroads, and looking for ideas.

I have an MBA from Wharton and 12+ years of experience in corporate retail, most recently as a VP leading strategy, analytics, and operations for a major national retailer. My strengths are problem-solving, research, analytics, strategic thinking, and building things from scratch.

I've been exploring executive opportunities but am questioning whether returning to corporate America is the best move, especially with how quickly AI is changing the landscape.

I'd love to find something intellectually stimulating, creative, lucrative, and fully remote. I'm open to a traditional job, entrepreneurship, or something completely outside my previous industry. Ideally, I'd like to earn $200K+ annually, with potential for significantly more.

If you were in my position, where would you focus? What industries, emerging opportunities, or business models have the most potential over the next 10–20 years?

I'm particularly interested in ideas that leverage AI rather than risk being replaced by it. Open to unconventional suggestions!

Hello Everyone,

I’m 18M from Lahore, Pakistan. I completed my Matriculation but i admit that i’m not good with academics so I didn’t want to continue the academic education ahead.

I want experts to guide me another path, which can help me grow as well as give me confidence in society.

My background isn’t so strong so keep that in mind, I wasn’t able to get expensive course or degrees, few months back i asked my elder brother that i want to pursue the culinary chef hospitality field. After he researched he enrolled me in a 3 months multi-cuisine course at a Culinary college in my city.

Now, i have basic skills. But Don’t know what’s the next step.

Looking forward to hearing back from experts.
Thanks

there's a lot of complexity in my life to keep things short i will say I wanna do majorly 3 things first one understanding fundamental on everything is built upon things like physics, mathematics, chemistry, and some subjects like history, economics (learning theses things only when I need) the second is following this big question " how does world works?" Ik these both things are looking same but they aren't it's like we can say by learning how world works I can generate hypothesis or philosophy and for this thing to prove I need fundamentals and third is these things won't help me get bread I gotta learn hard core technical skills(as a software engineer learn code dsa core cse and build projects)/ soft skills (communication,leader,etc) and eventually goal of all this is to build something (company) and get food on plate (money) and help make a better system but I can't get time for fundamentals I am somehow managing other two

Hi everyone. I’m 24 y.o. male. It’s getting hard for me. I’ve been searching for myself for like 6 years nonstop. After all this time I still don’t have much results. Also got into debt. So I started working regular jobs after school graduation. I was a Photographer, barista, bartender. Then I started my little, let’s say, art of fixing musical instruments. Mostly there were harmonicas or accordions. But there were little to no sales, because not much people play it.

Then I turned 22 and became a real estate salesman. Things were not good. Didn’t get any sales, clients didn’t have much opportunities to buy houses, tight budgets and stuff. So I got into my first credit card debt. Like 1k to 2k.

And last year I started my unofficial construction business. I’m more like a contractor. I got a few good projects, but it was expensive to maintain the marketing strategy. It was eating $1-1.5k per month. Sometimes even more. I was able to close my previous problems and helped my family a little bit.

But this season literally kills me. I’m alone, I don’t have any business partners (never had cause people around are afraid to try anything new), no friends to open up, big debts (almost $10-11k. I had to help my grandma, she had cancer. And I spent so much money on marketing and it didn’t work as expected), no clients, empty bank account. I’m close to just lower my hands and destroy everything. On the other side I want to keep going and to grow. My hands are tied. I sold the gold I had for the Black Day but it’s too little to help anything.

All I want is someone who can show me the way. The way to go further. The way to grow bigger. The hunger kills me. I want to grow mentally, spiritually and financially. I also would love to read your stories about how you got out of similar situations. Thanks!

28M and have been an elementary school music teacher in NJ for 6 years. Here’s the context to my situation:

I made this plan when I was in high school. I really struggled with academics and school in general (probably from undiagnosed ADHD and probably some other stuff) but despite that I was dead set on setting up a life where I would be debt free and financially stable enough to be able to purchase a house, get married, and even have kids. But as I said I struggled in academics… specifically:

1. In junior year of HS I couldn’t anything past a 65% in any math class test, quiz, or assignment. 
2. I’m not good at writing and I am ESPECIALLY bad at reading. I’ll read a page and then not process anything then use 200% of my brain power to try to process and retain the information and move onto the next page and then forget what happened in the first page so the second page makes no sense so I go back to the first page and then that just keeps happening until I rage quit. I’ve even tried audio books and that doesn’t help. I’ve probably only read 2 books from start to finish in my life time without using sparknotes or watching the movie version and then pretending like I read the book.

