idk man im kinda at a loss at this point.

I moved to Vienna because I genuinely thought I could make something out of myself as an artist. This is basically the only thing I've ever actually wanted to do. My dad wanted me to get a normal government job or whatever but that sounded fucking miserable so I figured I'd at least try.

I had a little inheritance so for a while I was honestly chilling. Didn't really have to work and could just focus on drawing, reading, walking around the city, etc. Which in retrospect was maybe not the best financial strategy lmao.

The problem is I applied to the art academy here and got rejected.

Then I applied again.

Rejected again 💀

Apparently my buildings and architecture are decent but my people aren't good enough. Which honestly pisses me off because I feel like some of my stuff is not THAT bad. Like yeah I'm not some fucking renaissance master but twice??? Damn bro.

And the worst part is trying to be an artist right now just feels completely cooked anyway.

Like what is even the point of learning how to paint anymore when some guy can type "beautiful Austrian city watercolor trending on artstation highly detailed" into a machine and generate 400 images in 30 seconds. Then you look at the hands and there's 9 fingers but somehow that shit still gets 80k likes.

Every website is just AI slop now. Every search result is AI. Every company is adding AI to shit that absolutely did not need AI. I opened my banking app the other day and they're like "meet your new AI financial companion." Brother I have 14 schillings. Leave me alone.

And apparently they're building these massive data centers everywhere now too so we can burn the electrical output of a small nation generating pictures of anime women holding signs with misspelled words.

Very cool civilization we've built here 👍

Anyway I've been trying to make some money doing little watercolor paintings of buildings around Vienna and selling them to people. Basically whatever tourists/frame shops will actually buy. It's not exactly the artistic career I imagined lol.

Half the people are probably gonna accuse me of using AI anyway.

"this architecture looks AI generated"

brother I am literally standing in front of the building

Money is getting pretty bad now too. The inheritance is basically cooked and I've had to downgrade where I'm living a few times. Rent is also fucking insane now apparently because every moderately desirable city on earth has decided housing should function like bitcoin.

At this rate I might actually end up in a men's shelter which is fucking insane considering like two years ago I thought I was gonna be studying art professionally.

My friend meanwhile got into music school basically immediately so thats cool 👍 love that for him

He keeps telling me I should just network more too.

Network with WHO dude. Every "creative networking event" is like 70% startup founders trying to make LinkedIn for dogs and 30% dudes selling courses about personal branding.

Also apparently having a normal job isn't even safe anymore because every CEO wakes up in the morning and goes "what if we replaced 40% of the staff with an LLM and called it efficiency."

Awesome.

Really glad I was born during whatever this period of history is.

I don't even hate technology either. I think some of this stuff is genuinely cool. It's just like... can we have ONE THING that doesn't immediately get turned into a subscription service, surveillance platform or GPU cluster.

I've been reading a lot lately and getting weirdly interested in politics because honestly the more I look around the more I feel like something has gone fundamentally wrong here lmao.

Maybe art just isn't my thing.

Maybe I need a completely different career path.

Anyone else get rejected from art school multiple times and still eventually figure their life out?

I have a really good engineering job in Ohio, where I was born and raised. I genuinely like the company, the work is fine, and the benefits are hard to beat. I get a strong 401(k) match, a pension, and a company vehicle that I can use for both work and personal use. On top of that, turnover is extremely low. Most people who get hired here stay for a very long time. By almost any objective measure, it's a great place to build a career.
The problem is that I’ve always dreamed of living in NYC.
I visit pretty often, and over the years I’ve done a lot of research on what it would actually take to live there. I understand the cost of living is much higher, apartments are smaller, and I’d likely have to make some lifestyle adjustments. None of that really scares me. If anything, I’m excited by the idea.
What does scare me is leaving my current job. Moving to NYC would almost certainly mean finding a new employer and giving up a position that many people would consider a "forever job." I worry that I could look back 10 or 20 years from now and realize I gave up an incredible career situation for a dream that wasn't worth the tradeoff.
At the same time, I worry that if I stay where I am, I’ll always wonder what would have happened if I took the chance and moved to NYC while I was still young enough to do it.
Has anyone here left a stable, highly desirable job to pursue a lifestyle change or a long-term dream?

So, I know that with an LCSW you can make more money. I have been disappointed when looking at the amount you make in CA (I may eventually move out of CA though) with a BSW in social work. Highest local position I think I saw for just a BSW in social work was $34/hr, which is not good money in California. There were also two that pay less than what I make now that I saw ($24/hr, I make more than $24/hr but less than $30/hr, and I don’t have any associates degree at all yet.)

I don’t think that I’m “smart” so I am trying to figure out what I would need to do to make that kind of money. I know I don’t want to go into nursing or engineering. I am really not a math person.

