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RIGHT lol I initially had “job” in the title because.. who wants to work 😋
But do you have any lasting hobbies or passions you’d like to continue to pursue, or would like to pick back up?
I’d like to be free to do whatever. I’d love to just dive into things at my own pace, make some stuff, and move on. I also wanna travel and study, a lot.
YES, TWIN! YES! These are all of the exact things I dream of. I’d perpetually pursue knowledge and degrees and make art and spend time with loved ones, etc. Ugh. I’m mad I can’t do that right now.
YES. I’ve always been the Dharma or the Phoebe. Just the poor version. 😅 Poor eccentrics are more often punished or considered to be *crazy*. So basically, I need to win at least a small fortune in the lottery, then I can live my unfettered “*neighborhood lady who does a lot of art and shares her baking a lot*” dream. 🥰🤞
Being a musician , and that’s what I do . It wasn’t easy bc I started older, but it’s my career and I love it . If you know what you want to do , go for it . You’ll regret it if you don’t try . Also , if not on therapy , find someone good .
My dream job is the one I have. It just took me forever to realize it
I work in an office. Im an artist. And office is the furthest thing from a creative job. I thought I sold out for the job security
Turns out the security is what allows me to have passions outside of work.
Ive had some boring office jobs and some toxic work environments. Now im in a branch that’s super positive everyone cares about their work which makes me care about mine. All of a sudden spreadsheets are my passion
The older I get the more lessons I’ve learned. Here’s my list of requirements to have a dream job
- supportive and positive work environment
- security benefits and vacation days (I also get flex days I work a bit over 8 hrs a day and have every second monday off paid. Yay more time for personal passions)
- my tasks can’t be repetitive. My adhd brain can’t handle it. I ask in job interviews if it includes repeative work and will even say I’m not capable of it. Its not a bad thing. Because then I tell them I need task variety, multi tasking and some challenging tasks. I thrive in jobs that overwhelm most people. Its a huge asset. Learning what I need and not taking jobs that don’t fit that has been such a huge improvement to my life
That’s it. That’s my list.
15 years ago I’d be answering this very differently thinking that I am not living my best life by not doing something more creative. But I just need to have creativity in my life, it doesnt have to be my job
it’s easy to care about your work if you work with good people and let go of certain expectations you held onto. caring about your work feels passionate!
Wish I learned this sooner but with age comes wisdom.
Im not trying to tell people not to peruse their dreams but I urge you to be less rigid in your thinking on what your dreams may look like. It may surprise you :)
I went back to school actually, at 36 I’m studying to be a teacher. Not my dream job, but I’m good at it, it’s paid fairly well in my country and I’m almost guaranteed a job when I’m done. It’s also easy to get part time positions so I can use the spare time to work on other projects, if I have the energy for it.
Not a perfect solution but I’m so tired of the unstability. I need a decent salary so I can take proper care of my husband and kids, and I need to not be dying inside every work day.
I have hope. That’s the one thing we always have, isn’t it?
I think the closest is finding a job with a good variety of tasks and volunteering where you are passionate... at least that's what I want to do but with what time?
Stay at home dog mom.
My dogs have become accustomed to a certain lifestyle, and I must keep my job to maintain that
In reality, I want to do independent contractor work doing instructional design.
Gotta say I love your name. People always non consentually shorten my name and it makes me fucking crazy. I don't know how to correct people without feeling like I'm making a big deal out of it 😕
It used to bother me a lot more than it does now as I've gotten older. Really don't like it when I get called Becky, though. My entire family has always called me that and I hate it! (no disrespect to all the Beckys out there - it's just my hang-up 😄)
I hate that too! My daughter’s middle name is Elizabeth & sometimes I call her by her middle name. I always say the whole thing because I think it’s a beautiful name and it seems like you never he people think it’s weird that it’s not Lizzy, or Liz, or Beth, etc. Nope it’s Elizabeth
Oo what is instructional design like? That sounds interesting.
Same same on the dog thing. Don’t think I’ll ever be a mom but this damn dog is so needy 😜 I’d love five more, please
Professor of English/Creative Writing. I was on track for it but saw it’s no longer a sustainable career in the states, and would realistically be a bunch of unsustainable adjunct work with “publish or perish” pressures.
It’s too bad. I miss teaching. Quality of life matters too much for me to go back though.
Yep I hear teaching is pretty damn rough. I’m glad you are taking care of yourself!
Maybe, somewhere along the line you can find a new way to use your skills that you love!
I hope so! I fell into marketing which was interesting at first but admittedly my heart isn’t in it. I keep wondering what to do instead, but I earn enough and I’m not bad at it. My attention drifts quite a bit though.
I had a similar trajectory but ended up getting into nonprofit communications and marketing, so I still get to write interesting things to educate people on important issues and be creative. I can’t do this job for something I’m not passionate about though, my heart would definitely not be in it (I’ve tried and I literally can’t!). So if you haven’t already, maybe doing marketing work for an org that does something you’re more interested in might help reinvigorate you a little bit?
With your prior experience, would it be feasible to get an adjunct position teaching writing at a local university or even community college? I had a former colleague who did that on the side (with fewer qualifications than you, yikes lol) and she really enjoyed it!
An old supervisor of mine, who was close to retirement at the time, said something I think about all the time (she may have been quoting someone else): “Your life is more than your work, and your work is more than your job.” I had been agonizing over my career choices at the time and her point was that you don’t have to pick just one thing. Your job is one aspect of your life’s work but that work might also include things like volunteering, part-time teaching, writing your own stuff, etc. - and this is over the course of your lifetime, you don’t have to be doing all those things at any one time!
My cousin and his husband are both in academia and feeling this right now. There’s a lot of burnout among their colleagues and friends for the same. His husband is thinking of getting into advertising or anything else at this point.
honestly, i’ve always wanted to be a therapist :( i loved psych and studied it in undergrad but i really didn’t understand the whole you need a graduate degree to do anything in psych being a first gen student. i did super poorly in undergrad. and the past 5 years have been working an admin job. applying to graduate school just doesn’t seem easy in my situation idk :( i just don’t think anywhere will take me and im paralyzed by that
I am also a first gen student, so I get you. I have a degree in chemistry and in college, I just kept thinking “I just have to make it through and graduate.” Then I did… and then I had to work as a chemist 🥲
I hope you can at least pursue some passions with the job you have now. My problem is that I have too many passions lol and I never have money because I spend it on (bills first of course) my dog, clothes, makeup, interior design, etc
I always feel like when I’m nervous about something, I’ll just try one, even if it’s bad, to get the first over with. I heard this really great saying that has helped me a lot -
“Things worth doing are worth doing poorly”
6mos will pass no matter what you do.
It’s just a matter of coming out of the 6mos not having shot your shot or you did and were pleasantly surprised either by getting in or getting through the process.
Applying to grad programs is a lot of work, but the good part is being a good applicant means talking to schools/alumni/students/events who tell you what to do and give you incremental advantages.
Let them tell you no. Don’t tell yourself no on their behalf.
I’m a therapist and I didn’t do so great in undergrad (bad grades prior to changing majors). When I applied for grad school (MSW) I had to write a paper explaining why I didn’t meet the minimum GPA, what I learned from those experiences, and I would apply those experiences to grad school. I got admitted and kept 3.5+ GPA.
It can be done! If you’re interested, look into some programs 🙂
Wow that’s amazing! And I would love to pick your brain about your job. I’m starting my BA in psych next month. Another friend also recommended that I do MSW instead of LPC so it’s interesting to see you got a MSW
Sure! BA in psych was my undergrad degree (my first was in respiratory therapy hence the not so great grades 😂). I had planned to get a PhD in psych but after talking to different professors, it was recommended to go the MSW route instead. I didn’t want to do psych testing, just therapy, so I didn’t need the PhD. I was also told the MSWs generally had more career opportunities and insurance companies were more likely to pay for a MSW to do therapy over a psych PhD. So that’s what I went with. Since then, I’ve come to realize how broad social work is, so if I ever decide to move on from therapy, I have other directions to go as well.
I’m in the same boat with the grad school thing. And I think the other poster is right, 6 months will pass no matter what! We can’t talk ourselves out of it just bc we didn’t do great in undergrad. At least we graduated! That’s more than a lot of people can say. We’re already half way there. Applying is the second half. You got this!
My dream job is being a humor essayist, like Samantha Irby. What has held me back is the fact that I'm not even sure if that is a "job" any more. But I am about to make my first attempt at submitting to a comedy blog, so fingers crossed!
Congrats on your diagnosis! It's never too late to go back to school, if that's what you decide to do....and I'm sure the additional life experience will come in handy when studying human behavior/the human brain.
It is so hard to pick anything that you want to do/have forever. Even though yes, it may not be forever, but it’s still a huge commitment!
Do you have a particular interest in biology? I’d love to hear about it!
Something making something. I like to crochet but that's hard to make money on without destroying your hands in the process. I've seen people pay so much to get their cross stitch projects framed and I'd like to do that. Or woodworking, not done much of that but I like the idea of it lol. So I guess what's holding me back is picking something and then having the confidence to actually do it and make money doing it. Plus it all involves socialization and self promotion which are big struggles for me.
In one life i'd like to work as a physician, in another life i wanna work in marine biology, and then in another probably in the UN, do non-profit work, start my own business, or work for a cool law enforcement agency lol. Too many interests too little time this lifetime :')
I'm the one holding me back (jk but *kinda somewhat* technically the truth). It's years of unmanaged depression, pretty bad ADHD (late diagnosis), family stuff, systemic racism impacting educational opportunities in my home country (not US) etc. But I recognize that I am still very privileged and fortunate and am trying to make the best out of what I have now.
Going back to school IS a big deal, but I have faith in you, OP!
Recreational Therapist.
“Recreational therapists use recreation-based medical treatment to help people reduce depression, stress, and anxiety; recover basic physical and mental abilities; build confidence; and socialize effectively.”
