In school I was pinned as the "successful" kid. Everything

Kill yourself, cucc

>>17271328
Thanks for the help

>>17271255
You're similar to me. Graduated one of the top of my class, top 5 ranked university globally. Took me 2 years to find a real job, and I even moved to a new continent to find it.

Nothing you can do but keep trying. Start right at the bottom of the career ladder. Look for a job that you can do for a couple years which will give you a better shot at landing the job you actually want.

If you've lost motivation then nothing can help you. Suck it up.

File: bizlit.jpg (952KB, 1345x1550px) Image search: [Google]

952KB, 1345x1550px

EDUCATE YOURSELF!

Well let's start at the beginning. What is your degree in and what is your dream job, doesn't even have to be a realistic goal but if you could do anything what would it be?

Also, what sort of things are you looking at or tinkering with in your free time? Are you reading the news, drawing, working with your hands, messing around with computers? This is how we can find passions.

>>17271445
Ty, will sus.

>>17271456
Degree was a Bachelor of Science with majors in Chemistry, History and Philosophy. I planned to go onto postgraduate study straight away but I sort of burned out. My GPA ended up a mid-credit average though, so my transcript isn't tarnished. I deferred my offer for law school because I just wasn't sure I had it in me any more.

My dream job? I don't know. I've always wanted to be a professional like a doctor or lawyer, but I'm hesitant about more study right now. My cousin's husband is a Creative Director at an advertising and consultancy firm, and he runs some work by me sometimes to get the opinions of someone into youth culture because his office is a bit older apparently. His work looks interesting, but I don't have any marketing, advertising or business qualifications, so I doubt I'd be able to do anything similar.

Music and writing are main hobbies for me. I play in a band, write for a website, but both are unpaid. I've got a few career musicians in my family, but it's more a hobby for me, and the business side of it is competitive and underpaid as heck. I was a state level athlete at one point, and I love hiking. I like to think I'm charismatic, and even though I love my own time, it seems to go faster when I'm shooting the shit/schmoozing with people. I've done a bit of C++ coding in bloodshed, as well as Flash shit, but not for the last few years, and I don't remember much.

One of the main problems is that looking at jobs in my city, all the advertised stuff is limited to sales, hospitality, and call centres. Is this normal? They seem like sort of sucky jobs, to be honest.

>>17271485
(cont) I think my degree and combination of majors shows that I'm both able to handle analysis of datasets and number crunching (when I put my mind to it), as well as communicating and expressing these trends and insights in simple, meaningful, and relatable ways. I assume that's a valuable skill, since most of the STEM kids I went to college with had the written, verbal, and social skills of a frozen potato, but I don't know how to spin that to my advantage, nor to what jobs or career openings i should market that to.

Don't do more study if you're burnt out currently. Any job can be a career if you can demonstrate to your boss that you have the gumption to take it more seriously than simply meeting the requirements they set for you.

Qualifications are a crock of shit. I work as a clinical research assistant at a hospital while I obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology (kek). I was applying there because a lab instructor of mine told me she got into medical research with a BA in Psych as well, so I took that play out of her book in the job search. I was research focused and I had taken far more math than was required of me. The guy who hired me figured I had critical thinking skills far beyond that of the common Biology graduate, so he offered to train me in medical skills I needed even though I knew nothing about human anatomy.

The guy literally said to me, "I don't need another biology graduate who's looking for a way to get into med school. I need somebody who's intelligent and critical."

>>17271519
Yeah, I get that. I've always been raised with the mindset that any job can take you places –my father went from an auto mechanic to a successful businessman who knocks back headhunters offering him CEO positions at different firms year in, year out. I'm just struggling to find a niche where I can develop my skills at the moment, and this bartending work isn't taking me anywhere.

SSRIs

>>17271556
Ooh, edgy.