I had been thinking about social work because I know that I really want to support homeless individuals. I have volunteered once recently with a friend and we actually got some more food with another friend today for an upcoming event of hers that will also be for homeless people. I know that I want to help people, but I’m also already from a low income family and guess I want to figure out a way to make good money doing it. I actually tend to lean more towards wanting to help people out with housing resources and potentially do case management but looking at the salaries I see why people are so stressed and tend to leave the field even though I really want to make a contribution. I’ll also actually be volunteering and helping with another local program soon.

I of course may just have to switch majors. I’m posting here because I’ll have to really think about it.

I feel lost. I am 20 years old and I have been working since I was 15. I started investing when I was 18. I have roughly 20k invested between my brokerage and Roth IRA. But I just have this burning feeling that I am not doing enough.

I feel I need to learn more but just have no clue where to begin. All I really know is how to manage my money.

I currently am a bitcoin mining tech in a ghost town making $31.50 an hour. Although money is good, I want to progress and make more. This job is 90% physical labor and 10% mental. I am basically saying anyone can do it, and I feel no sense of fulfillment from it or feel like I have gained any useful experience to land a higher paying job/career.

I may be transitioning into a data center tech role in 2027 which will pay more.

I know I like working on projects and building things. (I know this sounds pretty vague, I just genuinely don't know where or what I want to do. Just currently following a source of income)

Long term I want work that isn’t purely physical or to even own a business. I also want to be able to travel and see the world from time to time.

My questions are:

What did you start learning?
How did you begin learning?
How has it paid off?
How long did it take to pay off?
Just any advice you think would be useful.

Hi everyone,

As the title suggests, I (27M) recently left a 5-year marketing role at a small startup. It's been a little over a month since I handed in my resignation, and I'm feeling extremely lost, anxious, and regretful about the choices I made 5 years ago.

Why I left:

Ethical conflict / new venture: I founded my own company. The product is completely different from my previous employer's, though the target audience overlaps. Staying while building my own thing didn't feel right from an integrity standpoint.

Stagnation: After 5 years (intern all the way up to a management role), I hit a ceiling. The annual increments were modest, and I constantly felt capable of much more than the scope allowed.

Why I feel like I completely fucked up:

Now that I'm unemployed, working on my startup, and job hunting, hindsight is hitting me like a ton of bricks.

In university I graduated with First Class Honours on a scholarship. When it came to internships, I didn't even think about applying to Big 4, top FMCGs, or major tech/MNCs. It wasn't out of fear, it just wasn't on my radar at the time.

That thought is killing me right now. If I had started my career at a recognised brand 5 years ago, my path, network, and market value would look completely different today. I know I have the capability, drive, and execution skills to excel, and I feel like I wasted my prime early-career years and lost the momentum I built in college.

The job hunt reality check:

Mid/senior MNC roles: Most ask for "5+ years of experience in FMCG/large enterprise." I have 5 years of hands-on growth experience (including the internship), and recruiters don't recognise the startup name and move on without giving me a chance.

Management trainee / apprenticeship programs: Strictly for fresh graduates, so I'm aged out.

The startup gap: Over 4 years the company's revenue grew roughly 5-10x and I owned that number, from marketing through to sales and ops. To traditional corporate recruiters that seems to mean very little.

I feel 5 years behind my peers, stuck in a weird middle ground: too experienced for rotational programs, and without the brand name for mid-level MNC roles.

To anyone who has moved from an early-stage startup into a big corporate (or built their own thing while pivoting): how do I reposition 5 years of startup execution so big companies actually care? What would you do in my shoes right now?

Thanks in advance. Brutal honesty is welcome.

Hello, everyone. Recently I’ve started to question my cs major choice. I’m second year student in 3 year program, and this semester has been particularly difficult for me. I just started to dislike my uni, dread project submissions and fear just any kind of assignment. During school I used to love chemistry, biology and math, but I’ve chosen cs at that time, since medicine is horrendously paid in my country and I emigrated to another country for CS studies. I am not so great at coding, and I generally strugle on coding subjects, I don’t feel much connection to cs and it’s not particularly interesting for me. Right now, I’m not even sure I’ll find a job in this market, in addition to not being able to code that great. Medicine looks attractive due to high salaries in the country I immigrated into, and generally I greatly enjoyed learning about human anatomy in school and had great results in chem and bio. However, I’m kinda scared that it will take multiple tries to get into medical uni, and studying medicine will break me even more than cs right now. As well it would be more of a burden for my parents, since even if I get into medicine, I’ll need their full financial support, while I could’ve just finished cs and started supporting myself (although who knows in this market tbh). So what do you think? Not making a move just yet, only collecting opinions

Really spitballing ideas and looking for advice from other people or pointers to help find the right path from here on. I have not committed to anything, and the status quo is ok, but I want to do something else with my life, and don't really know what to do from here. Thank you all for reading, I appreciate you.