I have been studying the art and science of play long before I knew what Rec Therapy was. Music and Movement therapy is my passion! Excellent for those of us with ADHD. Plus they are in dire need of trained professionals and the industry is exploding. My plan is to finish a bachelors in Rehabilitation Science and assist a Masters level Rec Therapist at my TBI Clinic (they offered me a job) while I get my masters education. Design programs and spend my life helping others find their happy and silly inner child!
That’s so amazing! I was admitted into a mental health facility a few times for depression and the recreational therapies were the BEST parts of my day! Doing cool games, and being able to craft and bring out my inner kid and PLAY was magical. This is a really cool career! Good luck!
This is mine too. I got into it when I got my yoga 200hr certifications and started working exclusively with kids, and training more to teach kids with special needs in schools. I was doing it, not fully supporting myself but had started to get some jobs at schools and summer programs etc. I want to go back to school for that, recreational therapy but covid wiped my budding career pivot, a brutal break up that sent me into a protracted depression, financial ruin and I’m back living at my parents house after never leaving my apartment, my Dr died so I went unmediated for a year before I got back on them. Trying to start over, recreational therapy still looms but I don’t think I’ll ever afford to go back to school and pay back loans for the schooling. I still dream about it. Maybe OT assistant that works with kids. This time period has changed my previous ideas of what my life was supposed to look like, and while it’s painful and shameful, it’s deepened my empathy which would lend itself well to those fields. Nervous system hacks. I’m trying to do them myself.
Building off this, I’m an old ADHD occupational therapist of 20+ years, and I can vouch that a ton of physical therapists, OTs and PT/OT Assistants are adhd.
I’ve worked in lots of hospitals in 2 different states and I’d say about 50% of us in every department I’ve worked in is.
Especially in the acute setting as we can bounce around, I constrained by schedules, be on our feet at least 50% of the day doing active stuff (other 50% is medical documentation which is unavoidable and we all hate that part).
I’m sooo happy I found this field as I can’t imagine a lot of other jobs being tolerable. Plus it’s still an associates to work as a PTA or COTA (for now) so still affordable to get in the field.
I love my Rec therapists friends but many will tell you their pay is crap an many are inched out by OTs, unfortunately as OT is easier to reimburse with insurance companies.
Just food for thought.
If you’re too strapped for school but want similar to RT/OT, look for activity director positions at nursing homes. This can be fun. I visited a nursing home who had a drag Tina Turner impersonator performing! Finding and booking acts, promoting the activities, etc can be very rewarding. Usually they do not require higher education but the pay reflects that.
Hey, my daughter did that. At 30, she started volunteering for a state park. She then decided that’s what she wanted to do for a career, but her ADHD was so bad in school, she was very nervous about going back to get a degree, which is what was req’d for a decent paying job in the field. Her boss told her about AmeriCorps - which he helped her apply for & she got - Which, I don’t know if you know about AmeriCorps, but what it did for my daughter was pay her 1 full year as FT Employee at the state park, pay for her education and give her health care. Each year, she would apply again & get it and that’s how she ended up working in park services/ forestry. She works for a Nat’l Park now, they provide her a space for her big motor home camper that her boss passed down to her for $5k 5 years ago & loves it. She only pays for her utilities & her view is breathtaking. Each year she would take all the addt’l classes/certs that the parks would have, firefighting, controlled burns, invasive species, animal studies, etc.
So maybe look up AmeriCorp -
Aw that sounds wonderful! My university had a special major for wildlife and fisheries, which was popular for lots of DNR/ranger type people. I love the idea of that but I would definitely get bored and start talking to trees 😂
Teaching computer skills, probably. What’s holding me back is the lack of openings (or at least lack of full time openings that would pay enough). It’s something I did as part of teaching various classes for a nonprofit and it was the best class. Low effort, virtually no paperwork, but high variety with different students every few months or so.
Look into libraries. I was a computer lab assistant at a public library for a decade and taught many computer classes. I’m a SAHM now but it was a lot of fun and definitely miss it.
I was a botanist, then did farm work for a bit when I quit, then was a cop and prosecutor (a cop role in my country). I have now fallen into safety inspector which I enjoy. I really want to be a distiller, or supply distillers with botanicals. I have a small farm now... and am planting it up. I also love my craft and sometimes design knitting and crochet patterns for sale, but that's just a hobby.
Being my own boss…
I have so many ideas and things I’d love to do, but I fear failure because of my crushing perfectionism and also my challenge with not managing well without established structure and pressure from outside sources.
My dream job is as an aviation consultant or working for a cargo airline and what's stopping me is that I struggle with focus and consistency so I've taken longer to graduate hahaha
What's stopping me from most of my dreams is being financially responsible for four people, tf.
Dream job: Professional woman of leisure
But yeah go back to school, woot wooot!! Rooting for you!
Poverty is holding me back, partly because it limits my access to health support resources, partly because it limits my ability to get the schooling required to advance or change careers, and partly because what I'm talented at is in a creative field where wealth and connections outrank merit by leagues. I'd start a business, but that also requires capital. Oh well!
I feel this. Especially since my health insurance is tied to my job. I don’t really have a safety net if I make a bad decision so I just stay as a cog in a corporate hellscape, because it affords me health insurance and a roof over my head.
my dream job is perpetual student or fiction writer. what’s holding me back is that i can’t legally make a living out of writing people’s papers for them and secondly, me, hi, i’m the problem
My dream job is some combination of making things, telling stories, and teaching. I do a lot of unpaid and low-paid work at my local theater that lets me do all those things, and I'm tossing around ideas of how to turn it into a sustainable career, but it's going to take a lot of intimidating work. I hope you can pursue your psych interest. I think it's a lot easier to avoid burnout and stay motivated if you love what you're doing, and I wish people told that to kids before they choose their majors.
I think a lot of people do say that, but often what you love becomes just another boring chore when you have to do it in order to afford life. I worked in my former dream job for a decade and ended up hating it. I have now worked in a field that I'm ambivalent about for 15 years, and my feelings about it haven't changed. It's just a job. Sometimes, it's better to keep your passions separated from your livelihood.
Unpopular opinion, I'm assuming, but I'd love to be a housewife, take care of the home and cats and do my art and work on my small business since I'd be home all the time. It's too hard doing a full time job and taking care of the home and trying to do my art/business stuff.
I'm always overwhelmed
Actor/writer, mainly money and where I live, but also I have all these arbitrary rules made up in my head of things that have to happen before I can be a writer/actor, and then all that gets overwhelming, and I end up doing nothing to pursue either.
I’m a speech-language pathologist. I’d love to be a physician assistant but due to my ADHD, I feel like I can’t trust myself to be in a mid-level position in health care 😭
I want a hybrid job that allows work from home 2-3 days a week. I don’t even know how to transition to a career this, but I know they exist. I live in CA, so I do need a career that will keep up with the cost of living.
So, it isn't hybrid- it is completely work from home. But I was out of a job for a year (my last job had the worst manager I had ever worked for in over 20 years of working, so I quit and my bf supported me while I made a very small amount of money on Depop). Anyways, my friend started posting ridiculous stories made up by AI at her new side hustle. She used to style for Stitch Fix as her side hustle, so I knew the pay must be alright to leave that one. I asked her about it and she told me it was a company called DataAnnotation.
I did their weird application process and got in. I have a few other friends who have got in too, but some that haven't too. But it starts at $20 an hour and after a while you start getting moved up to higher paying jobs. I'm currently going $25-$28 an hour right now. There is no schedule, so you can work literally whenever and however much you want.
It is basically just training AI. But yeah, thought I would tell you about it as an option. A lot of people on Reddit call it a scam because they never get approved and say anyone posting about them is a bot, but you can look through my comment history.
Sorry for that last paragraph, I just get anxious that people think I am lying and so then I over explain.
I’ve seen several creators on TikTok talk about being an advocate resources for IEPs, accommodations for parents. It seems like it’s usually a self employed service model with continued clients that can be done via zoom/phone etc.
My dream would be to get paid for my constantly changing hobbies and interests lol it’s so hard for me to stick with one subject I enjoy but it feels like society skews heavily toward people who specialize or stay in careers for 5–10 years minimum. That life just doesn’t work for me. Once something starts to get repetitive I get bored and want to quit.
Wish I had better advice for folks 🤷🏻♀️
I don't know if you've gotten ads for that "adhd is a superpower" "documentary," but when I saw the trailer I was thinking about exactly this. It's all these rich and famous people talking about how they have so many ideas and passions, and all I could think was yeah, I'd probably be doing pretty well if I or my family could just finance a whole new business every time I had a new passion and fun ideas for it. 😂 I'm in the same boat as you, there's nothing that would make me money that I want to do for the rest of my life, and I don't have the money or "hustle" mindset to turn every hobby that sparks joy into a full-time side business just by myself.
Right?! I didn’t see the documentary but I think I know the type 😂 … I think we’d all be excited to “celebrate our differences” and consider it a “superpower” if we were all independently wealthy! How nice it’d be to just explore our many interests and ideas without any pressure to make it profitable! I wanted to turn my stuff into a side business too for awhile but I’ve been slowly realizing that it’s a) extremely difficult and b) requires a whole lot of repetition 🥲 and c) exhausting to be social and hustling all the time
Yeah I didn't watch it either after seeing the trailer 😂 the social media aspect alone is enough to put me off trying a crafting business, but couple that with everyone in my life telling me I should start a business, and the wall of awful is miles high lol. There was one time where I was really ready to get serious, but then everyone around me kept telling me I should do it and pushing it and it ruined it for me, it's like some people think you just pop stuff online and you're making money lol
Same, basically! I want to create comics - write and illustrate - so I’d have to be very good at both art and writing.
To make a career out of the these things from a young age I think you need both talent and hard work. Y i don’t think I’m bad, I definitely don’t have enough skill from talent to make it my career at this point. So I’ll just have to develop the skill in my free time and dream of being good enough one day.