>>17271551
>this bartending work isn't taking me anywhere

Gotta do what you gotta do in the mean time. You talk about what skills you have and you're curious where you might be able to use them. That's making the tail wag the dog. It's backwards. Find out what you're interested in and then think about what skills you'd need to do that. There's a whole world of politics surrounding any given area. If you don't understand the politics in a given area, you're insufficiently intimate with it.

I recently became really interested in non-profit and local government in my city. It opened up an entire world that I was totally unable to see previously. A public library is more than just free access to a wealth of information. It provides services to the impoverished such as internet access, programs to help them get their feet on the ground, and even case workers to help them access the hundreds of unnoticed assistance programs in the city. Then I realized that a case worker's responsibility is to connect with all these resources and catalog them in their minds so that they can recommend them to those who need help.

I was at a local park recently when somebody tried selling me a newspaper. It was a newspaper that published the stories of homeless people in the area as well as reporting on efforts of the city to reduce costs incurred by homeless people remaining on the streets. The person selling it to me was a vendor for that newspaper, the company of which would sell newspapers to the homeless who could in turn sell them to people and pocket a large portion of the profit. I had no fucking idea how deep this rabbit hole went, but it's exciting to learn about this new world and what opportunities come along with it. From here, I could already begin envisioning all the possible routes that I could take if I wanted to work in this field. Things that I could do to take initiative. In the mean time, I'm a research assistant.

You should try and get to know an area in this way.

>>17271255
There is some validity to their reassurance. It is not uncommon for years of hard work leading to achieving a goal (graduating) producing a temporary burn-out. You might well just need some down time to recharge your batteries.

In fact, the fact that you're beginning to feel bad about doing nothing is itself a sign of your energy and ambition returning. Follow the impulse to break out of your stasis, even if it's by baby steps like turning off the computer and re-engaging with friends.

>>17271567
I'm not being edgy. Antidepressants might be just what he needs to get that initial kick back

>>17271570
It's interesting you say that, because the way the education system works, kids are often taught to think the way OP is thinking, in that you develop marketable skillsets to increase your employment prospects, and then find ways to utilise them. Not saying its necessarily right. Just saying it's a common way of thinking, and I can see how people get lost in it. Knowing math is necessary, but teaching four-dimensional vector calculus to a plumber is going to be redundant.

>>17271596
I just recently graduated college, and it's only now that I recognize just how much I really could have gotten out of it if I had the perspective that I have now. I was just jumping through the hoops, not realizing that there was significantly more being provided to me.

I spent so much time in college thinking that companies and businesses were these closed off, colorless institutions that operated under strict requirements. Nothing could have been further from the truth. Pretty much anywhere is just a loose association of normal human beings following some prescribed procedures for a service. I literally could've walked in anywhere and asked if I could get a coffee with whomever to talk about their field. I then could've pursued a more specific path in developing those necessary skills.

>>17271620
Like I said though, that's really the impression most people get out of tertiary education. The lie is that most people expect tertiary education to prepare them for a job market. Unless your degree is vocational, it won't. Tertiary education is a job market in of itself. Sure, you get some great life skills out of it, but it's not going to land you a job at the end of it per se.

Just take OP for example. Dude can deal with numbers, and words pretty well from the way he writes. He seems like he's a pretty intelligent dude, and would be a good asset to a lot of companies. But because he can't think of where to apply those skills, he's stuck as a wagecuck.

>>17271255

Hey OP, first off, don't worry. I say that as someone who has lived similarly, but I'm now older and "over the hump," more or less.

Growing up, school came easy to me, I threw awesome parties, girls loved me, everyone insisted I'd go on to do great things. Depression hit hard in college, and while I got my degree, it was while just barely keeping my scholarship and constantly being on probation.

When I got out of school, I wasn't lucky enough to have supportive parents that understood burnout - it was time to get a full time job, and they didn't care what that was. It was career time. I ended up graduating just as the economy crashed, and I was fucked. I managed an Abercrombie & Fitch right out of college, and it was fucking backbreaking work because they didn't give our associates any hours, and expected us to still run the store and do our other duties. Plus it was soul sucking from an identity standpoint, having someone tell me to dye my hair and buy their clothes to keep my job, and not be allowed to use my vacation time.