I'm 27, debt-free (as of last month), I have a Bachelor's in Computer Science, and I've been a full-time software engineer for about 6 years, expecting a promotion to senior in a few months. I'm considering a career pivot in around 2-4 years, somewhere around 2028-2030, maybe pursuing a Master's in a different field that I haven't decided on. I am currently saving money to try to make this transition easier. Ideally, I would like to take on no debt for more school. I am highly considering studying abroad (I live in the US). I am good with foreign language, and while I already speak French, Spanish and German at C1/B2/B2, I would not be bothered having to learn another language with that multi-year time frame to prepare. In fact, that might be an appeal to me.

I'm grateful for the job I already have, but I'm sick of this industry. I've loved writing code and I've done it since I was a kid, but the constant demands from higher management to pump out more and more and more AI slop are destroying my love for the craft, and I wish I had a more directly positive impact on society. On that note, I want to rule out AI careers.

I am also a pretty extroverted person who likes to befriend people at work, and I don't get that at my current job. We all kinda keep to ourselves, which makes me a little sad. I do have a very positive relationship with my manager though. I know not all devs are introverts in every company, but I think I'd be better suited for a career that selects for those personality traits more. On top of that, the SWE interview process is just grueling and unpleasant, and I have a suspicion it's only going to get worse and worse, so I don't know if I want to subject myself through all that again to find my next job. Feel like the writing is on the wall for me to make this my last such role.

I am aware that further education, especially abroad, will not make me richer than the career I already have, but that's not why I am interested in it. I want to be proud of what I do with 40+ hours of my week, and I don't want AI shoved down my throat. I am willing to take a reasonable paycut to make this happen, provided I can still cover my basic bills and save around $500 or more a month on top (ideally). However, I have no family, so I do need this to work out, or I need to have the money saved to take the blow if it doesn't, because I have no one to fall back on.

In my shoes, do you have any suggestions on fields or paths I could pursue? I have a personal hobby-level interest in electronics/embedded programming, physics, basic mechanical engineering (I like to make little gadgets with my 3d printer + microcontrollers and circuits), and the computer-simulation-oriented parts of some of the natural sciences (meteorological simulations, geology data, etc). On the more humanities-oriented side, I love foreign language, history, and sociology. I read a lot of classic literature too and like to make my own translations of small passages and stuff. I'm into playing and performing music too, and I could see myself looking at something like audio engineering. I realize this is a wild scattershot, but I'm just looking for ideas, tangents to go down and explore myself. I don't expect to find a career that marries every single interest I have.

Thank you all for reading.

So Hello People,

I wanna talk about a few things which I am currently facing in my life. Basically, in the next whole thing, I wrote how my life looks like and what's happening. I just need some honest suggestions on what to do, because I am tired enough about things.

So I am 23, Female from UP working in a service-based corporate in a QA role. Graduated in 2024 from a tier 3 college in UP. Came to Hyd in 2024 and it's been 2 years I am working in the same company in a QA role. Though the role offered to me is QA, it legit has some data collection work like purely non-tech data entry kinda job, which is frustrating as hell. I was assigned this project, though I know I can work in a good company, have capabilities, touch wood, and can earn, but just because of a comfort zone I am stuck in this.

Now I live here with my relatives in Hyd. I used to live with my cousin sister and her husband. It did not work out, so I shifted to some other place of my relatives in the same society.

So my relations with my sister broke, got worse actually. We have had very close bonds in our life. She lived in our house for around 11 years, which is her nani's home, so I had a very close relation with her which is now not in a good situation in 2 years. Now the place where I am currently living is from my father's side. They have a family: 2 uncles, 1 is married and has a 3-year-old daughter, and their 65-year-old mother.

So I am not on good terms with the mother, the 65-year-old woman of the family, from the very start. She did not like me living in the house from the very first day. She used to check how much I am eating, point things out, check what I am eating whenever I am around the kitchen, and do things which were not good. I have though invested good energy into serving people in the house, cooking and serving them first, and doing whatever good I can do. But this woman had a lot of problems with me eating things. She used to think I should eat with my own money as much as I want. Though they are quite rich, she is orthodox and wants things in her own way.

Now coming to the point, I had a lot of arguments with them. My parents want me to live somewhere in a PG and my father communicated this to them. But in that family, there is one person—the married uncle—who supports me. He does not want me to shift, he cares about me, and he wants me to work on myself, do studies, and do workouts. In the span of 2 years, just because of improper food habits, I have disordered my body. I have gained much weight.

I used to do gym before, study before these 2 years, but due to that woman who obstructed me, I have not been able to manage things.

Now after 2 years, I have been finding a home to live in. I dedicated 2 months entirely to flat-hunting things. I am still finding.

I have shared this with my relative uncle. Out of 5 people in the family, he is the only one who wants me to live there; others actually don't, especially their mother. So he wants me to try out 6 more months: work at my job, switch jobs, earn at least 50k (25k is hard), and work on my self and gym activities. But I had decided to shift to get free from these family things. No one except him out of 2 families living here talks to me.