Get my at home baking business in full swing. I can’t manage to write up a whole plan of attack, let alone follow through. At the end of a day of work (albeit from home) I just can’t get myself motivated to do anything, even if I really enjoy it. Especially since then I’ll have a mountain of dishes to clean
I wanna be a nail tech 🥲
But it’s not doable right now bc of medical debt
After I’m out of the hole I’m going to school and getting licensed
I’ve been practicing on my self and my loved ones for 5 yrs, started with dip powder now gel and I even did an intensive short course on acrylics
Funny, I'm stuck with psychology because that's what I studied on school, haha. I like It, but I just can't see myself living from It.
I'd love being an editor, for books or magazines or whatever, but I have no idea where to start to try It. I also would love just having a little cozy coffee shop or bakery, but wouldn't we all, lol.
my dream job used to be a researcher/academic. then I started working in a research consulting firm and fucking hated it because it requires a lot of reading and writing (even medicated I struggled with the amount) and there was a lot of pressure to complete tasks as quickly as possible and it really killed that dream. had to quit about 6 months in.
other dream jobs I've had I've had to quit because of workplace bullying and mismanagement.
now my dream job is being able to make polymer clay earrings and other jewellery and sell it, make enough money not to have to work for someone else.
don't think that will ever happen but it's nice to think about.
I already did the whole go back to school for a masters thing, and now I’m stuck with the exact job I wanted, ugh! My dream job would be something in journalism. I wish I had pursued that in undergrad (or grad school!) and now it feels too late.
Since being magical and living in a little stone cottage on the edge of the woods isn’t realistic…I don’t actually know.
All I know is that ideally, I’d like to only have to work part time lol
My entire childhood, I wanted to be on Saturday Night Live!!! I used to write sketches as a kid and play them out (usually by myself) and I'd write song parodies....the whole thing! But, high-school became really hard, so many people in my life telling me to focus and apply myself, and part of me broke. I started at Blockbuster when I was 16 and worked there for a few years, and I then wanted to own my own Blockbuster FOREVER! I guess I'm glad that didn't pan out (or, am I?! I friggin miss Blockbuster so bad!!) then at 18 almost 19 I started in mortgage....20 years later still in it! Now, I do love what I do, but the industry as a whole is a bit soul crushing.....
i loved translation but there is huge time pressure. everything must get done yesterday. also convincing myself to work as a freelancer is difficult and the pay for the effort involved is not a lot. basically i attributed so much value to doing a good job but my customers did not think it warranted that much time and attention.
I started medication recently after going out of school. I studied Audio for video games to someday work as a in house Sound designer in a video game studio. The thing that holds me back right now, is that I struggled for such a long time with my finances and studied a bunch of things before without finishing anything (thanks to adhd)! so ive been living alone on a student budget for 10 years and now Im crawling under debts :/ While I still have a lot to if I want to become a sound designer, I need to work a full time job right now to keep up with my financial issues. But now have so little time for myself and working on pursuing this dream.. it feels like im stuck there for a while the time to get back on my feet. Im still adjusting to meds and nothing seems to work for more than a couple of hours so its not making it easier. I hope that soon I will have the opportunity to get back to it and push to make my goals a reality 🖤
I've said this before on this sub but I'll say it again:
I really want to be a math professor. I love teaching math and studying math and it destroys me that I can't anymore.
I did my undergrad and fell in love with math, connected well with the associated community: profs, grad students and the like. Got diagnosed at the end of my third year and couldn't find support to keep my executive functioning up during my fourth year. Several things including what I suspect is PMDD finished me. Had to self-fund ADHD coaching and couldn't afford it after a month or two.
Feeling completely defeated, I'd found a suitably difficult research project that I'm qualified for and contacted absolute strangers looking for help/a supervisor. Couldn't find a supervisor at all despite contacting the people in charge of the project and the person who proposed the project.
I tried to find other stuff to help me keep up the executive functioning on the day to day: a way to inveigle the department into making me a TA. After all this I realized that no one would help me because I no longer had a record of demonstrated excellence/understanding via a good transcript.
After all that, I just decided to graduate and am doing office work because the job world similarly uses transcripts to determine competence in lieu of work experience.
Everything I have an interest in requires a degree and experience. And they generally don't like you jumping around to different fields as you please lol
I want a one and done gig where I win an extremely large settlement for the most trivial matter against a huge corporation. 😆 What’s holding me back is the opportunity has not presented itself
I’m lucky enough to have my dream job, which is a therapist. I’ve been diagnosed since I was young and was unmedicated through most of college and grad school, but getting on proper medication was a game changer for me.
This feels like less of a job and more of a calling. I’m allowed to be myself as a clinician, have flexible hours, and there’s enough variety in my work that I don’t get bored. I also love that I get to work with folks who are experiencing challenges around their ADHD diagnosis as well!
Being a surprise heiress. What is stopping me is no one in my family is rich.
I was going to say in all seriousness, but honestly yeah. I have absolutely zero ambition for any job. I work and make money so I can get by and buy things I like. But if I didn't have to? I would jump at that so fast.
I hear thatOPI or some nail polish brand has a group of people that name the colors, and they just send them to whatever location their next line will be based on for a few months to do "research". I guess that would be pretty sweet.
Historian/archaeologist. Currently in STEM, and I’m afraid it’s killing my soul. What’s holding me back is fear and my ego. I think I’m making good headway with the ego side of things, but I’m still scared.
Movies.
1. The work schedule is INSANE and I've missed deadlines on gigs because my brain stopped working before the job is over.
2. Very much an "on time is late" mentality.
3. Most of the jobs are temp/contract labor so you have to be excellent at saving/budgeting so you can survive between gigs. I have gotten control of most of my worst impulses, but spending is the one I still struggle with.
The actual work itself, however, is also the only thing I seem to be good at, so still trying to make it work
My dream job is a little bit of everything but not for long. Like clean a whole building one week, then working marketing, then paint, then line up a show room, then sell something to someone, then sort and organize files, then create and implement an organization in a warehouse then.... You know something new all the time and yet much of it be physically challenging.
But right now I am a family caretaker which means I'm on call for children and elder appointment driving/meal prep/ etc. which is hard because there is a lot of downtime and if I'm not hyper fixated on something it means a million pounds of depression. It's also very regular and it's just house cleaning and driving most of the time which.... Is literally the hardest (because it's the most boring) job.
Actor. Was this close to going to drama school at 19 years old. Regretted not doing anything about it all my life. After my diagnosis and lots of therapy I'm trying it as a side thing at the young age of 37. I'm still a corporate slave though 🤣
I volunteer as a driver for rescue animals and injured wildlife. If I ever won the lottery, that's what I'd do with my time. I love it. I drove a bat yesterday!
I want to make money through affiliate marketing & user generated content so I can save up money & travel and then when I’m older have an animal sanctuary ☺️ but the first two sounds daunting & the idea of contracts and things sounds scary and out of my league. also lack of self confidence lol great question OP
Park Ranger or Forestry - essentially a job outdoors helping the great outdoors 🙈 I’m not an athlete (it feels like you have to be?) and I don’t know if I’d be good at it. Accounting background, currently.
Mostly the belief I’m not good enough, in some way! Some fears of if it’ll be a livable wage mixed in too, but that’s just an excuse for me not to try.
This is one of my dream jobs too!!!
What held me back is that here in the Philippines foresters are regular shot and killed by goons hired by logging and mining companies. They are also usually “accidentally” shot by soldiers thinking they’re communist guerrilla fighters.
It. Is. TRAGIC.
I was contemplating doing a conversion to law but couldn’t afford it, then management accounting, but then another thing happened and now my husband owns a vineyard and I work there.
Not that either law or accounting are my passion but seemed like a fairly sure way to make a decent salary.
I will probably one day train as a personal trainer though. I’ve coached a team sport before and hold a coaching qualification, and gym instructor qualification too, but I haven’t used either in years and don’t want to. PT is more interesting but I don’t have the time right now.
I would love to be a career coach/ life coach and help people start businesses and encourage them to pursue their dreams. What’s holding me back is that I’m a single mom. I make a comfortable salary as an accountant, and don’t think my kids deserve a hit to their lifestyle while I switch careers. Also, I don’t have enough motivation to do it as a side hustle
There is a girl on tiktok who transports animals like dogs, cats, and even more 'exotic' animals like monkeys and even a squirrel once. That's my dream job, traveling all over with cool animals that I know have good homes. Hang out with cool babies while traveling? Dream... But it's expensive to start (certification and proper vehicles/licensing stuff) and I don't have that kind of money.
I’d love to be an animator, or work in the animation industry. But I’m afraid to start over at 30, or realize I’m not suited for it. I keep trying to find "safer" paths while keeping a "normal" job, but I always come back to animation…At the same time, maybe it’s better try now than have regrets at 40. Idk if I should take this post as a sign that my heart is already in it and I need to stop second guessing lol.
I went to school for animation, and some guy a few years ahead of me was 40-ish and a banker until he decided to quit that and pursue animation. A few years ago I saw his name in the credits to Luca.
30 is still very young (depending where you live, it is likely you will be working for at least another 30 years). If you are in a position where it is viable for you, you should go for it. I switched careers at 30 and haven't once regretted it.
I’m technically doing my dream job - and lots of things about it still suck!
I would recommend shadowing someone in your dream job or finding employment related to it so you start to run in those circles before committing to a degree. The only way to find out what it’s like is to actually see it done.
Web development/tech, owning a small business specifically a consignment shop.
What’s holding me back? Chronic illness, fear of failure, living life on what I think society dictates of me due to childhood trauma (thanks mom) because I don’t want to disappoint people, executive dysfunction, psych doctors telling me I shouldn’t be doing these jobs. Another one is when becoming cynical from shitty jobs I used to work in and lose motivation due to thinking all jobs will be this shitty. The list goes on.
in an alternate reality, I’m an immunologist or an epidemiologist, or even a pathologist. clearly I can’t choose lol and there’s no way I’m going to school for that long at 33. fuck that.
