16 September 2013 @ 01:11 pm
[Life]: How To Deal With An Identity Crisis?!  
Hey!~

So, it's set. I've booked a flight to Germany for this winter vacation. I'll stay there for 2 weeks.
I haven't been home for Christmas for about 7 years or so now. Will be weird, I guess.
But it's a necessary step in order to find out what I really want.


The thing is that it's not as simple as: Stay in Japan or not?!
The real problem is that I have no idea what I want on almost each and every level in my life.



  • I don't know where I want to live in the future.

  • I don't know what kind of job I want to do.

  • I don't know if I want to have children or not.



I just have no idea what I want for my future - other than being happy and healthy.

I think it's an identity crisis or whatever you want to call it. I don't think it's a midlife crisis, because I don't think it has to do with my age - other than the "baby question" where my biological clock is ticking louder and louder.

I still have no idea how to get out of this crisis.


I'm really afraid of any future job prospects. To be honest, what I've studied at university is nothing useful at all.
I haven't LEARNED anything that I can actually put to USE!
At first I studied to become a teacher for English and German (Realschullehramt), but after a few semesters I knew it's not what I want to do for the rest of my life.
Even back then I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life, I just knew what I didn't want to do.
I started again from zero and studied educational science (Diplom-Pädagogik) instead, focusing on adults.
My hope was that I could get into a company and work there in the Human Resources Department or coach new office workers or whatever. All the other options for people like me sounded HORRIBLE and I've already done internships in those fields and found them frustrating, e.g. dealing with migrant juveniles who can't speak German well and don't care about studying at all.
Others work with drug addicts, deal with domestic violence or got into marriage counseling.
NONE OF THESE are for me AT ALL!!!!

Now, you might wonder why I studied educational science then, but at that time I just didn't know what else to do and I really enjoyed the topics I got to study (sociology, psychology etc.).
HOWEVER, all of the things I learned are not useful. There is no money in that!
Seems like I've been in an identity crisis ever since I was out of school, huh? ....

If I were to go back to Germany (or Europe), I need to be super lucky to find a job that will take me from the spot although I don't have the necessary qualifications.
I will NOT work in the jobs that are meant for people with my degree. Although in recent years people say we have to be "Quereinsteiger" (career changer) anyways.



Hell, I even learned about "identity crisis" in my field of study, but I'm quite sure that it's not normal in your 30s! :( .....

I know that nobody here can help me, but I fear I can't help myself either.
It's just a very frustrating situation. Not a new situation at all, but it's getting worse and worse the longer it takes for me to figure things out.


I'm all for living in the moment and not thinking too much about the future. After all we never know if that future is coming or not.
But I also think it's wrong to keep living the exact same way that I've been the past few years - without thinking about the future at all ...
 
 
[mood]: crappy
 
 
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[identity profile] hinoai.livejournal.com on September 16th, 2013 07:24 am (UTC)
I don't know, but maybe this will help?
http://www.oprah.com/spirit/Who-Are-You-Meant-to-Be-Self-Assessment-Quiz

I took it and it told me what I'd already come to know about myself.

One piece of advice that I can give is to do something that you can't go back on and change, that will force you to take further action. My advice would be your job. Tell them that you are not renewing your contract for next year. So you are going to be forced to change things-- whether it's getting another job in Japan, or moving abroad, or frantically looking for anything, anywhere that you can do. Like being on a school deadline, the moments where you often are the most creative are the ones when you have to.
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[identity profile] chochajin.livejournal.com on September 16th, 2013 08:03 am (UTC)
We did those kinds of tests in university as well. I remember doing one when I was in yet another crisis and the test didn't help me AT ALL! :(
I'll have a look at it, though.

Good advice.
Unfortunately I already renewed my contract (I was rushed into it) and in one of my previous entries I also explained why I don't want to do anything too hasty at the moment. Though I FULLY understand where you're coming from and I can totally see that it's working. I already did the same thing once when I quit my last job here in Japan.
Only problem is that it didn't change much in my life last time.

I'll try to find something else that I can change - and once changed can't be undone anymore.
Thanks so much! :3333
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[identity profile] hinoai.livejournal.com on September 17th, 2013 02:13 am (UTC)
Aw man, that means that you can't leave Japan or make a major change for a year? That really sucks. But like you said, there must be something else that you can do to change things! Ganbatte!
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[identity profile] chochajin.livejournal.com on September 17th, 2013 03:00 pm (UTC)
I can do whatever I want - if I need to. It's another 2-years contract btw.

Thanks! ^^
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