My uncle gives the reason that there is a behavior issue with me: I don't engage with people, I don't talk to them. Shifting houses is not the problem, but the behavior is the problem. Even if I am living out, it will be a problem with people—that's a nature problem, he says. You sit in your room the whole day, you don't interact with people, you just treat people like disposable, when you need something you come, and otherwise you are in your own world. Out of 16 people living there—like my sister, this house, their in-laws' house, their friends—he says I am not able to make any connection with anyone.

So now he has given me 2 options:

1. To shift and see how things are going, live and see for 3–4 months, and if things don't work out, come back to his house. (I know when you leave home, it's not welcoming again.)

2. Live there for 6 months more, do a job switch, become financially independent, and then he can see if I am ready to shift.

Some background details: I lost my grandmother this February. She was the financial backup for my family. My parents' financial situation is not good. I have a brother in a private college doing B.Tech; he has fees of 2 lakhs. They somehow arrange it. My grandmother used to get a pension which was very helpful for my family, but now she is not there, so it's tough.

Touch wood, till now my parents have not asked for much financial help from me, but in the future, I have to.

So with 25k, 11k goes into investment.

The rest I am planning for:

\* Rent: 5 to 6k in double occupancy in a flat

\* Grocery: 3k

\* Electricity and rental utilities: 1k

\* Misc: 1k

\* Total: 11k going out.

This is my calculation which can be incorrect.

11k + 11k = 22k.

4k I am left with, which would go into my expenses and outings.

I just have to go office 2 times a week and gets cabs so no issues of taking a flat awy from office.

So in this situation, is it good to shift?

Other problems I face here are timings: I have to come back home by 10 PM. Where I am going, with whom I am going, I need to tell everything. I am not able to make friends because of it; I have very few friends.

Doing late-night parties, trips, going on dates—I am not able to do anything. I have a spare room in my relatives' house, but I don't have that much privacy; whatever I talk about on the phone is heard outside my room. But I get meals... It's not good in taste. I am eating the same dal and roti 2 times. If I want to cook something, I can't as their mother doesn't allow it. So I don't have the freedom to eat what I want, go where I want, socialize with people, do trips, have a good diet, or do gyming stuff. Because of these issues in my head, I am not able to study either.

So now tell me what should I do? Should I shift for peace of mind and manage? I believe I can shift, switch jobs in 3 months, enjoy my life on my terms, go on trips, not waste my early 20s, learn to be independent, and learn a lot of things. It's life, so you eventually figure things out, right? Finances I will manage—I have little savings, but it seems like that will also go if I start living in a flat. I think I can better manage my life living in a flat and away from them, and the chaos in my head will reduce.

Also, shifting is hurting that uncle who wants me to live here. I just don't want to hurt him; he has kept me in his house for 2 years and taken care of me. I just want to express the thankfulness and gratefulness for what he did for me. He kept me because our family had in the past also helped their family in everything, so he wanted me to grow and help my family stand with everyone in society. So I have to show him respect even if I am taking the decision to shift. I know after shifting there will be a reaction from him, like being a little unconcerned from his side, and relations will not be as good as now.

I am not looking for PG options. I can't manage the food in Hyd, and there is no privacy, so suggest to me something to do.

Hi I am 21 years old

And I think I have ruined my career I know I have my whole life ahead but right I am not making a single penny

I'm 19. I love strategic thinking. I love reading about massive military campaigns and learning about the strategies of past generals. Next to strategy, I love the tactics that are used such as deception, clever tricks, precise timing, concentration of force, etc. I love having a long term goal to work towards and feeling like I have a purpose. I love playing chess. I love strategy games. I'm good at math (I'm a mathematics major). I hate coding. I don't really want to join the military. Are there any jobs that fit these skills or is officer corps the only route.

I turned 26 this past Sunday, and I’m already feeling the Turning 26 has hit me harder than I expected, and I’m honestly getting tired of the constant job hunt. ramifications. I’m aging off my parents’ health insurance, so now they have to figure out a new policy for me, and the pressure to find a job with benefits has reached an all-time high. At this point, I’m honestly willing to take just about anything that offers decent benefits because I need some stability.
What frustrates me the most is that I used to be a pretty good athlete, specifically in track and field. I was good enough to compete in college and had a decent career, but obviously, I wasn’t good enough to make it to the Olympics. Sometimes I can’t help but wonder what my life would look like if I had made it. Maybe I’d have more financial stability, fewer worries about my future, and wouldn’t have my family constantly on my back about finding a job.
Instead, it feels like I’m getting rejection after rejection, and it’s mentally exhausting. I have a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in criminal justice, but trying to turn those accomplishments into a stable career has been a lot harder than I ever imagined. Every rejection just adds to the frustration, especially when I feel like I’m running out of time to get my life together.
At this point, I’m actually considering getting back into track and field. I know it might sound crazy, and I’m not expecting to suddenly become an Olympic athlete, but I miss having something to work toward that I’m actually passionate about. Right now, the job hunt feels like an endless cycle of applications, interviews, and rejection, and I’m just tired of it.
I never imagined that turning 26 would make me feel this much pressure. I know I’m not the only person going through this, but damn, it’s hard not to feel like I’m falling behind. I’m just trying to find some stability and figure out what comes next, because this whole process has started to feel like a humiliation ritual.