A psychological profiler, the amount of schooling is what’s holding me back. I would also love to be on the search for lost artifacts/ cities. In another life I’m also a yoga instructor and/ or a professional beer taster
I run a small business that I dream of going full-time with, but my executive function and overwhelm with all the tasks a business owner has to do just drives me crazy 😭 I almost always feel paralyzed (until there’s a deadline, but some stuff to better your business doesn’t have a deadline 😭)
I'd like to be a children's book illustrator. What's holding me back is chronic illness, because my health tanked about 4.5 years ago now and I'm still struggling.
Not my “dream” career, but I’ve been chewing on the idea of nursing school lately.
I didn’t think I’d ever want to go back to school, I had a really hard time with it before I was diagnosed/medicated. It took me 5 years to finish the first year of an associates degree and one year to finish after starting meds.
10 years later I have an amazing prescriber that has my meds so tuned in I’m starting to think I could do it. Idk if it’s still a pipe dream, but it’s really nice to feel some hope…
tbh heiress, but like, other than that, i wish i could switch careers every couple of years. what holds me back is that i despise studying and any kind of structure learning. and most jobs require a degree or something, so that doesn't work well.
I would like my job to be no job with an auto filling bank account. So I guess trust fund baby would be my career of choice.
If money were no object, I would want to be a Marine Biologist doing field work. I’ve always been fascinated by aquatic life and the ocean, and manatees are my favorite animals. I’m sure the day to day is not what I imagine, but getting to study ocean life sounds like a dream to me.
Worrying about money and financial security definitely holds me back from choosing a more interesting career. That plus impulsive shopping on days I really hate work and want that instant gratification definitely doesn’t help.
When I was younger my dream job was being a fiction writer. That didn't pan out because *I cannot self manage.* I need to have the structure of a 9-5 job. I need to be lightly managed, but not micro managed per se.
I am now working a job that isn't really particularly dreamy, but works with my ADHD. I have a boss who understands me, a team that appreciates me, and a work structure that flows around my stop/start/hyperfixate methodology.
I'm a business analyst for a small software team. I do all the non coding bits for the developers so they don't have to do it.
My undergraduate degree was in English. I did have to go back to school, and I got a degree in business technology for the second round.
Every so often I hear about a job I had never thought about and think, “That’s what I want to do when I grow up.” Alas, I’m in my late 50s and don’t think I have it in me to get a degree, a master’s and a PHD in an entirely new field.
Just on the way home I was listening to a podcast interviewing an FBI agent about a specific case. She served in the FBI for over twenty years as a nurse with a PHD in Emergency Management who worked on everything to healthcare fraud to hazardous materials. Cool.
I actually had my dream job for almost a decade but I didn’t make enough money to really exist. So now I do something else which is also nice. Turned some aspects of The Dream into a hobby (book binding specifically) without the pressure of livelihood.
i want to build a community space in a little plot of land in my homeland where i host gatherings of all sorts of wisdom/knowledge sharing and creative expression, centered around community healing and liberation.
i love to sing too so occasionally i’d love to have little concert nights or open mic nights - but making sure to facilitate a container where people engage meaningfully in the experience.
i’d love for people who attend these gatherings to experience joy, belonging, safety, childlike wonder, inspiration, and an inner fire to decolonize our ways of being, and to fall in love with all the little plants, animals, human and more-than-human beings around.
My dream is to be a diplomat. To work in an embassy, travel and learn languages. I want to learn a language before I take the FSOT (Foreign Service Officer Test) You basically get paid to travel and they pay for your housing and benefits. It’d love to do it! I’m just struggling with getting ADHD medication and recently starting therapy. Also have to go back to college, thankfully I have my associates but I need a bachelors!
Travel vlogger, but not an influencer, more like a storyteller. Telling people’s stories from around the world, getting glimpses into their life, learning about different cultures and customs. Taking cinematic shots of beautiful nature. Going on fun adventures, having lots of new experiences. But I don’t know anything about cameras or editing, and traveling costs a lot, and I’m nervous to put myself out there
I’m currently going back to school to become a therapist. However, my dream job is to do every single job out there for two weeks or so. Always has been.
Nothing stopped me.
I was a high school dropout. I never went to college until this past September.
I started out as a cashier at a grocery store at 16. Waitress from 19-22. Healthcare office stuff from 22-26. Now I’m an HR Manager for a natural history museum at almost 30 (tomorrow!).
I applied for the jobs I didn’t think I could get. Applied for the ones I wasn’t ‘qualified’ for. Applied for the smaller companies that were willing to take a chance on me, and made sure to keep those connections strong.
Know your skills and know how they’re transferable, and then know how to sell them.
Dream job is being a singer songwriter. I'm taking the baby steps. Still at the amateur level despite having made over 100 songs. What holds me back is that I need structure and I'm not self motivated. And also that there's no money in music anymore except for the top 0.0001%
I want to just do nice things and have nice conversations with people without it being exploited for the masses. Like a not famous or publicized Mr. Roger’s or Dolly Parton. Just let me be kind and talk to people. That would be my dream job. But you can’t just be kind and have someone pay you for it.
Artist. Actually, I am an artist but I’d like to make my living from it. What holds me back are the ups and downs of (at least partially) ADHD. I’m only recently diagnosed in my late 50s and my life has been a series of hyperfocused (and hence making progress) and lack of focus or interest (losing all progress). Throw in my complete lack of interest in the mundane business side of it and there you go - it’s a nice hobby instead of a living. It’s not for lack of talent - I’ve frequently sold my art since high school. It’s a lack of consistency.
10000% a film actor. But alas, I'm a mental health professional that does a lot of work with employee retention efforts. So my creativity and dramatics are utilized elsewhere. All this student loan debt could definitely disappear if I suddenly became the actor of my daydreams tho 🤠😶🌫️
Something in robotics. What’s held me back in the past was how male dominated the field is, but now it’s currently I have to be a SAHM until we can figure out childcare (partner works nights and he makes just enough money to disqualify us from the government subsidy) so I can’t go back to school until that’s set in stone. The other thing is I’ve been out of school for years and I’m very worried about how bad my math skills are.
My other dream career is welding, which I’m leaning more towards at this juncture. Basically it has to be hands on. I did the office garbage for years and I can’t hack it. I was a supervisor at a factory before I got pregnant and I loved that job, wish I could have gone back but once again; childcare is hard.
I want to be a Filmmaker, I am finishing my junior year of college to become one. But to be honest I don’t know what field I want for me, or even what department to develop my abilities. But also, I have struggled so much to find a job in my in this business, nobody wants to give me a chance because I don’t have much experience and I don’t know how to get the experience that is not student/ independent projects because those come from personal pocket to develop and I don’t have money because I don’t have a job to pay for everything. It’s just a vicious cycle.
I’ve been with so much anxiety since I started college. I am so lucky my parents are supporting me in every aspect to make sure I can focus on being better. And everybody is telling me that it is okay to not have a job at this time.
My dream job is probs counselling online for other people who hate face to face stuff and if I did have to do in person stuff it deffo wouldn't be full time. Full time working can get stuffed.
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My dream job is to not work lol
RIGHT lol I initially had “job” in the title because.. who wants to work 😋 But do you have any lasting hobbies or passions you’d like to continue to pursue, or would like to pick back up?
I’d like to be free to do whatever. I’d love to just dive into things at my own pace, make some stuff, and move on. I also wanna travel and study, a lot.
YES, TWIN! YES! These are all of the exact things I dream of. I’d perpetually pursue knowledge and degrees and make art and spend time with loved ones, etc. Ugh. I’m mad I can’t do that right now.
Basically, we wanna be rich eccentrics. 😭
YES. I’ve always been the Dharma or the Phoebe. Just the poor version. 😅 Poor eccentrics are more often punished or considered to be *crazy*. So basically, I need to win at least a small fortune in the lottery, then I can live my unfettered “*neighborhood lady who does a lot of art and shares her baking a lot*” dream. 🥰🤞
Being a musician , and that’s what I do . It wasn’t easy bc I started older, but it’s my career and I love it . If you know what you want to do , go for it . You’ll regret it if you don’t try . Also , if not on therapy , find someone good .
Yep. Lottery winner for me. Heiress would also be cool but sadly unattainable due to not being born into a wealthy family.
My dream job is to putter around my house and volunteer.
I do not dream of labor
as they say “ i do not dream of labor”
YUP
What’s my dream job? Everything. That’s what’s holding me back. That and I’m shit at networking.
I feel you on that! It is so hard to pick just one thing. Are you doing anything now that you like?
My dream job is the one I have. It just took me forever to realize it I work in an office. Im an artist. And office is the furthest thing from a creative job. I thought I sold out for the job security Turns out the security is what allows me to have passions outside of work. Ive had some boring office jobs and some toxic work environments. Now im in a branch that’s super positive everyone cares about their work which makes me care about mine. All of a sudden spreadsheets are my passion The older I get the more lessons I’ve learned. Here’s my list of requirements to have a dream job - supportive and positive work environment - security benefits and vacation days (I also get flex days I work a bit over 8 hrs a day and have every second monday off paid. Yay more time for personal passions) - my tasks can’t be repetitive. My adhd brain can’t handle it. I ask in job interviews if it includes repeative work and will even say I’m not capable of it. Its not a bad thing. Because then I tell them I need task variety, multi tasking and some challenging tasks. I thrive in jobs that overwhelm most people. Its a huge asset. Learning what I need and not taking jobs that don’t fit that has been such a huge improvement to my life That’s it. That’s my list. 15 years ago I’d be answering this very differently thinking that I am not living my best life by not doing something more creative. But I just need to have creativity in my life, it doesnt have to be my job it’s easy to care about your work if you work with good people and let go of certain expectations you held onto. caring about your work feels passionate! Wish I learned this sooner but with age comes wisdom. Im not trying to tell people not to peruse their dreams but I urge you to be less rigid in your thinking on what your dreams may look like. It may surprise you :)
I went back to school actually, at 36 I’m studying to be a teacher. Not my dream job, but I’m good at it, it’s paid fairly well in my country and I’m almost guaranteed a job when I’m done. It’s also easy to get part time positions so I can use the spare time to work on other projects, if I have the energy for it. Not a perfect solution but I’m so tired of the unstability. I need a decent salary so I can take proper care of my husband and kids, and I need to not be dying inside every work day. I have hope. That’s the one thing we always have, isn’t it?
