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Enlist in the US Army. They will help you with your laziness issue. That will begin the first day of boot camp. Pick an MOS(job) that is in high demand. They will train you and you will be paid to learn. Once you finish your classes, they will give you a job doing what you learned. By the time your enlistment is up you will have 3+ years of real world experience that will be highly desired by future employers.
Negotiate your first duty station. Pick somewhere exotic like Germany, Hawaii or Korea. That checks your foreign internship box.
You will be housed, fed, and paid. No need to worry about what to wear to work. No need to go in debt to learn a new skill. Bonus is you will be out of your parent's home.
My son did ROTC. They paid all his tuition and books. He got a small monthly stipend. Then a year and a half paid training to learn how to fly helicopters. Now he gets to do something that he is passionate about. Plus they send him to all sorts of peripheral training to broaden his skill set. Airborne, High Altitude Flying & Air Assault. I watch his confidence build after each trying training scenario.
If anyone is going to give you no nonsense training, it's the US military.
Vet tech sounds good- I think a 2-year program in community college possibly.
I was (briefly) in Peace Corps in Haiti during a very bad time and it wasn't the career path I hoped for. However, there is no question that there is a great deal of people contact- it's the major part of any PC assignment. I think people without degrees can go if significant work experience.
Re "lazy" in high school- sounds like OP was and is in depression and that likely needs treatment and consideration before any path works. Best wishes to OP.
Yeah, I dealt with depression throughout high school and I still deal with it today, as well as a lotttttt of anxiety.
Do you mean the earthquake, or just a bad time for you? I wanna hear more.
Isn't enlisting in the Army implies some predisposition for it? Should it even be a universal advice?
My two kids, I think, would not find the Army suitable. One would welcome discipline and clear rules, but has an incompatible with the army health problem. If the OP has a health problem, I think it's unfair to make her mention it as a rebuttal, if she doesn't want to disclose it.
The other is, like the OP, "artsy", in the sense that her life should be conducted the way she feels her way through it. Through the years of trials and errors, I already know to leave her alone with her own schedule. Her cat-like spirit would not mesh well with the army.
Should I mention the unmentionable? That the possibility to die comes as a package deal? That a person should not make this decision lightly?
it sounds to me like the OP already has skills at age 22 that many people twice her age don't have: she has a job and she is able to save money. That is admirable and a good skill set.
I saw some vet tech and hospitality internships on there, as well as some customized ones. Cause yeah, I'm not really interesting in teaching that much. I could be a technician, everyone's gotta start somewhere after all.
Lol yeah, I did say that. I work a pizza job right now, btw. I like the concept because I'm a huge coffee person and when I go out for coffee I like coming up with creative flavor combinations, like making things that taste like candy bars or come out a certain color or that are themed after a concept. I've been researching vet tech positions, it's a pretty good idea me thinks.
I would be careful before getting too excited about the internships you have to pay to participate in. Make sure that doing one would actually help you make forward progress towards the job you want. They might take your money and send you on vacation to a foreign country, but at the end of those four weeks or whatever, if they hand you a certificate that says "vet tech internship" that no veterinary practice will recognize because all they care about is that you've completed the standard two year course in community college, then you've spent thousands of dollars you worked hard to save with no result.
If you think working at a coffee shop is something that would serve as a creative outlet, then this might be a good time to try that as lots of places are likely looking to hire help and would be willing to train you. That might even be something you could do at the same time as taking courses towards being a vet tech (so that you could give both a try and see if one appeals more than the other.)
Yeah, I dealt with depression throughout high school and I still deal with it today, as well as a lotttttt of anxiety.
Vet tech would be high stress (animals' lives depending on your attention to detail, expertise, and ability to deal with medical emergencies. You just cannot fall apart when things get rough). Unmanaged depression wouldn't be a good thing in this profession either. You may also need to deal with upset pet owners.
