FindingYourPath #CareerConfusion #InYour20s
Feeling Lost in Your 20s: Is It Normal?
Absolutely! It’s completely normal to feel adrift about choosing a profession in your 20s. 🧭 Life is an unpredictable journey, often filled with twists and turns that can make anyone question their chosen path. In fact, feeling uncertain during this decade is more common than you might think.
Recognizing the Signs
Many young adults experience similar feelings of uncertainty. Here are some common signs:
- Second-guessing your career choice 🎨
- Feeling unfulfilled despite being qualified 🎓
- Wondering about your true passions and strengths 🌟
Why Feeling Lost Isn’t a Bad Thing
Your 20s are a time of exploration and self-discovery. Some reasons why this feeling can be beneficial include:
- It prompts introspection and self-awareness 📖
- Encourages you to seek out what truly makes you happy 😊
- Offers the opportunity for growth and learning 🌱
Steps to Navigate Career Uncertainty
1. Self-Assessment
Take stock of your likes, dislikes, strengths, and weaknesses. 💡 Consider taking personality and career assessments to gain more insight.
2. Explore Diverse Opportunities
Don’t be afraid to try new things. ✨ Intern, volunteer, and take up side projects. These experiences can provide clarity about what you enjoy and excel at.
3. Seek Guidance
Talk to mentors, career counselors, and professionals in fields of interest. ✔️ Their insights can help you identify potential career paths.
4. Reflect and Iterate
Regularly assess your career satisfaction and make adjustments as needed. 🛤 Remember, it’s okay to change paths.
Embrace Imperfection and Uncertainty
Life rarely goes according to plan, and that’s okay! 🎢 Embrace the unknown and be kind to yourself as you navigate this journey.
Conclusion: Follow Your Curiosity
Feeling lost about your career in your 20s is more than normal—it’s an essential part of finding your path. 🌟 Use this time to explore, learn, and grow. Your unique journey is just beginning!
If you’re not sure what you want to do, make some use of your degree further you can decide what your passion is and how you can monetize it.
Trust me financial independence can really open up multiple options for you.
23! That is awesome, you got so much time to find your passion! I would talk to experts from different areas, get inspirations, try jobs out! I also did an apprenticeship in a total different profession but i finished it, then changed to another, then another. Life is change. Change can cost you time, money, nerves. But its necessary. You are on your way, if you know it or not !
I’m 32 and I don’t know what to do.
There is no way to know this.
HR pros would suggest taking aptitude tests, but that doesn’t really cut it.
You need to go through different workplaces and do different things for a while to see what’s going on there in the first place and what do you like. You’ll get a clearer idea from direct experience.
Also, it’s unrealistic to choose a career for life. Your interests and opportunities might change through life, pick something that you like now.
I’m in the same boat. 25 years old, and I’m stuck doing a seasonal landscape maintenance job. Barely make enough for the year to survive. Even after doing some career tests and similar tests, I have no clue what to do.
2018-2020 I went to college and got a diploma in Automotive. But Covid happened, and I never found a job in Automotive. I’m not even sure I want to do that anymore. Best advice, try different jobs if you can jump around a bit and get hired. I want to try that, but I’m not totally sure I’ll be able to pay bills doing so.
Yes
I’m 50 and still don’t know what I want to do.
Reality is that many people will have several careers during their lifetime. Start working and pay attention. You’ll meet people who may “nudge” you in the right direction
Extremely normal. 25 and extremely conflicted on what I want.
On the outside, this is extremely exciting. The possibilities are pretty much endless on what you can do with your life, anything could really be your thing. But I also know in the moment it’s really stressful and scary but also try and keep that in mind
I don’t think we should be limited to one profession. Look at the books 80,000 hours and Happen to your career
I’m 23 and in the same boat.
Yes. Absolutely. Most of your 20s are hard. You are broke, and your job is probably not your long-term career, and you deal with one stupid dramatic crisis after another. If you make enough good decisions during this time, it will improve.
I highly recommend taking a myers-briggs test online and reading, “What color is your parachute?”” It helped me a ton.
I’m nearly 39. I work from home, make 120k, and enjoy what I do. It did not happen quickly, but slowly but surely, I got here.
With any luck, I’ll get to stay like this for a long time. Life is good.
Don’t lose hope. It’s normal for this time to be hard in your life. Don’t give up.
