[MENTION=5090]Apone[/MENTION] - that's rough having a job you don't like. I was in the hospitality industry for over 3 years after college because I didn't know what to do with my degree (and summers before graduation)- I hated it so much. Some days I could feel my energy draining out of me, like I was dying inside.
I think that's part of the reason why I'm panicking about a career now. Before, I always had those skills to fall back on, so I knew that no matter what I did, I could at least get a waitress job that would make good tips (if it's at a busy place) during school or if one of my job ideas were to fail. But now, I don't have that anymore. The damage that job did on my mental/emotional health is huge, and it would be absolutely crazy for me to go back. When my last attempt and switching fields didn't work out (due to a combination of reasons), I lost all hope and became quite depressed. Now I have to get back on track, because when I return from being abroad, I have to get started on a new career path.
college professor, it'll keep you in the student cycle the longest and when you finish you start working with students(not to mention the fact that you can be professor of just about anything{with varying degrees of success})
Outside of that, find something you like to do and then figure out what kind of careers coincide with those interests.
Yeah, I can see career options for my interests.
Everything I have an interest in does have a corresponding career, but most of the time, it's the studying and knowing of the subject that interests me, rather than the actual career itself. For example, psychology is one of them. Particularly Analytical Psychology (Jungian Psychoanalysis). And although I want to study the unconscious mind, symbolism, psychological issues, etc., I don't know how comfortable I would be doing this with another person as a psychoanalyst. That could just be a confidence thing- maybe if I were trained properly and became a bit more comfortable around people it would be fine, but I still don't want to be responsible for someone in a severely unhealthy psychological state, or even to be in a situation where I can't help someone but feel like I should. And even if I did get over all of this, psychoanalysis is still very time-consuming and expensive for the patient, so would anyone actually want to do it??
It's the same with some of my other interests. I find them fascinating, but they're quite unusual and may or may not be able to be used for a career because of that. And the most practical ones again involve working with people in a psychologist/doctor/practitioner-client/patient relationship. I've seen some nasty people just working as a waitress- if I get involved in peoples' health, I could get sued even if I do everything right.
Professor might be a good option for me (I was also thinking about getting into writing, so I could produce something from all this studying). If I were a professor though, I would really expect myself to be an expert. I could see myself enjoying it if I have an interesting subject and were confident that I knew more than enough.
I wish I'd chosen a career which was more administrative and involved more technical knowledge and skill development. I still prefer independent workloads. I'd rather a career where the facts are more straightforward, less room for debate, and where the lines are clear. Something with less education but more job availability and stability would've definitely been better.
I feel like college didn't help me develop any concrete skills, and I think that's a big part of why I'm so insecure about anything career-related. When I got out, I did not feel prepared for the real world and that's how I ended up in my last job. And even though I did a lot there (pretty much every restaurant job except cooking, along with management stuff like scheduling, math, interviewing/hiring, computer stuff, etc.), I don't know what other job all these skills would transfer too that wouldn't be the same as my old job.
I have practical interests but I'm not passionate about them... Not passionate enough to make it work as a career because I always want to move to the next thing, so it's difficult to stick with it. Sometimes I hate myself for it and a drive for the "impractical" because it is where I could have fun and express myself from the different sides. I hope I won't die being broke.
There was a period of my life when I thought I should try going to school again. I couldn't pick up the subject, although I had a chain of interests. Something that I liked wouldn't bring me money in future, most likely, and I couldn't afford investing in it. And something that would bring money, was too daunting as the only subject and it would kill me in the long run. I can't study what I am not very interested in. The teaching methods are also a concern. So there's always that.
I definitely have to be interested in something to study it. That's why in college, I would be slacking off on doing the course reading and papers, and end up online reading or writing (posting) about something else.
I think I'm also longing for a form of self-expression, and I think the realm of ideas brings me closest to that. When I was a kid, I thought I would grow up to be an artist. I loved doing artistic things- I would sing anytime in front of any audience, I used to draw, play musical instruments, and wanted to be an actress. But I wasn't an expert and I was told you have to be if you want to make it anywhere with those things. My confidence in all of those ended up getting destroyed, and I shut down, becoming so self-conscious about the imperfection of my artistic expression that I became unable to express myself by those means ever again.