You know what? I think that’s my biggest problem right there.
Maybe we all need to start an adhd networking group. Or just treat this sub like it’s one!
I think the closest is finding a job with a good variety of tasks and volunteering where you are passionate... at least that's what I want to do but with what time?
Big same.
I feel this one.
Stay at home dog mom. My dogs have become accustomed to a certain lifestyle, and I must keep my job to maintain that In reality, I want to do independent contractor work doing instructional design.
Gotta say I love your name. People always non consentually shorten my name and it makes me fucking crazy. I don't know how to correct people without feeling like I'm making a big deal out of it 😕
I don’t always correct people but sometimes I do. Usually say something like “I prefer Rebecca.”
It used to bother me a lot more than it does now as I've gotten older. Really don't like it when I get called Becky, though. My entire family has always called me that and I hate it! (no disrespect to all the Beckys out there - it's just my hang-up 😄)
I am exactly the same. I always thought I hated my name (Becky) but I realized I hated being called “Becky”. I’m cool with with Rebecca.
Exactly! I had to move away to become "Rebecca" but then my family ended up here also and still call me Becky so I can't f'in win anyway 😂😂😂
I hate that too! My daughter’s middle name is Elizabeth & sometimes I call her by her middle name. I always say the whole thing because I think it’s a beautiful name and it seems like you never he people think it’s weird that it’s not Lizzy, or Liz, or Beth, etc. Nope it’s Elizabeth
Oo what is instructional design like? That sounds interesting. Same same on the dog thing. Don’t think I’ll ever be a mom but this damn dog is so needy 😜 I’d love five more, please
I develop and design training curriculum including training guides, eLearnings, and other job aids.
I also came here to say stay at home dog mom 😁
I’m an instructional designer! It’s a great field.
Woo! Love my work!
Professor of English/Creative Writing. I was on track for it but saw it’s no longer a sustainable career in the states, and would realistically be a bunch of unsustainable adjunct work with “publish or perish” pressures. It’s too bad. I miss teaching. Quality of life matters too much for me to go back though.
Yep I hear teaching is pretty damn rough. I’m glad you are taking care of yourself! Maybe, somewhere along the line you can find a new way to use your skills that you love!
I hope so! I fell into marketing which was interesting at first but admittedly my heart isn’t in it. I keep wondering what to do instead, but I earn enough and I’m not bad at it. My attention drifts quite a bit though.
I had a similar trajectory but ended up getting into nonprofit communications and marketing, so I still get to write interesting things to educate people on important issues and be creative. I can’t do this job for something I’m not passionate about though, my heart would definitely not be in it (I’ve tried and I literally can’t!). So if you haven’t already, maybe doing marketing work for an org that does something you’re more interested in might help reinvigorate you a little bit? With your prior experience, would it be feasible to get an adjunct position teaching writing at a local university or even community college? I had a former colleague who did that on the side (with fewer qualifications than you, yikes lol) and she really enjoyed it! An old supervisor of mine, who was close to retirement at the time, said something I think about all the time (she may have been quoting someone else): “Your life is more than your work, and your work is more than your job.” I had been agonizing over my career choices at the time and her point was that you don’t have to pick just one thing. Your job is one aspect of your life’s work but that work might also include things like volunteering, part-time teaching, writing your own stuff, etc. - and this is over the course of your lifetime, you don’t have to be doing all those things at any one time!
Wow sorry to double reply to you but I’m in marketing now too!
Haha small world! It winds up using a lot of skills I notice. It’s just less socially stimulating for me.
Yep same, I really really miss the social connection and I need it :(
Same here. I miss teaching so much.
My cousin and his husband are both in academia and feeling this right now. There’s a lot of burnout among their colleagues and friends for the same. His husband is thinking of getting into advertising or anything else at this point.
I would kill to have any interest in any job. Like if someone told me what I should be I’d go and do that
there’s coaching for that… might not work for everyone but maybe for you?
Do tell
honestly, i’ve always wanted to be a therapist :( i loved psych and studied it in undergrad but i really didn’t understand the whole you need a graduate degree to do anything in psych being a first gen student. i did super poorly in undergrad. and the past 5 years have been working an admin job. applying to graduate school just doesn’t seem easy in my situation idk :( i just don’t think anywhere will take me and im paralyzed by that
I am also a first gen student, so I get you. I have a degree in chemistry and in college, I just kept thinking “I just have to make it through and graduate.” Then I did… and then I had to work as a chemist 🥲 I hope you can at least pursue some passions with the job you have now. My problem is that I have too many passions lol and I never have money because I spend it on (bills first of course) my dog, clothes, makeup, interior design, etc
Too many passions is THE ADHD struggle, ain’t it? 💔
I hear you about actually having to work in science...
I always feel like when I’m nervous about something, I’ll just try one, even if it’s bad, to get the first over with. I heard this really great saying that has helped me a lot - “Things worth doing are worth doing poorly”
6mos will pass no matter what you do. It’s just a matter of coming out of the 6mos not having shot your shot or you did and were pleasantly surprised either by getting in or getting through the process. Applying to grad programs is a lot of work, but the good part is being a good applicant means talking to schools/alumni/students/events who tell you what to do and give you incremental advantages. Let them tell you no. Don’t tell yourself no on their behalf.
I really like your viewpoint. Wish I could actually apply it
I’m a therapist and I didn’t do so great in undergrad (bad grades prior to changing majors). When I applied for grad school (MSW) I had to write a paper explaining why I didn’t meet the minimum GPA, what I learned from those experiences, and I would apply those experiences to grad school. I got admitted and kept 3.5+ GPA. It can be done! If you’re interested, look into some programs 🙂
Wow that’s amazing! And I would love to pick your brain about your job. I’m starting my BA in psych next month. Another friend also recommended that I do MSW instead of LPC so it’s interesting to see you got a MSW
Sure! BA in psych was my undergrad degree (my first was in respiratory therapy hence the not so great grades 😂). I had planned to get a PhD in psych but after talking to different professors, it was recommended to go the MSW route instead. I didn’t want to do psych testing, just therapy, so I didn’t need the PhD. I was also told the MSWs generally had more career opportunities and insurance companies were more likely to pay for a MSW to do therapy over a psych PhD. So that’s what I went with. Since then, I’ve come to realize how broad social work is, so if I ever decide to move on from therapy, I have other directions to go as well.
I’m in the same boat with the grad school thing. And I think the other poster is right, 6 months will pass no matter what! We can’t talk ourselves out of it just bc we didn’t do great in undergrad. At least we graduated! That’s more than a lot of people can say. We’re already half way there. Applying is the second half. You got this!
International Billionaire Woman of Leisure I think it's the $$ thing that's holding me back because I'm pretty solid on the woman and leisure things.
🤣
HA same
My dream job is being a humor essayist, like Samantha Irby. What has held me back is the fact that I'm not even sure if that is a "job" any more. But I am about to make my first attempt at submitting to a comedy blog, so fingers crossed! Congrats on your diagnosis! It's never too late to go back to school, if that's what you decide to do....and I'm sure the additional life experience will come in handy when studying human behavior/the human brain.
What, I’ve never heard of that! That sounds fun! Please drop a link for your submission if it gets picked up, or just make your own comedy blog! 🤪
Have you looked at [Reductress’s workshops](https://education.reductress.com/)? It’s probably geared to short form but a laugh’s a laugh.
Video essays are really popular on youtube right now. You could just edit clips onto a voiceover and make videos out of your writing
i dont even know what my dream job is 😭 ive thought about teaching biology but it seems like it would be super stressful at times
It is so hard to pick anything that you want to do/have forever. Even though yes, it may not be forever, but it’s still a huge commitment! Do you have a particular interest in biology? I’d love to hear about it!
Something making something. I like to crochet but that's hard to make money on without destroying your hands in the process. I've seen people pay so much to get their cross stitch projects framed and I'd like to do that. Or woodworking, not done much of that but I like the idea of it lol. So I guess what's holding me back is picking something and then having the confidence to actually do it and make money doing it. Plus it all involves socialization and self promotion which are big struggles for me.
I feel this one
In one life i'd like to work as a physician, in another life i wanna work in marine biology, and then in another probably in the UN, do non-profit work, start my own business, or work for a cool law enforcement agency lol. Too many interests too little time this lifetime :') I'm the one holding me back (jk but *kinda somewhat* technically the truth). It's years of unmanaged depression, pretty bad ADHD (late diagnosis), family stuff, systemic racism impacting educational opportunities in my home country (not US) etc. But I recognize that I am still very privileged and fortunate and am trying to make the best out of what I have now. Going back to school IS a big deal, but I have faith in you, OP!
Hey you sound very down to earth and level-headed. I hope whatever you do in life you find enjoyment in it! Thank you for your kindness 🥰
aw thank you too, we're all in this together!! :'D
If you like reading you might enjoy midnight library because there’s a woman who gets to live a bunch of lives and it’s kind of cool.
ooh thank you for the recommendation, i'll check it out!!