I’m a 26yo busy mom. My youngest is 1yo. Not sure if that’s important info but I feel it might help get best advice to be realistic.

I haven’t had a lot of work experience in my life. Last 3 years have been the most active in work. I have mainly worked food manufacturing warehouse as a packager or currently machine operator. I’ve had brief training in quality assurance at my former job.

I want so badly a career that will one day be great for myself and kids. Something that will cover our wants and needs, in demand, and a schedule as my warehouse jobs of 2-2-3. I love that because it allows so plenty of time with family still.

My current company is great! They have started me at $21/hour. In April I may be due for a raise.

Healthcare has always been a career I’ve had in mind. Starting with Medical Assistant, seeing if it’s a good fit for me then go to LPN/RN.

I know you’re not suppose to really know everything about nursing before nursing school, but I feel so silly as if I absolutely do need to 😆 and it makes me pull back from the idea.

Another idea I had was cybersecurity.

And lastly something like paralegal.

I love paperwork, I enjoy working with people, I think I do well in intense situations.

Would I be able to get onto some type of certification or degree in the very near future while also being a mom?

I’m also interested in something highly remote. I know for health stuff a lot is online but clinicals are obviously required in person.

I just feel like wasted potential and I want to be something I can be proud of and for my kids to have someone to look up to as they grow up.

I use to do super well in school. I actually loved it so thinking of going back to school makes me excited.

Thanks for any help, and if there’s more info I can provide for better advice let me know. !!

i recently gave up on my dream of doing art at all in my life, and that’s made me realize that i’m not really interested in much. i’m going to college in a few months and the career i want to study in i’m not even passionate about. i like it a little yeah it sounds nice, but i don’t love it.

it’s hard to explain other than the world just feels kinda unexciting or boring? during my current year of school there was alot of emphasis on what your interest in or what you’ve done in the past and i didn’t have much to show for either. i also don’t really spend my time doing much of anything either. there’s things i think could be interesting to try or do but the feeling is always short lived. i don’t want my life to just collect dust but it feels so hard to be passionate or even care at all sometimes.

is there something out there for someone like me?

I sit here at 34, at a crossroad that is painful. It is necessary now, but was easily avoidable.

Escaping into partying, partners, and gaming to cover a hole that was never going to be filled by anything but self-actualization; I never truly sat long enough through those uncomfortable moments with my feelings and desires.

It would be easy to blame my self-centered parents, of which I had three (divorce, I have more of a family bush than a tree). Or the coaches in my life that only knew how to inspire through fear.

All the perceived wrongdoing in my life should have lit an insatiable fire. Instead, I used it like a pilot light that I would only turn up when I was over-satiated on my hedonism.

You and only you, know what is truly worth pursuing.

Sure, I got very good at what I am doing for a career. I've had multiple lives, including an opportunity to play football at a high level. I pursued women recklessly. And in between those fleeting experiences, instead of asking myself the right questions, acknowledging the fear, and choosing my passion, I numbed myself with the partying, gaming, and doing what I thought was a good compromise between the stability my father wanted for me and my creative instincts.

I've now lost touch with a majority of those so-called friends I made along the way. Never truly reached the potential I saw within me.

It is only my timid fears that is truly to blame.

My life, and your life, is not done. But, try to fail faster before it becomes a arduous, mid-life saga of finding what is YOUR purpose and meaning to life.

I (30F) feel uncertain and unmotivated. I graduated with a BA in chemistry and a minor in math. Then I took a few years to have fun jobs, mostly did seasonal work like ski resorts, golf courses, food service. Then that got old, so I had always been interested in teaching (I was a tutor all through college and loved it) and decided to get my MA in educations. I taught high school math for two years and both years were terrible. It wreaked havoc on my mental and physical health. I do really love teaching but so much of the job wasn't teaching, it was managing behaviors. So now, I substitute teach part time, and still work at a golf course as the snack bar attendant. I just feel like I have so much more to give, I love math and science, I feel like I'm very bright and I like learning. I also love art and do all kinds of crafts: embroidery, painting, needle felting, macrame. I also really love nature and animals. I just don't know what to do, I have so many careers I'm pondering: actuary (worried I'll never find an entry level job as its so competitive), mental health counselor (worried about the emotional toll because I'm an empathetic), vet tech (love animals but again worried about having to see the bad outcomes, plus a low pay ceiling). I'm interested in healthcare and sciences too, but all of my resume is either education or service jobs and I feel like no one will give me a chance, I've applied to a bunch of lab tech jobs and reception jobs in healthcare and no one will even give me an interview. I feel like teaching shoehorned me into this role and no other employers can see my potential. What should I pursue?