Desperate, I left to find a new job. My parents kicked me out on the street, my mom stole my car, and locked all of my belongings away. I had to break in to my own house to steal some things, and I spent a few months living off of my meager savings, sleeping on friends' couches, dirty motels, or sometimes just out in the park. I finally got a shit job selling watches.

Hated that. Finally found a sales & marketing gig that was part time for $10/hr. I was finally ready to fix it, and I just put in the work. By the time I left there, I was the head of their digital marketing and owned my own house, and a bitchin' Camaro.

Now I'm getting promoted in a Fortune 500 company a few weeks before I turn 30 and will be making six figures.

Anyways, my overall point is that at some point, the inspiration will come back, and you can kick some ass. Just keep believing in yourself, and take a moment to figure things out.

It's hard to be out of the school system, because you lose the mentor figures that will constantly provide you with validation. All those people saying "you're going to be great!" and "here's your A, you're gonna be a doctor someday!" fade away, and it becomes harder to feel motivated or special. The world now wants what you can provide, not your potential. Welcome to adulthood!

Also, the best motivation is surrounding yourself with encouraging, like-minded people, since they can be your new support system. It gets better with time!

>>17271848
I think a lot of people struggle with this. Even if you've got a great sense of self, it's hard not having someone constantly pointing you in the right direction all of a sudden. No wonder so many kids nosedive after.

>>17271445
This is actually amazing. Ty.

Be more of a whiny fag OP

>>17272973
Geez, thanks for the support.

File: 1389588277734.jpg (98KB, 331x341px) Image search: [Google]

98KB, 331x341px

>>17271567
how is suggesting someone take anti-depressants being edgy? you what mate?

>>17273634
Because anti-depressants are a cover-up solution to a deeper problem. Besides, I'm sure OP isn't dumb enough to not seek help if he has mental issues.

If you want to run a hypothetical scenario on 4chan users to study how they respond, it helps if you don't drop a hint and post an image of a Rorschach test.

>>17271255
Were you ever deemed gifted by any test?

>>17271255
It sounds like everyone; especially your parents; overinflated your self-worth and patted your back with lots of praises. Now that the real world is hitting you, you realized you're not as great as you thought. That's okay, the world hasn't ended yet. Bring yourself back down to earth and look at everything realistically. Seek therapy in case you may be developing signs of depression from this, and for advice on your loss of motivation as a start. You're not the only one that's gone through this and you'll make it out okay. Don't give up on your dreams if they're still your interest, don't start thinking it's unattainable now.

>>17273865
Yeah, I was bounced around a few university research departments and psychs as a kid. There's a report lying around which places my IQ at an estimate of 160, but I don't place much stock in that. IQ tests are bullshit, but even if they weren't, there's no way I believe a measurement that was made when I was eight years old.

>>17273877
Is it possible to have an over-inflated self worth with low self esteem, though? I've never thought of myself as particularly smart. Just, slightly better than average. Some of the people I met in college make me look like an infant hahaha.

>>17274078
God you sound self-important.

>>17273825
OP here. Surprised this thread is still going, but not bait.

>>17274078
>Is it possible to have an over-inflated self worth with low self esteem, though?
This happens all the fucking time. They feed one another. Insecurity makes you look for reasons to reassure yourself that you're okay, the more insecure you are the more you can (potentially, there are different coping strategies) want to brag and prove yourself to ultimately reassure yourself that you're okay.

>>17273795
they're not a cover up to a chemical imbalance and it has nothing to do with being too dumb to seek help, it has to do with either being ignorant or being unable to do it because... you guessed it, depression. not everyones depression is caused by daddy issues or getting touched by cousin ron.