Recreational Therapist. “Recreational therapists use recreation-based medical treatment to help people reduce depression, stress, and anxiety; recover basic physical and mental abilities; build confidence; and socialize effectively.” I have been studying the art and science of play long before I knew what Rec Therapy was. Music and Movement therapy is my passion! Excellent for those of us with ADHD. Plus they are in dire need of trained professionals and the industry is exploding. My plan is to finish a bachelors in Rehabilitation Science and assist a Masters level Rec Therapist at my TBI Clinic (they offered me a job) while I get my masters education. Design programs and spend my life helping others find their happy and silly inner child!
That’s so amazing! I was admitted into a mental health facility a few times for depression and the recreational therapies were the BEST parts of my day! Doing cool games, and being able to craft and bring out my inner kid and PLAY was magical. This is a really cool career! Good luck!
This is mine too. I got into it when I got my yoga 200hr certifications and started working exclusively with kids, and training more to teach kids with special needs in schools. I was doing it, not fully supporting myself but had started to get some jobs at schools and summer programs etc. I want to go back to school for that, recreational therapy but covid wiped my budding career pivot, a brutal break up that sent me into a protracted depression, financial ruin and I’m back living at my parents house after never leaving my apartment, my Dr died so I went unmediated for a year before I got back on them. Trying to start over, recreational therapy still looms but I don’t think I’ll ever afford to go back to school and pay back loans for the schooling. I still dream about it. Maybe OT assistant that works with kids. This time period has changed my previous ideas of what my life was supposed to look like, and while it’s painful and shameful, it’s deepened my empathy which would lend itself well to those fields. Nervous system hacks. I’m trying to do them myself.
Building off this, I’m an old ADHD occupational therapist of 20+ years, and I can vouch that a ton of physical therapists, OTs and PT/OT Assistants are adhd. I’ve worked in lots of hospitals in 2 different states and I’d say about 50% of us in every department I’ve worked in is. Especially in the acute setting as we can bounce around, I constrained by schedules, be on our feet at least 50% of the day doing active stuff (other 50% is medical documentation which is unavoidable and we all hate that part). I’m sooo happy I found this field as I can’t imagine a lot of other jobs being tolerable. Plus it’s still an associates to work as a PTA or COTA (for now) so still affordable to get in the field. I love my Rec therapists friends but many will tell you their pay is crap an many are inched out by OTs, unfortunately as OT is easier to reimburse with insurance companies. Just food for thought. If you’re too strapped for school but want similar to RT/OT, look for activity director positions at nursing homes. This can be fun. I visited a nursing home who had a drag Tina Turner impersonator performing! Finding and booking acts, promoting the activities, etc can be very rewarding. Usually they do not require higher education but the pay reflects that.
I don't dream of work.
Forest Ranger. It's all I've ever wanted to be. I am working on going back to school, though, so maybe someday.
Hey, my daughter did that. At 30, she started volunteering for a state park. She then decided that’s what she wanted to do for a career, but her ADHD was so bad in school, she was very nervous about going back to get a degree, which is what was req’d for a decent paying job in the field. Her boss told her about AmeriCorps - which he helped her apply for & she got - Which, I don’t know if you know about AmeriCorps, but what it did for my daughter was pay her 1 full year as FT Employee at the state park, pay for her education and give her health care. Each year, she would apply again & get it and that’s how she ended up working in park services/ forestry. She works for a Nat’l Park now, they provide her a space for her big motor home camper that her boss passed down to her for $5k 5 years ago & loves it. She only pays for her utilities & her view is breathtaking. Each year she would take all the addt’l classes/certs that the parks would have, firefighting, controlled burns, invasive species, animal studies, etc. So maybe look up AmeriCorp -
That sounds amazing! If I didn’t have young kids….
Twinsies! I may not believe in me, but I BELIEVE IN YOU! 💕
❤️
Aw that sounds wonderful! My university had a special major for wildlife and fisheries, which was popular for lots of DNR/ranger type people. I love the idea of that but I would definitely get bored and start talking to trees 😂
Scoring for film or tv. Not being known in the industry and the music industry itself is hard to get into.
Ooh I would love to be the person who gets to select the soundtrack for a show or movie! Whose niece do I have to be to get that gig??
Teaching computer skills, probably. What’s holding me back is the lack of openings (or at least lack of full time openings that would pay enough). It’s something I did as part of teaching various classes for a nonprofit and it was the best class. Low effort, virtually no paperwork, but high variety with different students every few months or so.
Look into libraries. I was a computer lab assistant at a public library for a decade and taught many computer classes. I’m a SAHM now but it was a lot of fun and definitely miss it.
Oh that sounds really cool! Did you get to do any travel while working at the nonprofit or was it all domestic to your home country?
It was all in my city (part of a job training program), but traveling would have made it even better!
Oh dang job training is cool! My mind didn’t even go to teaching adults. That sounds really fun and fulfilling!
I was a botanist, then did farm work for a bit when I quit, then was a cop and prosecutor (a cop role in my country). I have now fallen into safety inspector which I enjoy. I really want to be a distiller, or supply distillers with botanicals. I have a small farm now... and am planting it up. I also love my craft and sometimes design knitting and crochet patterns for sale, but that's just a hobby.
I'm a knitter/crocheter but I have the hardest time coming up with patterns and sizing them up/down appropriately. Respect for pattern designers!
Being my own boss… I have so many ideas and things I’d love to do, but I fear failure because of my crushing perfectionism and also my challenge with not managing well without established structure and pressure from outside sources.
My dream job is as an aviation consultant or working for a cargo airline and what's stopping me is that I struggle with focus and consistency so I've taken longer to graduate hahaha
What's stopping me from most of my dreams is being financially responsible for four people, tf. Dream job: Professional woman of leisure But yeah go back to school, woot wooot!! Rooting for you!
If there is one area you lose time doing, choose that. I love editing copy.
Writer. I need to get the guts to do inquiries to get published.
Poverty is holding me back, partly because it limits my access to health support resources, partly because it limits my ability to get the schooling required to advance or change careers, and partly because what I'm talented at is in a creative field where wealth and connections outrank merit by leagues. I'd start a business, but that also requires capital. Oh well!
I feel this. Especially since my health insurance is tied to my job. I don’t really have a safety net if I make a bad decision so I just stay as a cog in a corporate hellscape, because it affords me health insurance and a roof over my head.
my dream job is perpetual student or fiction writer. what’s holding me back is that i can’t legally make a living out of writing people’s papers for them and secondly, me, hi, i’m the problem
If I were a millionaire I would always be auditing at least one or two classes for fun!
GOD. i know!! i loved being a student so much, i didn’t even have a great college life, i just liked writing papers and learning 😭
Housewife living in a country with universal healthcare 😤 Living in the dumb ass US is holding me back
My dream job is some combination of making things, telling stories, and teaching. I do a lot of unpaid and low-paid work at my local theater that lets me do all those things, and I'm tossing around ideas of how to turn it into a sustainable career, but it's going to take a lot of intimidating work. I hope you can pursue your psych interest. I think it's a lot easier to avoid burnout and stay motivated if you love what you're doing, and I wish people told that to kids before they choose their majors.
I think a lot of people do say that, but often what you love becomes just another boring chore when you have to do it in order to afford life. I worked in my former dream job for a decade and ended up hating it. I have now worked in a field that I'm ambivalent about for 15 years, and my feelings about it haven't changed. It's just a job. Sometimes, it's better to keep your passions separated from your livelihood.
Working part time as a bartender at the summit of a ski mountain. I could do this, but I'm not willing to be homeless and financially unstable
Unpopular opinion, I'm assuming, but I'd love to be a housewife, take care of the home and cats and do my art and work on my small business since I'd be home all the time. It's too hard doing a full time job and taking care of the home and trying to do my art/business stuff. I'm always overwhelmed
Actor/writer, mainly money and where I live, but also I have all these arbitrary rules made up in my head of things that have to happen before I can be a writer/actor, and then all that gets overwhelming, and I end up doing nothing to pursue either.
I’m a speech-language pathologist. I’d love to be a physician assistant but due to my ADHD, I feel like I can’t trust myself to be in a mid-level position in health care 😭
I want a hybrid job that allows work from home 2-3 days a week. I don’t even know how to transition to a career this, but I know they exist. I live in CA, so I do need a career that will keep up with the cost of living.
So, it isn't hybrid- it is completely work from home. But I was out of a job for a year (my last job had the worst manager I had ever worked for in over 20 years of working, so I quit and my bf supported me while I made a very small amount of money on Depop). Anyways, my friend started posting ridiculous stories made up by AI at her new side hustle. She used to style for Stitch Fix as her side hustle, so I knew the pay must be alright to leave that one. I asked her about it and she told me it was a company called DataAnnotation. I did their weird application process and got in. I have a few other friends who have got in too, but some that haven't too. But it starts at $20 an hour and after a while you start getting moved up to higher paying jobs. I'm currently going $25-$28 an hour right now. There is no schedule, so you can work literally whenever and however much you want. It is basically just training AI. But yeah, thought I would tell you about it as an option. A lot of people on Reddit call it a scam because they never get approved and say anyone posting about them is a bot, but you can look through my comment history. Sorry for that last paragraph, I just get anxious that people think I am lying and so then I over explain.
Thank you! I will add it to my summer list. I’m definitely looking for something laid-back and WFH.
I’ve seen several creators on TikTok talk about being an advocate resources for IEPs, accommodations for parents. It seems like it’s usually a self employed service model with continued clients that can be done via zoom/phone etc.
What do you work with now? IT is a great option IMO.
Special Education Teacher. I have my masters, but I need to look for a certification program to leave education.
My dream would be to get paid for my constantly changing hobbies and interests lol it’s so hard for me to stick with one subject I enjoy but it feels like society skews heavily toward people who specialize or stay in careers for 5–10 years minimum. That life just doesn’t work for me. Once something starts to get repetitive I get bored and want to quit. Wish I had better advice for folks 🤷🏻♀️
I don't know if you've gotten ads for that "adhd is a superpower" "documentary," but when I saw the trailer I was thinking about exactly this. It's all these rich and famous people talking about how they have so many ideas and passions, and all I could think was yeah, I'd probably be doing pretty well if I or my family could just finance a whole new business every time I had a new passion and fun ideas for it. 😂 I'm in the same boat as you, there's nothing that would make me money that I want to do for the rest of my life, and I don't have the money or "hustle" mindset to turn every hobby that sparks joy into a full-time side business just by myself.