I’ve been isolating for a while now, and I’m looking for an entry level job to do for a while that could help me back into the workforce and engage with people again. I don’t want a job where it’s forced customer service interactions where you’re fake and masking (I already do that for free because of high functioning autism) but where I could have actual semi professional interaction and banter with customers/colleagues and help develop actual social and interpersonal skills again. Thankyou!

Been doing hair for about 3 years including school and it just ain't working out for me money wise and I don't see that changing. Only school I've done is highschool and barber school and I can't really afford ( timewise) to spend more than 2 years in a school . Any ideas of things I should look into

Life Currently

I'm 26M, and I've never had a job. I completed my B.Tech at 23, then took a gap to prepare for GATE, and now I'm pursuing my M.Tech. Currently, in my second year, I've joined an unpaid internship.

I want to share two parts of my life here. Please read the full post.

1. Career life

Honestly, I'm not happy that I couldn't get a paid internship through my college while some of my good friends did. Right now, I feel like my parents need my financial support, but even after trying my absolute best, I still can't find a job in VLSI or at least in embedded systems.

Sometimes, I feel like I'm just here, surviving on my parents' money.

All my life, I've tried to do well academically, but I've failed again and again and again. I failed 10th grade but passed through the compartment exam. Then I failed 12th grade, and later, during my B.Tech, I struggled again. Luckily, I haven't failed in my M.Tech so far.

You know, after my 10th results, many of my relatives told my father, "Arey, why waste money? Just let us help him get a government job." The jobs they were talking about were things like gatekeeper, peon, or clerk.

My parents have never really seen good days in their lives. Both my mother and father were toppers in their 10th and 12th UP Board exams. They were brilliant students, and I'm so, so proud of them. But destiny robbed them of opportunities. Neither of them had the financial means to attend even a government college.

And then there's me.

When my relatives were suggesting those jobs for me, I saw the disappointment in my father's eyes. Not disappointment in me as a person, but disappointment in the future he had imagined for me. A future he wanted me to have but couldn't give me everything I needed to reach.

I made a decision that day: I might fail a hundred times, but I won't give up.

But now, I'm seriously starting to doubt myself. Will I ever be able to make my parents proud? Will I ever be able to support them financially the way they deserve?

One of my biggest dreams is to take my mother on a trip to South India using my own salary, to let her travel and experience things that she couldn't experience earlier in life. It might sound like a small dream to someone else, but it means everything to me.

And right now, I can't even find a job.

2. Love life

How do I even explain this? I'll try my best.

I recently fell for a girl. She was damn beautiful, and let's call her R.

Initially, everything seemed to be going well. She used to teach me coding languages, and I had already told her that I had feelings for her. For around two months, things felt good.

But suddenly, things started falling apart.

I asked her what was happening, and she told me that I needed to think about my future and focus on my life. For the past three months, I've felt her becoming more and more distant every day.

And honestly, it hurts.

I've always felt that whenever I get attached to someone, that person eventually leaves me, regardless of who they are. I lost my best friend when I was 21. He passed away, and that loss changed something in me. Since then, it feels like I've watched people leave my life one by one.

And now, it feels like it's her turn.

We even made plans to meet this month. Yeah, I begged for that meeting, and I'm not proud of that, but I wanted to see her one last time.

Deep down, I feel like this might be the last time I'll ever see her.

I've never really had big expectations about relationships or anything like that. I wasn't asking for some perfect love story. I just wanted her to stay in my life.

But I guess that's becoming impossible now.

In the end...

I don't even know why I'm writing all of this here. Maybe I just needed somewhere to let everything out without pretending that I'm doing okay.

I'm 26, unemployed, trying to build a career, trying to make my parents proud, and trying to accept that some people I care about might not stay in my life.

I know I'm still young, and maybe things will eventually get better. But when you're living through it, it's difficult to believe that sometimes.

If you've read everything until here, thank you. I genuinely mean that.

If you've ever been in a similar situation, especially regarding your career or feeling like you're falling behind in life, I'd really appreciate any advice.

Thank you for reading.

— AR

I’m currently applying for radtech school but im having second thoughts. I also thought about paralegal but it seems risky.

At my core,I would really prefer something thats an office job,preferably non customer facing or introvert friendly that would make 60k a year without overtime and has a friendly barrier of entry

Not rlly tryna make a family or anything just want more pets and money to provide proper care for those future pets.

I’m willing to get certs or college degrees if needed. And i am in florida. I may consider relocation if possible but i just wanna put effort and money into something that will actually get me somewhere in life.

