Sinead asks :
Hi Lucy,
I'm a twenty-one year old woman living in Ireland with a stable job that pays well but am worried that I'm wasting my youth by staying in a stable job until I retire. I have a degree in English Literature and History from a university which isn't of any use due to the recession. I have no interest in going back to college in the next year or so. I have enough money to go volunteering someplace for like two or three months. The only concerns I have are leaving my twin sister back in Ireland which I would find really hard. And leaving a comfortable job and not having one when I come back. I promised my boss when he employed me I had no intentions of leaving and I couldn't face him to quit. I need outside perspective! Any help will be appreciated :)
Hi Sinead,
Agony Aunts on Female First
It is arguable that landing in a stable job that pays well when you are just 21 is a very rare thing. It is certainly something that you might think twice about throwing away without deciding what you really want first.
If you have no interest in going back to college, then perhaps a leisure course would satisfy your need for something more along the lines of your degree. Could you take on a reading group, a creative writing group to get a balance to your life, of doing something to earn money as well as something that piques your interest?
What did you want to do originally? Is there any volunteer work that you could do after work or at weekends that might help you get in a foot in the door of a place you really want to work for?
If you think it will be hard to leave your sister, then perhaps that is a reason you should stay. Why not set up a blog or try writing for a publication for free- again just to make yourself known if you want to pursue something along the English or history route? Opportunities can come along if you build a reputation for yourself in an area you are passionate in.
There are many things you can do from where you are now without having to uproot your life or give up a stable income. It might help you to write down some goals you want to achieve by a certain point in your life and do some research to find how you can fit them around your means of paying your bills.
If you have reservations about leaving your job could you drop down a day and do something productive on the day you are not at work?
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