Trades- which are in demand, and which could I function in?

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Oh, it's perfectly ok! You couldn't hear the joking tone of my voice over the keyboard...no worries. I am kind of used to being "one of the guys" so I understand.

My husband is kind of like that too except he doesn't usually call me "bro." His line is "Hey, Wife! can you come here a minute?" Lol. I know he has the utmost respect for me even if it doesn't sound that way to the casual observer.

Haha, whatever works. Other people can laugh. My husband and I rarely call each other by name either, unless we really need to get the other's attention. But we haven't yet resorted to calling each other "Mother" and "Daddy," or "Mom" and "Pop" as I have heard my grandparents call each other on occasion.

I do prefer "wife" to "wench" which he affectionately used for a while. It was a throwback to an old movie and it definitely raised some eyebrows at times if he said it in public.

Doesn't sound like there's anything suited for you, sorry buddy. Maybe try winning the lottery, or metal detecting for lost jewelry on the beach?

I wanted to be a truck driver...but I can't drive a truck in tight urban areas. I'd probably get into many accidents.

I feel sorry for those who hate working. I was raised to work hard and do my best to enjoy it. I don't always enjoy every job but I enjoy having a starting point, a job complete, and the satisfaction of a job well done. Whatever that job is. And sometimes there are just those jobs that are...well, not the most interesting or satisfying, but they have to be done and someone has to do them.

I grew up around farming--my family was Mennonite on both my mom and dad's sides of the family. My husband's background was also Mennonite and we farmed with his parents for the first several years of our marriage. Mennonites are big on hard work, thriftiness, and practicality. Many people who come out of the Mennonite culture (because it is just as much of a culture as a religion--probably even more so) talk about how psychologically damaging it is...and it can be...but often throw the baby out with the bathwater in decrying the culture they came from. There is a lot of value in learning hard work, practicality, and basic survival such as growing food and the like. My autistic symptoms made some of the jobs I needed to help with really difficult...but learning to enjoy hard work and being outside has helped with my anxiety and some of my other autistic symptoms.

So I am sort of a weird combination of contradictions as I hate to bait a fishhook (I refuse to fish because of that--the sliminess of worms is a huge sensory aversion), I just barely can help with butchering chickens--raw poultry makes my skin crawl for some reason--so I do help as it needs done and I feel like I am not pulling my weight if I don't help at all; but it is a tremendous effort. I have no issue with helping butcher beef or venison. Different texture of meat than poultry. I like to help load firewood and I used to really enjoy driving tractor when I had a chance. I could never get the hang of backing equipment and trailers around though...you have to turn the wheel the opposite way that you want the trailer or piece of machinery to go and it is pretty hard to do. You either can or you can't do it...and I can't. Lol. Picking produce was not my favorite job, but I didn't mind too much. I liked the outside jobs. Livestock always scared me--i helped with it if needed but not a lot. I liked feeding calves and baby goats if they needed bottle fed or bucket fed; but the grown animals 4 times my size scare me.

I guess all this doesn't sound very girly. Lol. I can pull my own in housework but most girly jobs are a little boring to me. I would rather be outside than in.

All that to say that maybe you might have to look a bit to find a job you truly like. But I hope you do--it helps so much with enjoyment of life if you can enjoy your work.

I have executive function issues so that makes it hard sometimes with motivation. I do much better if I plan what I am going to do ahead of time. I have papers with lists everywhere.

I don't know if having a plan would help you with motivation? That seems to be key for me.

I am also 37--I don't know if I would enjoy working if i hadn't been raised like that. But hey, seems like it's worth a shot. There is nothing like the satisfaction of a job well done.

Good luck, man!

Yeah I don't know how to get motivated. I don't think all the lists in the world would help. My executive function skills are also quite poor and I have attention span issues on top of it.

I can be really motivated if I'm into what I'm doing, which hasn't been often.

My looking for a change is more out of future necessity and less out of hope of finding something rewarding. If that happens, it'll be sheer luck.

Thanks for the perspectives though. Lets see where, if anywhere I get.