Dawg, I’m 40 and STILL don’t know WTF I’m doing. I went to school for STEM, wound up doing spreadsheet stuff for a megacorp. I like my job and coworks just fine, but that’s probably because they pay well and the work satisfies my neurodivergent tendencies. Like I get a problem and am given the space to hyper focus until it’s not a problem. And I have variety in that there’s always some shit needs fixing.
I’m 27F currently working as an interior designer for commercial/education projects. While I’m only a junior with 3 years of experience, I think I’m ready to move on from this industry. To what? I dont know and thats why I’m on this sub haha. I originally switched from a Microbiology major and thought that with this degree, I could still do something involving creativity without sacrificing pay. Wrong! I’m burnt out and dont even have the motivation to pursue my own creative projects as side hobbies. But with this experience, I’ve learned that I actually prefer the more technical/documentation part of things and now my next step is to find out how I can use them in another industry.
Reality is everyone’s experience is never going to be linear. If you eventually decide that the A&D industry is not for you, give yourself some time to grieve over what “could’ve been”. And start over again as many times as you have to. Also don’t treat your career as who you are – something that is VERY prevalent in our industry. I’ve worked with people who are like this and it is very sad.
I wish you all the luck 🙂
I went through this when i finished my BSc. What I did was take a year off school and try to find out more about what are my likes/dislikes by trying to find work/internships in things i liked or thought i liked(im a medical laboratory technician who hated working in hospitals). By trying different things, you’ll not only know which domains you like but what aspects you find particularly appealing.
Also, try to look at what you’re innately good at. It could be something as stupid as being curious(which was the case for me, and now im a researcher).
Ultimately, what would definitely work is trying to find out more about yourself.
From what I just read, it sounds like you already know the next step. If you have never analyze what you want to do in life and are unsure about your direction then that sounds like it’s the best place to start.
It is completely normal to explore which career suits you the best
Most people don’t find their passion until they’re 26-30. There’s a concept in astrology called the Saturn return. It basically takes 28 years for the earth to cycle through to the same position with Saturn as when you were born. In astrology this is correlated to major life changes that set the direction for the rest of your life.
I don’t believe in astrology. But I bring it up to illustrate that enough people saw that 28 is a specific age for this kind of change that they correlated it to an astronomical event.
Enjoy your early adult years. Cast a wide net and try lots of things. Try to explore the world. Travel. Have fun. Figure out what you love.
I wasn’t sure about what to do with my life until last year. I still have some doubts and desires but that’s okay. Maybe thinking about things you liked doing a few years back would help. Same happened to me and I’m much happier now.
I wasn’t sure about what to do with my life until last year. I still have some doubts and desires but that’s okay. Maybe thinking about things you liked doing a few years back would help. Same happened to me and I’m much happier now.
I’m not much older, 25, but I can say with certainty you’re doing better than me (and most our age honestly). I made it through like 9 months of college.
Many people change careers, and as somebody who is involved in hiring decisions, I’m personally more interested in candidates with a couple of diverse experiences – as long as they can tell a good story about it – than candidates with narrow experience. But that’s probably in part because I work for a small company where there are more job functions than employees.
Personally, I started my career in cancer research. I was in the lab working with cell lines and animal models. I decided I didn’t like the work so I went into consulting for pharmaceutical and biotech companies. I learned a lot about business there, so my skillset encompassed both business and science knowledge. Eventually I got fed up with the hours and politics of consulting, so I joined a startup. The startup needed somebody with a background like mine, and in turn they taught me sales and a little bit of marketing (or rather, I taught myself those things because those were jobs that needed to be done and we didn’t have a formal sales or marketing team). Now I’m at a point where I’m looking to stay within my current niche for a while, though I’m also toying with the idea of starting something on the side.
Hopefully with each job you learn new skills or you learn a new industry that prepares you for your next role. As long as you keep learning and you do a good job of telling a story of your experience then you will be fine.
It is normal to feel overwhelmed. Heck, even I am in my 20s and I am still figuring out what I like and what I do not. Althogh, the job that you are might pay good, or not (in my case it is the latter), we all need money to sustain in life.
Figuring out life is not set in some age. There are people who I know are in their 40s and they are still figuring it out. I will drop something my Grandfather told me just before he passed away.
“Life is meant to be lived and explored. No matter the age, Live it.”