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] nara-heiwa.livejournal.com on September 16th, 2013 11:08 pm (UTC)
i know i can't help you =/
but i can totally understand you, cause i'm going through the same
i don't know what i want to do in my life, what kind of a job i want or where i want to live
i'm a biologist, but i don't work in my area and don't want to, i found that in the last year of the university and i'm already 28 years old...i know i don't want to get marriage nor even have kids, that's for sure and don't want to live with my parents my whole life
the job i'm doing right now it's not what i want for the rest of my life, but it's what i have right now, so i'm saving money cause in the future i want to have my own home and i want to travel, cause i feel like i don't belong here in my country, Brazil, but where do i belong? don't know. It will be a new experience for me, i'll grow up, but this doesn't mean that i'll find what i want to do in my life
you, on the other hand, already travelled, already lived in another country, so i don't know.
psichologist helped me with so many things, but this issue i have to solve on my own.
but i understand your frustation, it's really hard to know what kind of job we want for the rest of our lifes, i envy people who always knew what they really want, i thought about doing another college, but i wouldn't know what would it be, so i'm lost too
it's hard, but you will figure out what to do!
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[identity profile] chochajin.livejournal.com on September 17th, 2013 03:04 pm (UTC)
You're only 28, so no rush! :)
I was also only 27 when I moved to Japan, so you still have plenty of time!

Thanks so much for your comment. It's so hard to get out of this and I hope we both find a way! :(
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