I m indescive I dont know which career to choose between teaching and dental hygienist a little about me I m 31 F I ve been searching my whole life what interest me .. but then later I realized no matter what u study life is about finding a career that balances work and ur personal life i have studied dentistry for a year it was soo hard on me as i m not studios person i failed twice in my first year i gave up i passed outs of 4 subjects only three which was dental anatomy dental histology and anatomy head and neck i failed physiology and biochemistry twice then i gave up and i switched to bachelor of business administration which i completed and graduated which I dont even like it i just did like that anywho i got married young and have one child now they my child is grown up and is 9 and my marriage is almost on the verge of breakup and all my life i felt from inches i n depended on a man and i dont want that narrative i wanna do something for me and not lived by control of finance to be honest i have wasted soo much behind marriage that I haven’t started anything for myself i just want stable career where i can give time to my child and able to work in the morning i have previously worked as English teacher in a nursery it was very exhausting with planning and making worksheets didn’t enjoy much but i know I would get holidays with same time as kids the only reason I think of studying bachelor of education but i know every great person has studies education which lead to something but my interest is in health care field i wanna do something like study hygienist open up my own clinic and have all the health care services given not medical ones like the spas ones i like to work in health care and sometimes i think i should do both but the degree i m thinking to obtain from for education is from Middle East and its has a lot of scope to work as teacher but again because of the economy now i feel nothing is guranteed and for hygienist i want to study in canada as it has less year and in Middle East they don’t hire hygienist and even if they do hire which is rare the salary sucks its not good as it is in Canada if u studied there and my long term plan might be staying in Canada as i m Canadian and not sure about the certainty about in Middle East even if i study bachelor of education in Middle East and went back to canada i know i can use my middle eastern degree and upgrade it with some short course and able to work quicker but if i studied hygienist and tried working in Middle East it’s not the same pay as in canada and wont be able to open up my own clinic as a medical spa without the actual Botox and filler one just regular spa which a non medical can do it without a doctor .. i m soo confused as i m also in the middle of my marriage breakup and i m scared also if i joined anything i wont be able to continue or have stress and on top of that i m teaching my child as homeschool because i cant right now afford to pay for physical school fees and when i teach my child she really be testing my patience and my family says if u wanna be a teacher u gotta be patient and they all demotivate me i mean i just want to stand on my own without but i m unsure what to do i m thinking to study bachelor of education for two years as i have to stay in Middle East in for two years then try to enroll in dental hygiene program but i dont know its all making me feel overwhelm that i feel like sometimes leave everything and dont do anything . People be telling me to be a teacher u gotta be patient i do have patience and i did worked as teacher previously in teaching setting but i sometimes i m doubtful if i can do it or not and then if i can study hygienist and become one or not i just want to do everything quick and start earning i want to be financially independent with the choices i have taken but then again i think does putting money in this matter what if i die in between completing all this all this is making me feel overwhelm with life i m soo exhausted with everything . My family said if u be teacher be ready to deal with even difficult kids I know that bas everything has good and bad and i feel time is the biggest thief half of my life went pleasing everyone and listening to what my partner wants and get dumped once life gets hard I feel the stuck the most every day my heart feels heavy with all this I m running behind is it worth it as my husband has been against all this but I m tired to being controlled I don’t want it .. I feel like when life gets hard I leave things and run away from it and that’s my weakness please guide me with all the pros and cons and I want to know seriously if anyone can guide Canadian hygienist course guidance and studies if anyone can share with me the notes to actually see as I m trying to find out about the studies pleasee help meee .

37yo Female- was an inpatient/hospital registered nurse for 8 years, travel nurse 1 year, and now 4 years as a nurse case manager for a health insurance company. I'm looking for a way to get out of healthcare completely, just unsure how. Currently renting an apartment, no car, no drivers license (working on it, got my learners permit). Goal is to homestead someday, however lived in cities most of my life. Maybe something that will help me pivot more into that future lifestyle? How to get into that, what fields to look into, and how to get in (certifications, apprenticeships). Hoping for at least 100k salary if even possible.

BSN, MSN in nursing informatics.

I’m 25 and really struggling to figure out what career path I want to take, so I’m hoping to get some advice from people who have been in a similar situation or have experience in these fields.

One career I’ve been considering is becoming an X-ray tech because I like the idea of having a stable career and making decent money. However, I have a pretty severe fear and anxiety around blood, needles, and seeing people who are sick in a hospital. I had childhood cancer, and I think a lot of this stems from PTSD from that experience. Every time I go into a hospital, I get borderline panic attacks, so I’m worried that working in healthcare might not be realistic for me.

My other option is getting a degree in communications. I’m interested in the creative side of things, social media, marketing, and potentially working for a company. The downside is that it would be another four years of school, and at 25, I feel like I’m already behind and don’t want to spend years getting a degree only to struggle to find a decent-paying job afterward.

I’m trying to find a career that offers:

• Good, stable income and room for growth
• A decent work-life balance, ideally no weekends
• A relatively low-stress work environment
• Opportunities to be creative or work in a business setting
• A career that I can realistically get into without spending a ton of money on school

Are there any healthcare careers that don’t involve much blood, needles, or direct exposure to sick patients? Or should I look into something completely different?

I’d especially love to hear from anyone who has a communications degree, works in marketing, or has experience in healthcare careers that are less hands-on with patients.