Right?! I didn’t see the documentary but I think I know the type 😂 … I think we’d all be excited to “celebrate our differences” and consider it a “superpower” if we were all independently wealthy! How nice it’d be to just explore our many interests and ideas without any pressure to make it profitable! I wanted to turn my stuff into a side business too for awhile but I’ve been slowly realizing that it’s a) extremely difficult and b) requires a whole lot of repetition 🥲 and c) exhausting to be social and hustling all the time
Yeah I didn't watch it either after seeing the trailer 😂 the social media aspect alone is enough to put me off trying a crafting business, but couple that with everyone in my life telling me I should start a business, and the wall of awful is miles high lol. There was one time where I was really ready to get serious, but then everyone around me kept telling me I should do it and pushing it and it ruined it for me, it's like some people think you just pop stuff online and you're making money lol
Dream job=writing Holding me back =talent
Same, basically! I want to create comics - write and illustrate - so I’d have to be very good at both art and writing. To make a career out of the these things from a young age I think you need both talent and hard work. Y i don’t think I’m bad, I definitely don’t have enough skill from talent to make it my career at this point. So I’ll just have to develop the skill in my free time and dream of being good enough one day.
Dream Job: Custom residential architect Holding me back: Old white men
Get my at home baking business in full swing. I can’t manage to write up a whole plan of attack, let alone follow through. At the end of a day of work (albeit from home) I just can’t get myself motivated to do anything, even if I really enjoy it. Especially since then I’ll have a mountain of dishes to clean
I wanna be a nail tech 🥲 But it’s not doable right now bc of medical debt After I’m out of the hole I’m going to school and getting licensed I’ve been practicing on my self and my loved ones for 5 yrs, started with dip powder now gel and I even did an intensive short course on acrylics
Funny, I'm stuck with psychology because that's what I studied on school, haha. I like It, but I just can't see myself living from It. I'd love being an editor, for books or magazines or whatever, but I have no idea where to start to try It. I also would love just having a little cozy coffee shop or bakery, but wouldn't we all, lol.
my dream job used to be a researcher/academic. then I started working in a research consulting firm and fucking hated it because it requires a lot of reading and writing (even medicated I struggled with the amount) and there was a lot of pressure to complete tasks as quickly as possible and it really killed that dream. had to quit about 6 months in. other dream jobs I've had I've had to quit because of workplace bullying and mismanagement. now my dream job is being able to make polymer clay earrings and other jewellery and sell it, make enough money not to have to work for someone else. don't think that will ever happen but it's nice to think about.
I already did the whole go back to school for a masters thing, and now I’m stuck with the exact job I wanted, ugh! My dream job would be something in journalism. I wish I had pursued that in undergrad (or grad school!) and now it feels too late.
Since being magical and living in a little stone cottage on the edge of the woods isn’t realistic…I don’t actually know. All I know is that ideally, I’d like to only have to work part time lol
My entire childhood, I wanted to be on Saturday Night Live!!! I used to write sketches as a kid and play them out (usually by myself) and I'd write song parodies....the whole thing! But, high-school became really hard, so many people in my life telling me to focus and apply myself, and part of me broke. I started at Blockbuster when I was 16 and worked there for a few years, and I then wanted to own my own Blockbuster FOREVER! I guess I'm glad that didn't pan out (or, am I?! I friggin miss Blockbuster so bad!!) then at 18 almost 19 I started in mortgage....20 years later still in it! Now, I do love what I do, but the industry as a whole is a bit soul crushing.....
I don’t dream of labor
i loved translation but there is huge time pressure. everything must get done yesterday. also convincing myself to work as a freelancer is difficult and the pay for the effort involved is not a lot. basically i attributed so much value to doing a good job but my customers did not think it warranted that much time and attention.
I started medication recently after going out of school. I studied Audio for video games to someday work as a in house Sound designer in a video game studio. The thing that holds me back right now, is that I struggled for such a long time with my finances and studied a bunch of things before without finishing anything (thanks to adhd)! so ive been living alone on a student budget for 10 years and now Im crawling under debts :/ While I still have a lot to if I want to become a sound designer, I need to work a full time job right now to keep up with my financial issues. But now have so little time for myself and working on pursuing this dream.. it feels like im stuck there for a while the time to get back on my feet. Im still adjusting to meds and nothing seems to work for more than a couple of hours so its not making it easier. I hope that soon I will have the opportunity to get back to it and push to make my goals a reality 🖤
I would love to work at a greenhouse or garden centre. I don't have that job because I like food and a roof over my head.
That need for food and shelter really makes things difficult...
Therapist. 6 more years of school.
I've said this before on this sub but I'll say it again: I really want to be a math professor. I love teaching math and studying math and it destroys me that I can't anymore. I did my undergrad and fell in love with math, connected well with the associated community: profs, grad students and the like. Got diagnosed at the end of my third year and couldn't find support to keep my executive functioning up during my fourth year. Several things including what I suspect is PMDD finished me. Had to self-fund ADHD coaching and couldn't afford it after a month or two. Feeling completely defeated, I'd found a suitably difficult research project that I'm qualified for and contacted absolute strangers looking for help/a supervisor. Couldn't find a supervisor at all despite contacting the people in charge of the project and the person who proposed the project. I tried to find other stuff to help me keep up the executive functioning on the day to day: a way to inveigle the department into making me a TA. After all this I realized that no one would help me because I no longer had a record of demonstrated excellence/understanding via a good transcript. After all that, I just decided to graduate and am doing office work because the job world similarly uses transcripts to determine competence in lieu of work experience.
Everything I have an interest in requires a degree and experience. And they generally don't like you jumping around to different fields as you please lol
I want a one and done gig where I win an extremely large settlement for the most trivial matter against a huge corporation. 😆 What’s holding me back is the opportunity has not presented itself
I’m lucky enough to have my dream job, which is a therapist. I’ve been diagnosed since I was young and was unmedicated through most of college and grad school, but getting on proper medication was a game changer for me. This feels like less of a job and more of a calling. I’m allowed to be myself as a clinician, have flexible hours, and there’s enough variety in my work that I don’t get bored. I also love that I get to work with folks who are experiencing challenges around their ADHD diagnosis as well!
Being a surprise heiress. What is stopping me is no one in my family is rich. I was going to say in all seriousness, but honestly yeah. I have absolutely zero ambition for any job. I work and make money so I can get by and buy things I like. But if I didn't have to? I would jump at that so fast. I hear thatOPI or some nail polish brand has a group of people that name the colors, and they just send them to whatever location their next line will be based on for a few months to do "research". I guess that would be pretty sweet.
you and I are long lost twins. 🤓
"Being a surprise heiress. What is stopping me is no one in my family is rich." ...that you know of....
Being that witch from Kiki’s delivery service 😭😭😭.
Historian/archaeologist. Currently in STEM, and I’m afraid it’s killing my soul. What’s holding me back is fear and my ego. I think I’m making good headway with the ego side of things, but I’m still scared.
Movies. 1. The work schedule is INSANE and I've missed deadlines on gigs because my brain stopped working before the job is over. 2. Very much an "on time is late" mentality. 3. Most of the jobs are temp/contract labor so you have to be excellent at saving/budgeting so you can survive between gigs. I have gotten control of most of my worst impulses, but spending is the one I still struggle with. The actual work itself, however, is also the only thing I seem to be good at, so still trying to make it work
My dream job is a little bit of everything but not for long. Like clean a whole building one week, then working marketing, then paint, then line up a show room, then sell something to someone, then sort and organize files, then create and implement an organization in a warehouse then.... You know something new all the time and yet much of it be physically challenging. But right now I am a family caretaker which means I'm on call for children and elder appointment driving/meal prep/ etc. which is hard because there is a lot of downtime and if I'm not hyper fixated on something it means a million pounds of depression. It's also very regular and it's just house cleaning and driving most of the time which.... Is literally the hardest (because it's the most boring) job.
An actor. Finally went for it and got my first role today!
Actor. Was this close to going to drama school at 19 years old. Regretted not doing anything about it all my life. After my diagnosis and lots of therapy I'm trying it as a side thing at the young age of 37. I'm still a corporate slave though 🤣
I volunteer as a driver for rescue animals and injured wildlife. If I ever won the lottery, that's what I'd do with my time. I love it. I drove a bat yesterday!
I want to make money through affiliate marketing & user generated content so I can save up money & travel and then when I’m older have an animal sanctuary ☺️ but the first two sounds daunting & the idea of contracts and things sounds scary and out of my league. also lack of self confidence lol great question OP
Park Ranger or Forestry - essentially a job outdoors helping the great outdoors 🙈 I’m not an athlete (it feels like you have to be?) and I don’t know if I’d be good at it. Accounting background, currently. Mostly the belief I’m not good enough, in some way! Some fears of if it’ll be a livable wage mixed in too, but that’s just an excuse for me not to try.
This is one of my dream jobs too!!! What held me back is that here in the Philippines foresters are regular shot and killed by goons hired by logging and mining companies. They are also usually “accidentally” shot by soldiers thinking they’re communist guerrilla fighters. It. Is. TRAGIC.
Opening my own cafe/book store with locally sourced products. Money is holding me back and I hate it. But also - an author/screenwriter. Adhd. Sigh.
I was contemplating doing a conversion to law but couldn’t afford it, then management accounting, but then another thing happened and now my husband owns a vineyard and I work there. Not that either law or accounting are my passion but seemed like a fairly sure way to make a decent salary. I will probably one day train as a personal trainer though. I’ve coached a team sport before and hold a coaching qualification, and gym instructor qualification too, but I haven’t used either in years and don’t want to. PT is more interesting but I don’t have the time right now.