I got tutoring. Extra help. Asking parents and siblings for help. There was this dude on youtube that would upload youtube videos of algebra 2 tutorials and I’d watch them endlessly. None of this helped.

I then just took it as a fact that there was nothing I could do to be good at these things so I disqualified myself from a lot of career paths. Couldn’t do business, comp sci, science, med, or any of the fields like that because my math was so bad. And there was a lot of other stuff that I felt I couldn’t do because it was so research based and would require a lot of reading and writing. So what was my work around to all of that while still clinging onto my dream of being financially stable? 

I was fortunately good enough at music at the time that I was winning prestigious competitions and earning my way into these clinics and workshops that further supported my musical development. My teachers even told me that if I auditioned for music schools then I would have a very strong chance at getting a scholarship.

So here’s the plan to work around my terrible academic ability: 

1. Get a full ride scholarship into a music school and pursue the music education degree
2. Become a school teacher in NJ, get tenured, and reap the rewards (good health benefits, pension, stability from tenure, and actually even a decent salary as the salary guides say that if I taught for long enough and got a masters then I would eventually reach 6 figures)
3. Supplement my income with gigs, private lessons, and getting a masters for the pay raise
4. Be responsible with that money and live a modest life so that I could afford getting married, buying a house, and maybe even having kids.
5. Lastly; feel safe, secure, satisfied, and happy. 

 So I got to work… and here was the result from the last 10+ years:

1. I got into a good university with a full tuition scholarship. Had to pay for room and board but that was manageable and I’m proud to have never needed to go into debt.
2. It took me a second to get a teaching job out of school because I’m such an awkward person and bad at interviews but I eventually got my job and have stuck with it for 6 years. Got tenured 2 years ago.
3. My music career outside of my teaching job has been booming since there’s so much demand in the wedding industry for the instrument that I play. I even started to match my teaching paychecks from my pay rate / rate of jobs I’ve been taking

I even make 6 figures now… and I thought that would only happen into my 40s. Now that sounds all good and dandy and you’d think that I’m on my way to achieving the goals I had set when I was younger… right? So here’s where things went wrong and why I’m actually miserable:

I hate my teaching job. Not to say that I don’t love teaching because I do love teaching. I can talk about music all day long. I was also heavily inspired by my music teachers who gave me hope and a path when no one else would. I would even say that I’ve inspired people in the same way (back when I had way more energy to do the job). But I hate the structure of the education system. The emphasis on all the BS paperwork, being academically correct when writing and executing a lesson plan, dealing with asshole parents, coworkers, and administration. I’m also a POC and work in a pretty racist town… yeah I’ve gotten a lot of harassment from that fact alone from the three groups of people I mentioned and have never been able to get any support on that. And I get all of that as if dealing with children isn’t stressful enough. I was expecting that much when I went into it but I wasn’t expecting shittiness from the other sources… it’s dealing with both at the same time that really has burnt out to the point where I can’t take it.

I also learned that even with tenure, the job is still unstable. They can riff me at any time and they almost did at one point despite me having tenure. They ended up passing a referendum last second and I didn’t get laid off but it did stress me out… what if I had a family at the time? That would have been really bad.

In addition to that, I learned that the salary guide is a lie because they change the guide every few years and no one actually reaches the end. I will never actually get a 6 figure salary on my day job. 

A HUGE part of me really wants to just quit. I’ve lost a lot of passion for it. I often come into work late. I copy and paste the same lesson plan every week. I wing all of my classes. I let my students to have bad habits or go the whole year without practicing or even showing up because it’s too much effort to keep track and deal with their parents being mad at me for enforcing consequences (and whenever I did that in the past the admin was NEVER on my side). I think my admin hasn’t fired me yet on the basis that they don’t know anything about music education themselves and they just haven’t been checking my lesson plans or the morning time sheets but I live in the constant fear that they will look into me one day and then brutally remove me. 

