what should I do with my life?

[RobMan55]

Forgive me for typos I'm on my phone

So I'm 25 as of a few months ago and graduated college about 2 years ago. Degree in math and finance. I remember almost none of it and have no skills because I skipped most classes and skimmed the chapters before tests. Allowed me to know stuff for exams but no longer than that.

I'm working a job in corporate finance and financial accounting , about 40 hours per week. It's incredibly mind numbing and slowly driving me crazy.

I've never had a girlfriend and might as well be a virgin.

I'm basically just existing. No goals, no direction, no drive.

What are my positives?
Fortunately, I have no mental illness or physical defects. . That's a plus. In good shape. I have some money saved and no debt.

That's the thing; I have a good degree, a good Job, youth, money, health. But it all feels so empty.

I'm on the verge of quitting, learning skills to make money regardless of geographic location, focusing much more energy on developing social skills, and once I've done that, fixed the basics. . Go back for another bachelors then to phd to follow my passion in ai.

It's an extreme, life altering course of action. But it would allow me to live life on my terms. I think I'm unhappy because I was always too nervous to leave my shell. Socially, professionally. . Always followed b the path of least resistance. Socially that means you get nothing. Other areas, you get what other people with power over you want you to have.

What kinds of things have brought you happiness?

 

[PlayHer Man]

Here is some insight I read on a blog:

"Money can’t buy happiness, they say. But perhaps a better way of phrasing this idea would be to say, “Money isn’t a good indicator of happiness.”

I met a young man the other day, while touring the Dixie Caverns in Roanoke. He said he wanted to be a tour guide for that slightly run-down tourist attraction of the 1930’s, for over four years – since he was in his teens. And now he was working there and he loved it. He loved the caves, he said, and he couldn’t think of any job that would make him happier. He was, however, going to school to study for a “real job” that would pay “good money.” His parents pushed him to take that career path, as they believed that happiness was equated to a big paycheck, and having a job skill that would bring in a big paycheck was all that mattered.

I told him, “If you can get paid to do something you love to do, you’ve got it made!”

Perhaps a career at the Dixie Caverns was not in the cards – after all, the pay, even with tips, could not be all that great. But it seemed sad to me, that this youngster, who was so clearly in love with these caves and caverns in general, would someday chuck it all to be a physician’s assistant or an X-ray tech. I wonder, maybe 20 years from now, with a stack of bills to pay, a mortgage (and a second mortgage) and kids in school, and a boss that he hates, if he would wish he had found a way to stay in the spelunking business.

I wonder.

Money is not a means of keeping score, as some wags would tell you. It is not a path to happiness. It is, however, a means of being independent – if you use it wisely and accumulate some, rather than spend it all and borrow even more.

So happiness is not all about money, clearly. So what is it that makes one happy, anyway?

I think it is, in part, freedom from worry and stress. And this comprises a number of elements, including, but not limited to:

1. Freedom from fear and financial worry.

2. Freedom from Pain.

3. A sense of worth and productivity."

 

[RobMan55]

Well if you want to take that further, I think that the tendency to chase past the Jones, even urges to do things like start families. . Result from selfish genes. Destruction of yourself for the survival and replication of of those genes in other people. Even people not related to you but carrying some of the same genes.

Is it worth it to damage yourself for the mostly superficial rewards those genes give you to influence your behaviour to their advantage? I won't know until I get more life experience, especially more developed v social skills. But that's the kind of thing I'm trying to learn from people who have experiences that I don't.

 

[goundra]

so don't have the KIDS, and save yourself enough money to retire young. VERY young, if you are willing to live in the third world. It only takes about 100k to do that, while it takes many times that much in the bank to retire in the US, unless you really know your stuff about investing.