Without going into too much detail…
- 21
- Dropped out of Uni (ie. I’ve started falling behind ‘the pack’)
- Still living with my parents (have lived alone for periods)
- Frustrated, have been repeating the same mistakes and life is currently going in a loop.
- Not fully settled on a specific career
- Thinking of a couple of nuclear options I could try to move things on.
I want to know if I have reason to stress or if I should just give it time and enjoy the ride. Seeing as any sort of renewed degree-pursuing will eat up another several years starting anew from square one.
Edit: Thanks for all of this life advice everyone. It is genuinely really reassuring
Coming from a person having a quarter-life crisis being just a baw hair from their 30s.
You are still extremely young but don’t fixate on this. Telling yourself “I’m still young and have plenty of time to do X or fix the Y” means eventually you will be too old for those things. Unless you will fall ill or there will be some age restricted obstacles, it’s not true. You can learn new skills in your 20s as well as your 40s if you are determined enough. Shifting your career? No bother, I know heaps of people that did just that in their uni days as well as ones that are long into their existing career.
Don’t worry about this. If you fell behind the pack with your studies, means it wasn’t for you. Whether it was the nature of your course, or maybe a uni in general. Going to university is not for everybody, just like doing manual labour is not for everybody. Use this opportunity to ask yourself a question, WHY did you drop out. Is it because you were too lazy? If you had true passion for it, you would find motivation to do it.
No shame in that. I know people that are in their 30s and live with their parents to save money for their first home. Use this opportunity to enjoy your life without certain worries. The time to pay taxes, rent and for your food will come and you will look back fondly on this period of your life :) It would still be a good idea to chip in for utilities and food to your parents if you have means to do so. Will probably make you feel better about living there.
Good. Do mistakes. You learn more from your mistakes than from the things you did right. But the important thing is to analyze WHY you made those mistakes.
Maybe check if there is a career advisor near you/on your campus? They offer free advise based on what interests you. Ask yourself what are things in your life that you are passionate about or what kind of stuff do you enjoy doing. Remember, if you are passionate about something, there is a way to make it into your career. There is a reason why some people that are truly passionate about video games, they go into streaming career, and they are very successful. Me for example, I love playing video games, but I don’t see myself doing for a full on career, because I want to keep it as my private hobby, and I lack certain traits to become a successful streamer (English is not my first language, I’m self conscious and I lack certain charisma).
Do it. Only by trying you will learn anything about yourself. Hypothesising will only get you this far.
That’s my advice :)