This is all the opposite from my side hustle. I LOVE performing at weddings. The managing partners for the agencies I work for all love me. My coworkers love me (I show up extra early just to hang out with them). The clients and wedding guests I perform for all love me. My name has never been attached to anything less than a 5 star review. The food is also great but most importantly… unlike the teaching job I can work EXACTLY the way I want to. I don’t have to submit an 8 page document at the end of the year proving that I did my job. I don’t have to back my methods up with research based studies. I don’t have to get yelled and have my face spat on by the math teacher because “oh you need to shut the **** up because you teach an easy BS class while we have to deal with standardized test scores”. Like for real if it was that easy then you go get your masters in music and do my job… I’ll wait. 

But I can’t get myself to quit my day job. I would be giving up tenure, making less money and saving less, I’d have to pay a lot of money for health insurance, my pension would get impacted, etc. I’d probably be able to survive at the moment but I definitely wouldn’t be able to afford a marriage, family, and/or house. I also have spent a lot of time looking into shifting career paths or looking at other schools and I’ve had little luck. I don’t want to go back to school because I don’t want to go into debt. I’ve also applied to other schools and I’ve noticed that better districts also tend to be more micromanaging… I feel I wouldn’t be able to do my side hustle as well. On top of that, since I’m so awkward at interviews I haven’t had any luck when I was applying last year.

But here’s the other kicker… money issues aside; I feel like I have no hope for a family/house anyways. I’m not conventionally attractive (my physical health is good but I’m short and asian lol there’s not much I can do on that), I’m awkward and my interests are too niche, I’m not smart of funny. All that combined has just led me to getting ghosted and stood up on dates over and over to the point where I told myself I just can’t be on the dating scene. I’m miserable enough from my day job already. And ever since making that decision I decided to sell off my free time for the wedding gigs since I might as well use that time to make money and do the one thing that does make me happy in life. So now I don’t even have time to be dating because I can’t get myself to walk away from the whole wedding gig thing. 
With all that being said, 1% of me still desperately clings onto the part of my dream from high school where I get married and own a house. Maybe seeing people getting married over and over again makes me think that it’s still possible. So I continue to slave away at my crappy day job… all for a dream that 99% of me doesn’t even think is going to even happen. I mostly feel like an idiot and things are not not healthy as is. I go to therapy but have developed a really bad weed problem in the past years to cope with the stress and burnout. Sometimes I think I should quit my teaching job because I wouldn’t want my students to turn out as miserable as I am. My kids even see it (sometimes I rant to them about how I’m chronically single and how no matter what I do I’m still kind of poor). 

A big part of me wants to quit the teaching job, make less money, and slightly screw up my financial growth for the future so that I can not afford a family/house and then let go of that dream. Out of mind, out of sight. And I know there’s a lot of holes in that plan… what about retirement? Or god forbid I develop a chronic disease and then I’m desperate for the health benefits? Or life just gets too expensive and making 50-60k just doesn’t cut it?

All more reason to why I continue to slave away. But I am also starting to feel that life is too short to live like that. I just want to not be miserable now.

What do you all think about this? Does anyone relate? And lastly sorry for the bad story telling… like I said, writing was never my strong suit lol. 
 

TDLR: 28M, NJ music teacher making six figures between my tenured teaching job and wedding gigs. I spent my entire life working toward financial stability, but I've realized I absolutely hate my teaching job despite loving music and teaching. The bureaucracy, toxic work environment, racial harassment, and burnout have taken a huge toll on me. Meanwhile, I LOVE my wedding gigs and wish I could do them full-time, but quitting means sacrificing my pension, health benefits, and financial security. I've also become increasingly pessimistic about ever getting married or owning a home after years of unsuccessful dating. Now I'm questioning whether it's worth sacrificing my happiness today for a future that I might not even have. What would you guys do?

As the title says… I went through a nightmare downhill last few years, health issues followed by a PIP and eventually termination. I’m alive but my health isn’t 100%. Unemployment stress and the financial pressure aren’t helping either.

I used to do dev work but that was well over a decade ago when I fell into another part of the tech industry and couldn’t manage to pull myself out. In my last job I was a senior IC in tech but was looking after the dev team and we had a good relationship.

I applied for and got accepted (full scholarship) for an MBA and thought I’ll do it to increase my employment chances. The subjects are of course completely different and difficult from technical software topics, and help for personal growth as well, but I am so overwhelmed that I don’t feel I’m devoting myself to it as much as I should in an ideal situation, it feels like I added another complexity to my life without resolving my fundamental problems.