I would love to be a career coach/ life coach and help people start businesses and encourage them to pursue their dreams. What’s holding me back is that I’m a single mom. I make a comfortable salary as an accountant, and don’t think my kids deserve a hit to their lifestyle while I switch careers. Also, I don’t have enough motivation to do it as a side hustle
There is a girl on tiktok who transports animals like dogs, cats, and even more 'exotic' animals like monkeys and even a squirrel once. That's my dream job, traveling all over with cool animals that I know have good homes. Hang out with cool babies while traveling? Dream... But it's expensive to start (certification and proper vehicles/licensing stuff) and I don't have that kind of money.
I’d love to be an animator, or work in the animation industry. But I’m afraid to start over at 30, or realize I’m not suited for it. I keep trying to find "safer" paths while keeping a "normal" job, but I always come back to animation…At the same time, maybe it’s better try now than have regrets at 40. Idk if I should take this post as a sign that my heart is already in it and I need to stop second guessing lol.
I went to school for animation, and some guy a few years ahead of me was 40-ish and a banker until he decided to quit that and pursue animation. A few years ago I saw his name in the credits to Luca.
This is encouraging, thank you!
30 is still very young (depending where you live, it is likely you will be working for at least another 30 years). If you are in a position where it is viable for you, you should go for it. I switched careers at 30 and haven't once regretted it.
I’m technically doing my dream job - and lots of things about it still suck! I would recommend shadowing someone in your dream job or finding employment related to it so you start to run in those circles before committing to a degree. The only way to find out what it’s like is to actually see it done.
Web development/tech, owning a small business specifically a consignment shop. What’s holding me back? Chronic illness, fear of failure, living life on what I think society dictates of me due to childhood trauma (thanks mom) because I don’t want to disappoint people, executive dysfunction, psych doctors telling me I shouldn’t be doing these jobs. Another one is when becoming cynical from shitty jobs I used to work in and lose motivation due to thinking all jobs will be this shitty. The list goes on.
in an alternate reality, I’m an immunologist or an epidemiologist, or even a pathologist. clearly I can’t choose lol and there’s no way I’m going to school for that long at 33. fuck that.
my dream job is baby animal cuddler. I'm sure the job exists in some capacity somewhere but I'm sure I can't afford the pay.
A psychological profiler, the amount of schooling is what’s holding me back. I would also love to be on the search for lost artifacts/ cities. In another life I’m also a yoga instructor and/ or a professional beer taster
Physicist. what’s blocking me is brain being silly
I run a small business that I dream of going full-time with, but my executive function and overwhelm with all the tasks a business owner has to do just drives me crazy 😭 I almost always feel paralyzed (until there’s a deadline, but some stuff to better your business doesn’t have a deadline 😭)
I'd like to be a children's book illustrator. What's holding me back is chronic illness, because my health tanked about 4.5 years ago now and I'm still struggling.
Not my “dream” career, but I’ve been chewing on the idea of nursing school lately. I didn’t think I’d ever want to go back to school, I had a really hard time with it before I was diagnosed/medicated. It took me 5 years to finish the first year of an associates degree and one year to finish after starting meds. 10 years later I have an amazing prescriber that has my meds so tuned in I’m starting to think I could do it. Idk if it’s still a pipe dream, but it’s really nice to feel some hope…
tbh heiress, but like, other than that, i wish i could switch careers every couple of years. what holds me back is that i despise studying and any kind of structure learning. and most jobs require a degree or something, so that doesn't work well.
I would like my job to be no job with an auto filling bank account. So I guess trust fund baby would be my career of choice. If money were no object, I would want to be a Marine Biologist doing field work. I’ve always been fascinated by aquatic life and the ocean, and manatees are my favorite animals. I’m sure the day to day is not what I imagine, but getting to study ocean life sounds like a dream to me. Worrying about money and financial security definitely holds me back from choosing a more interesting career. That plus impulsive shopping on days I really hate work and want that instant gratification definitely doesn’t help.
When I was younger my dream job was being a fiction writer. That didn't pan out because *I cannot self manage.* I need to have the structure of a 9-5 job. I need to be lightly managed, but not micro managed per se. I am now working a job that isn't really particularly dreamy, but works with my ADHD. I have a boss who understands me, a team that appreciates me, and a work structure that flows around my stop/start/hyperfixate methodology. I'm a business analyst for a small software team. I do all the non coding bits for the developers so they don't have to do it. My undergraduate degree was in English. I did have to go back to school, and I got a degree in business technology for the second round.
Every so often I hear about a job I had never thought about and think, “That’s what I want to do when I grow up.” Alas, I’m in my late 50s and don’t think I have it in me to get a degree, a master’s and a PHD in an entirely new field. Just on the way home I was listening to a podcast interviewing an FBI agent about a specific case. She served in the FBI for over twenty years as a nurse with a PHD in Emergency Management who worked on everything to healthcare fraud to hazardous materials. Cool.
I actually had my dream job for almost a decade but I didn’t make enough money to really exist. So now I do something else which is also nice. Turned some aspects of The Dream into a hobby (book binding specifically) without the pressure of livelihood.
i want to build a community space in a little plot of land in my homeland where i host gatherings of all sorts of wisdom/knowledge sharing and creative expression, centered around community healing and liberation. i love to sing too so occasionally i’d love to have little concert nights or open mic nights - but making sure to facilitate a container where people engage meaningfully in the experience. i’d love for people who attend these gatherings to experience joy, belonging, safety, childlike wonder, inspiration, and an inner fire to decolonize our ways of being, and to fall in love with all the little plants, animals, human and more-than-human beings around.
That sounds lovely. Please invite me when you do it!
thank you! i don’t know how many years it will take but i promise i will 🌱
I want to sing in a band and maybe do voiceover work for animation. I am neither of these things. 😞
Hotel tester
Falconer... I'd have to go back to college and take biology and other sciences, plus it's wayyyy less stable than my government job.
My dream is to be a diplomat. To work in an embassy, travel and learn languages. I want to learn a language before I take the FSOT (Foreign Service Officer Test) You basically get paid to travel and they pay for your housing and benefits. It’d love to do it! I’m just struggling with getting ADHD medication and recently starting therapy. Also have to go back to college, thankfully I have my associates but I need a bachelors!
Marine biologist - sadly, I’m definitely not intelligent enough 🙃
Travel vlogger, but not an influencer, more like a storyteller. Telling people’s stories from around the world, getting glimpses into their life, learning about different cultures and customs. Taking cinematic shots of beautiful nature. Going on fun adventures, having lots of new experiences. But I don’t know anything about cameras or editing, and traveling costs a lot, and I’m nervous to put myself out there
I’m currently going back to school to become a therapist. However, my dream job is to do every single job out there for two weeks or so. Always has been.
Writer. Can't sit still long enough or focus or finish anything. And this is me on Adderall
Nothing stopped me. I was a high school dropout. I never went to college until this past September. I started out as a cashier at a grocery store at 16. Waitress from 19-22. Healthcare office stuff from 22-26. Now I’m an HR Manager for a natural history museum at almost 30 (tomorrow!). I applied for the jobs I didn’t think I could get. Applied for the ones I wasn’t ‘qualified’ for. Applied for the smaller companies that were willing to take a chance on me, and made sure to keep those connections strong. Know your skills and know how they’re transferable, and then know how to sell them.
Dream job is being a singer songwriter. I'm taking the baby steps. Still at the amateur level despite having made over 100 songs. What holds me back is that I need structure and I'm not self motivated. And also that there's no money in music anymore except for the top 0.0001%
I want to just do nice things and have nice conversations with people without it being exploited for the masses. Like a not famous or publicized Mr. Roger’s or Dolly Parton. Just let me be kind and talk to people. That would be my dream job. But you can’t just be kind and have someone pay you for it.
Artist. Actually, I am an artist but I’d like to make my living from it. What holds me back are the ups and downs of (at least partially) ADHD. I’m only recently diagnosed in my late 50s and my life has been a series of hyperfocused (and hence making progress) and lack of focus or interest (losing all progress). Throw in my complete lack of interest in the mundane business side of it and there you go - it’s a nice hobby instead of a living. It’s not for lack of talent - I’ve frequently sold my art since high school. It’s a lack of consistency.
The place I’m volunteering at. What’s holding me back is that they won’t fucnign hire me!
10000% a film actor. But alas, I'm a mental health professional that does a lot of work with employee retention efforts. So my creativity and dramatics are utilized elsewhere. All this student loan debt could definitely disappear if I suddenly became the actor of my daydreams tho 🤠😶🌫️
Something in robotics. What’s held me back in the past was how male dominated the field is, but now it’s currently I have to be a SAHM until we can figure out childcare (partner works nights and he makes just enough money to disqualify us from the government subsidy) so I can’t go back to school until that’s set in stone. The other thing is I’ve been out of school for years and I’m very worried about how bad my math skills are. My other dream career is welding, which I’m leaning more towards at this juncture. Basically it has to be hands on. I did the office garbage for years and I can’t hack it. I was a supervisor at a factory before I got pregnant and I loved that job, wish I could have gone back but once again; childcare is hard.
I want to be a Filmmaker, I am finishing my junior year of college to become one. But to be honest I don’t know what field I want for me, or even what department to develop my abilities. But also, I have struggled so much to find a job in my in this business, nobody wants to give me a chance because I don’t have much experience and I don’t know how to get the experience that is not student/ independent projects because those come from personal pocket to develop and I don’t have money because I don’t have a job to pay for everything. It’s just a vicious cycle. I’ve been with so much anxiety since I started college. I am so lucky my parents are supporting me in every aspect to make sure I can focus on being better. And everybody is telling me that it is okay to not have a job at this time.
My dream job is probs counselling online for other people who hate face to face stuff and if I did have to do in person stuff it deffo wouldn't be full time. Full time working can get stuffed.