Ask Me Help Desk - Confused about career...

I'm sure this gets posted on here daily, so today, it'll be my turn.

I have no idea what I want to do with the rest of my life, I currently feel I was treated unfairly at my current job of 6 years, and after getting home that day, I decided to unbury my hatred for the company that I've been hiding for so long, regardless of pay and move on with my life.

I currently work full-time making about 58k a year, and I'm enrolled in a nursing program and community college, and am on the waiting list to start the program, I just have a few pre-rex left to do. So I've been paying my way through school taking 1-2 classes a semester.

I've done bartending, retail, office work, computer work, admin work, and is it just possible that I'll never truly find something I'l enjoy doing for the rest of my life?

I love the idea of helping people with nursing, and sticking to my guns there and going through the course, and onto my BSN is the ultimate goal here, I just don't know if I could put up with my current employer for 3-5 more years with an hour commute, it's almost not worth the month to me, I'd rather focus on school, and make 7 dollars an hour 2 days a week , and figure it out as I go.

I know I'm just basically rambling and whining right now, so thanks for those baring with me. I'm an intelligent person I scored about 1400 on my SATS, I overall hate sitting in a classroom and I get bored very easily when I'm not challenged.

I'm hoping to hear some responses from people who went through the same thing, and maybe had that "life-changing" moment, or just opinions on what you would do if you were in my position.

-Thanks,
LU

I had that life changing moment at the tender age of 38. I went back to school at 38 to do my pre-reque's (not pre-rex) I am now an RN who works in Labor and Delivery for the past 5 years.

What is it you would like to know?

I am glad you are here and hope (I KNOW!) you will get some valuable input.

Here is what happened with me -- I was in college for a teaching degree, worked part-time in their college finance office and in food service, babysat and cleaned houses around town, graduated and got married, taught school for a year and ended up leaving to work in two drug stores, a Bible bookstore, and at State Farm, then got pregnant, stayed home for 12 years raising two kids, but meanwhile sub taught and tutored, then finally went back to regular work once the kids were in school. That work was split between teaching pre-K in my kids' school and working in a public library across the street from it.

Go forward five years and I landed a job working full time in a different public library eight miles from home. I was there for 25 years and retired three years ago with a nice pension. It took me a while, but I had finally found my niche in Libraryland. Oh, and along the way, I earned a master's in counseling psych so did counseling in the evenings and also wrote material for publication.

So, career paths can be bumpy and meandering. My teaching degree always paid off, but not in the way I had thought it would. I finally found my heart and soul in library work. The main thing I will caution you on is to be sure to save money for retirement. I don't know how pensions and Medicare will be when you retire, but at least save, save, save no matter what job you have!! It might not seem important now, but when you hit your 60s, it will mean everything to you to have that financial freedom.

Quote:

Originally Posted by J_9

I had that life changing moment at the tender age of 38. I went back to school at 38 to do my pre-reque's (not pre-rex) I am now an RN who works in Labor and Delivery for the past 5 years.

What is it you would like to know?

I thought you went to school for nursing not english. Sorry, I'll spell out prerequisites next time, there's no hyphen either, but I'm sure you know that.

Sorry, kind of a bad day, I just had to lay my cat down who was barely 2 years.

I would like to know if you would recommend becoming a nurse? And I know there's tons of fields, but tell me about Labor and Delivery when you get a chance, and about the school and work you put forward to get where you are.

-Thanks

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wondergirl

I am glad you are here and hope (I KNOW!) you will get some valuable input.

Here is what happened with me -- I was in college for a teaching degree, worked part-time in their college finance office and in food service, babysat and cleaned houses around town, graduated and got married, taught school for a year and ended up leaving to work in two drug stores, a Bible bookstore, and at State Farm, then got pregnant, stayed home for 12 years raising two kids, but meanwhile sub taught and tutored, then finally went back to regular work once the kids were in school. That work was split between teaching pre-K in my kids' school and working in a public library across the street from it.

Go forward five years and I landed a job working full time in a different public library eight miles from home. I was there for 25 years and retired three years ago with a nice pension. It took me a while, but I had finally found my niche in Libraryland. Oh, and along the way, I earned a master's in counseling psych so did counseling in the evenings and also wrote material for publication.

So, career paths can be bumpy and meandering. My teaching degree always paid off, but not in the way I had thought it would. I finally found my heart and soul in library work. The main thing I will caution you on is to be sure to save money for retirement. I don't know how pensions and Medicare will be when you retire, but at least save, save, save no matter what job you have!!! It might not seem important now, but when you hit your 60s, it will mean everything to you to have that financial freedom.

Thank you so much for your response, I really enjoyed reading it, and as for the retirement advice, I'm way ahead of you, I've been putting about 20% of my income into my 401k for about 4 years now, I have a great jump on that.

My question now, which will seem pretty dumb because I'm sure you were with having a family, diverse jobs, and getting your masters... were you happy going down this road? And / or were you stuck somewhere at one point you didn't want to be and decided to make a change that led you there?

Quote:

Originally Posted by LifesUnwritten

My question now, which will seem pretty dumb because i'm sure you were with having a family, diverse jobs, and getting your masters... were you happy going down this road? and / or were you stuck somewhere at one point you didn't want to be and decided to make a change that led you there?

Well, I really didn't want to work in a drug store or a Bible bookstore (even though I'm a preacher's kid) or even teach school (I wanted to TEACH, not grade papers or keep students in line). I did like State Farm and also one-on-one/small group tutoring (which probably helped me decide to be a counselor). I LOVED shelving books at the library which grew into reference and front desk work with people (right side of my brain) and later led me into cataloging (using the other side of my brain). Even while cataloging, I started a library volunteer corps and managed that plus court-ordered community service workers, so both sides of my brain were busy.

What I learned was to take even the jobs I didn't like so much just to have a place to go and money to earn and then find whatever I could in those jobs. I always learned something, no matter what I did. (Just remembered -- I worked in two hospitals as a physical therapy aide after I quit teaching and before I had kids -- a fascinating place to learn stuff about people and how things work.)

That's what I have told my two sons -- no matter what job you have and how much you hate it, do your best and learn from it and later use that knowledge and those skills in future jobs.