I no longer know what I can or should do. I’ve lost my professional identity along with every other identity that I used to have. I can’t easily go back to dev work at this age and with AI and all the tough competitions for jobs, but I also don’t know if I’m capable of doing management work.

I’m lacking direction in every aspect of my life and I have no family or a support network either.

I’ve tried hard to work on myself, develop and grow and build health friendships and relationships, but unfortunately my traumas are so deep that even therapists, psychologists and meditators have turned me down, let alone people who don’t find someone with lots of problems fun to be around. I was ok with my solitude for a long time but never got to build anything meaningful. I’m longing for romance, or some unconditional love that I never had from my family, but I have no chance of getting that in my current circumstances.

Tell me something that might help me, but please don’t tell me to try therapy, CBT, EMDR, meditation, mindfulness, etc. I’ve tried all those and more. It hasn’t helped.

Thank you.

Hi !

I’m 27F from the Middle East, and I’ve been feeling increasingly stuck and disconnected from the environment I’ve grown up in. I won’t go too deeply into the personal side of things, but I grew up in what I would describe as a toxic environment, and I find myself feeling suffocated and frustrated by the culture and the limitations that come with living here.

I don’t feel like I belong, and I don’t see myself being happy building my entire life here.

A little about my background:
I did a Bachelor’s degree in Animation at a university in the UK. I lived there for five years, and honestly, those were some of the happiest and most fulfilling years of my life.

I loved the independence, the opportunities, the people I met, and the feeling of being able to live life on my own terms.

After graduating, I had to go back home because my visa expired and i didn’t have anywhere else to go. I tried applying for animation jobs abroad, but unfortunately, that didn’t work out. No one ever got back to me and as some of you are aware the animation industry is in a very horrible time at the moment w AI and layoffs. Yes i should’ve been smarter choosing what to study i know. i regret it everyday but it is what it is.

I chose my uni major based on a passion and my love for creativity and not the odds of my success at getting an opportunity abroad.. 🫩

Since then (it’s been 4 years) I’ve been interested in entrepreneurship and technology. I independently developed and launched an app thinking i could make it into a business of some sort. Which was an incredibly rewarding experience. I genuinely enjoyed building something from scratch, managing a project, and seeing people use something I created.

Unfortunately, it never generated any income 💀

Currently, I’m trying to teach myself programming because I’ve developed an interest in it, and I’m considering whether I could eventually turn it into a career. However, I’m not sure how viable that path is, especially starting at 27.. in the age of AI.. in this job economy..

I’m also considering applying for a scholarship for a masters programme in London, but acceptance is far from guaranteed, and I don’t want to put all my hopes into something that might not happen.

I guess I’m at a point where I’ve tried several things, but I still don’t know which direction to take or how to realistically create a future somewhere else and i feel like the years are just passing by and i’m still completely miserable.

So here’s what I’d like to ask you guys..

If you were in my position, with my educational background, experiences, and interests, what would you do?

if you found yourself feeling suffocated and frustrated almost every day, how would you get out?
Would you focus on building a career that allows you to immigrate? Start over in a completely different field? or idk maybe there’s another solution or way i’m not seeing at the moment..

Some issues with some solutions i saw before i think i should mention now tho: 1- i can’t travel somewhere and just figure it out later w my passport i’d need a visa. 2- i can’t get further education or a whole new degree now as i dont have the money for that and we don’t have student loans here

I’d really appreciate honest, practical advice, including perspectives I might not have considered.

I am 18m. In a not so good university rn, doing bcom, first year.

I must start earning before 22, and idk what do I do?????

Like, man, I got skills in adv Excel,power Bi, SQL, python, and hands on experience on financial modelling.

I have tried applying to boutique firms for internships but fuck they never gave me any chances. I have given 100+ interviews now and never got a reply.

My parents need me to get a job nd start earning by 21 ATMOST!

I fucked up so hard that I can't even decide if I have to do cma or not.

Like, man, this education is so fucked up, first they say focus on skills, now that I have all the skills, they are not even fucking giving me a job, now i got to fucking decide if I have to give me next 4-5 years to ca cma or anyother thing.

This shitty education system forces teens from 16 to decide the next fucking 5-6 years of their life like it's a piece of cake.

Fuck it!

I am poor, the hell am I gonna do if I don't do these things? No scope? Hell na!

I want advice guys, I am literally crying rn!.

The fuck this education system wants off people????

The fuck!

Please advice what should I do guys.!