I know 25 isn’t old, but I’m feeling overwhelmed trying to make the right decision for my future. Any advice, career suggestions, or personal experiences would be appreciated.

I envy passionate people so fucking much. I am someone who likes doing things, I have multiple hobbies and multiple things I like. I am a creative at heart, I enjoy painting and I've recently started reading(though I've always been a reader), I want to learn pottery someday when I can afford it, and I have multiple things that intrigue me that I want to experience or learn. In fact I'm good at studies as well fairly enjoy it. But I don't particularly feel very passionate about any of these things.

As a child I had things that I really liked, and natural inclinations towards certain stuff but i'm also someone who is heavily influenced by other people's opinions and ideas. so what I did in my growing years in trying to mould and fit myself in the most popular and widely accepted idea of a person.

For example- I loved art and painting since childhood for as long as I could remember, in my 9th grade I made few good friends (that I am friends with till today), like real friends for the very first time(my family kept moving places so never had any childhood friends), So this crowd was what you'd call "cool kids" in school and I felt so honoured to be friends with them and also very scared that they'd find me very boring and uncool and break up the friendship. So we had art classes that I religiously attended and actively participated in. This was the time when art was becoming too boring and uncool for most of my classmates and only few of them who were genuinely interested stuck around and other being part of the former group started bunking or missing classes and just hanging out. I obviously wanted to attend all the classes and enjoyed it but I guess what I chose to do- I bunked almost all my classes with my friends because I was scared they'd leave me(I didn't know any better, I was a kid). I slowly drifted away from art and completely stopped it.(I eventually found my way back to it)

I've had few academic and professional failures that make question my worth and I just know where to go in life. I don't have that one calling and that one thing i'm passionate about and to which I can dedicate my energy and efforts and life. Even if I do find things I really like I am too scared to commit myself completely to it because what if I fail. I don't myself anymore.

This quote by murakami made me feel very seen

“When you are used to the kind of life -of never getting anything you want- you stop knowing what it is you want.”

I was recently let go of my customer service job in the catering industry. I had been there for 4 years and couldn’t really progress anymore. I was also not offered insurance which I need now that I’m 26. With that being said I believe I’m ready for a career change into something that I can stick with and grow with over the rest of my life. I’ve narrowed it down to 3 trades but am having trouble deciding which path to take. The three I have in mind are: Welding (my younger brother just finished welding school and is making more money than I ever have.), HVAC (my grandfather did hvac and I’d have most of the tools needed), or heavy equipment operator (this one just really intrigues me). If anyone in any of these fields could give me an idea of how/where to start and how to choose what may be the best fit for me I’d love to hear your insight. Thanks for reading!

Growing up, I was always carefree and clumsy, so the people around me often considered me stupid. My own parents were shocked when I ended up graduating as valedictorian and got accepted into an Ivy League school. Afterwards, my friends and my extended family started seeing me differently. It was strange, but a nice change from being seen as the "ditsy" one. But after entering college, both the environment and some bad social experiences led to me developing social anxiety. Year after year, I withdrew further into my own world and lost a lot of friendships. I didn't get into any internships, make any networks, and at the end, I had no real friends from college.

I ended up graduating with a degree in Computer Science. However, since my graduation in May, I have not been able to find a job. Fortunately, I'm able to live with my parents, but I can feel their patience running thin. It's feels especially bad because I know I could have tried harder. However, it's hard to motivate myself when I see posts by current software engineers being laid off and having AI do their jobs in order to meet impossible deadlines.

I was considering going back to school to get my masters, but focus on systems in ML. I always regretted not trying research and working on methods to make AI use less energy appeals to me a lot more right now than software. It seemed to be a lot more secure than software as well. However, graduate school is an expensive risk for someone who can't even get a job. And of all the professors I emailed, only one got back to me.

Every day, I just feel more and more depressed. I applied to a few retail jobs, but I didn't even get into those. I can feel my social anxiety getting worse, as I've stopped contacting the few friends I did have. Maybe I should try to make the effort more, but the few times we do talk I just feel shitty. They joke about me "falling off", but it's hard to laugh it off when I feel genuinely pathetic.

I know that life's not a race, but when I look back on what I've done compared to others my age, I feel so completely behind. I've never been in a relationship. I've never done anything crazy. At this point, I just don't know where to even start. I have so many things I want to do and so many unfinished projects. I think I have ADHD, with elementary teachers even suggesting to my parents in the past that I should get tested. I keep imagining that if I do have it and get it tested, that maybe everything will work out. I'll be able to actually do the things I need to. I can be consistent and fight through the lack of motivation so I can at least have a start of a career. But my health insurance is not the best, and the earliest I can see my PCP is late November.

At this point, I just want a massive change. I'm considering doing a working holiday in Ireland or even Korea to try to improve my language skills. I know this isn't the most responsible choice, but I worry that continuing to make "safe" choices will just leave me with regrets. But I also don't want to end up with a ton of debt either. I feel like there are so many branching paths in front of me, and the stress of it all paralyzes me.