#idk about you but i don't want to make retail workers' lives worse and i don't want to get killed over a shit off-model TV

[rubiatinctorum]

hey if you go out shopping on black friday or the saturday immediately following,

why would you do that to other people

why would you do that to yourself

[golbrocklovely]

This may be an odd ask but I saw you give advice in the past, but do you have any advice for someone who is a little lost in life RN? As in I have an office job and it's OK, it's kinda meh and not what I want to do forever nor is it a forever job as my boss has made it very clear. I have glanced at other jobs but I don't want to go back into retail and yet I don't actually know what I want to do with my life to escape the falling backwards into old jobs and basically I feel very lost in life right now, with a lack of any direction. So I was wondering if you had any advice you could offer someone like me?

i'm in the exact place as you rn, anon. i'm about to be 28 in a week and idk what i'm doing with my life at all.

when it comes to careers/jobs, this is how i kinda feel about it now. i think we were fed this lie growing up that your job or career needs to be something that you deeply care about, that it's your life goal or mission. and when i was a kid, i wanted to be a performer. i wanted to be an artist. and i would still love to do that. but reality is, the society we live in doesn't pay ppl to be artistic. they do, don't get me wrong, but you really only have a one in a million shot to be famous or to really be able to live off of the art you make.

so now, i kinda see my job as just that - a job. i just want one that pays the bills and doesn't annoy me every waking hour i'm there. my job doesn't define who i am. it's just a way to make money bc i have to. so if that means retail, whatever. if that means an office job, also whatever. what i do outside of my job is who i am as a person.

the writing, painting, drawing, singing i do outside of work - that's who i really am as a person. not a retail worker. no one is gonna remember me for my ability to fold a shirt in less than five seconds. they're gonna know me for my stories or my voice.

so as for you, since you already know that your current job isn't a long term one, start looking for a new one asap. i have to do the same too. i know you don't want to work in retail again - i'm in the same boat with you there, but if you gotta for a while, don't let it knock you down. look for office jobs first, since now you have experience in one. and then worse case, you work retail again.

find something outside of work to define you. a hobby of some sort. maybe you already have one. let that be who you are, not your job.

bc at the end of the day, as long as you're making enough money to survive, it shouldn't matter how. and who knows, you might stumble upon your dream job or career, or your dream hobby that helps you unwind enough to not care about work.