The first two involve attaining degrees (Marine Biology, or Ocean and Coastal Engineering, or Aquaculture, or Oceanography, or Environmental Science, or Nonprofit Management, or Marine Archaeology, or Aquatic Animal Health and Veterinarian, or Photography). Like I said, talk to guidance counsellors at colleges, who know the multitude of paths for any dream you may have.
The last one, "zoo", could be less involved educationally if you are ok joining as a technician (basically a cleaner/feeder).
If I am not mistaken, you've mentioned that you don't like working with people? A barista is not only a people-facing job, it's also verging on a being a free community psychologist. The internship is teaching English, that is, a very people-oriented job.
The internship is to teach English in Latin America. What kind of skill will you arrive back with, that would be useful? People teach English in different countries, and sometimes cannot get out of *that* rut, since back home they are back to the same question: "What to do? What skills do I have?" -- sometimes that pushes them go back to those countries, to keep doing the one thing they know how to do.
As much as seeing this glossy website instinctively warned me that it would be costly, it is surprisingly not. $1.5-2K for 4 weeks and $2-3K for 8 weeks. You've already said that you've saved 4 times that. As an adult, you don't need permission of anyone to spend this money, if that's what you want to do.
But it is strange, as people usually leave to teach English in other countries to make money, not to pay money. This is where the attached strings are, in this particular case (they are going to make money off of you, not the other way around).
You can't get a job teaching English abroad just by being an English speaker. You need to have a college degree (the better pay is for people with an MA), with coursework in TOEFL (Teaching English As a Foreign Language), if not a complete degree in that. You have to know English grammar inside out, and upside down, as a foreigner would view it. And spelling has to be perfect, as well.
Again, the Peace Corps requires a BA as a minimum. I don't know if AmeriCorps takes HS grads; it might. It used to when it was VISTA, IDK about now.
University advisers are for university students, period. It's a "free" service on the basis of the tuition they pay. The free service isn't open to non-students.
There are workshops and aptitude testing the OP can take, to provide career guidance. She should do some research into that.
Yeah, I dealt with depression throughout high school and I still deal with it today, as well as a lotttttt of anxiety.
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OK, then the first order of business is to get your own "house" in order. Get some mental health care. Did you ever talk to your parents about your depression? Did it not come up in a conversation about your grades? Depression is not your fault. But now that you're an adult, you're responsible for your own decision-making regarding treatment or therapy. Hopefully your parents would be willing to help pay for it.
You can't get anywhere in college or a career without doing what needs to be done to become a reliable student and employee. You need to do this for yourself, OP. The inner "you" has been neglected for too long. You'd be fooling yourself, if you think that finding just the right career path would make your depression go away. You need a solid foundation of mental health, so you can deal with the demands that will be placed on you in furthering your education and training.
Congrats on holding down a job, though. And on reaching out to ask all these questions. It's a step in the right direction.
Last edited by Ruth4Truth; 12-24-2021 at 02:51 PM..
You're doing fine with $8000 in savings. Good for you.
I suggest investigating your local community college. I know ours offers two year programs with practical degrees--or you can always transfer to a four year college with your credits.
Also, I would investigate getting professional career counseling--and testing--to see where your interests and talents lie.
The advice "to follow your passion" sounds kind of hokey--but I've found it to be true. I always wanted to be a writer and I ended up being a writer in advertising, PR, journalism and creative writing.
I was--and still am--passionate about words and communication--it's a great fit for me.
Where's YOUR great fit? Have fun exploring your potential and seek experts in the field...well-worth the testing and advice fees!
It's not about the $$ sometimes, you know?? I've had other office-type jobs that paid more--but I wilted and hated them.
When you do what you love, it's not "work" per se--it's happiness.
Great good luck to you.
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Vet tech would be high stress (animals' lives depending on your attention to detail, expertise, and ability to deal with medical emergencies. You just cannot fall apart when things get rough). Unmanaged depression wouldn't be a good thing in this profession either. You may also need to deal with upset pet owners.
