Sorry to be a downer, but...
I'm 30 years old, and I feel like I'm not capable of doing half of the things I want to do. I wanted to become a writer, a dog trainer, a certified professional organizer, a maid, and a CIA clandestine agent or government translator (I guess the last one sounds pretty far fetched, but it did seem pretty cool anyway), but in the real world I'm just a teacher, and I took out around a hundred thousand dollars in student loans just to get here. I only make enough each month to cover my expenses. I would love to go back and get some good training to learn how to do some of those other really great jobs.
I have taken a few steps towards getting training for the good jobs. I'm taking dog training courses online, but, from what I can tell, I've successfully wasted my money. The lessons are good, but I'm paying more than I would have for a course at a regular four-year college. I've also been practicing creative writing and posting online. People are brutal and really know how to crush dreams. You would think that after earning a degree in English I would be at least a somewhat decent writer, but I think there's a lot for me to improve upon. Plus, it's a horrid distraction from my teaching job, because I constantly daydream about what to put on paper. As for CPO, I'm already totally disorganized, like abysmally disorganized. I don't like it. Believe it or not, I actually like being in a clean and orderly place, but I don't know how to keep it that way. It always seems like too much work and not enough reward. I feel like helping clean other people's houses is out of the question, even though some teenagers do this as their summer job. Why am I so bad at this that I can't even do what teenagers do successfully? I sometimes honestly just feel worthless. I was learning a foreign language in preparation to go overseas, but I got to the part where I could benefit from having a conversation partner and froze. Situations like that make me pretty nervous. I hate that people I respect and really want to learn from probably believe I'm some kind of jerk because of irrational social fears.
I was diagnosed with ASD about a year or so ago, and although it answered a lot of questions, it also made me just feel like dirt. No one really cares about you, and if you work with people all of the time, you begin to wonder why people claim to care so much about the health and well-being of others when they really don't.
It seems to me that you would be a great manager in one or more of your desired careers. Managers need to be enthusiastic about the variety of things that they oversee. But, they can't afford the time it would take to actually do the detail work. You appear to know a little about a lot of things (think renaissance man), and a lot about some other things. Combining all your knowledge into managing could work wonders for you. I have known many educators who ended up in management careers in marketing, lobbying, negotiating and public relations. After all, the hoped-for careers you described (like education) require a lot of knowledge skills where seeking quick answers for a hundred questions a day makes you irreplaceable.
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Diagnosed in 2015 with ASD Level 1 by the University of Utah Health Care Autism Spectrum Disorder Clinic using the ADOS-2 Module 4 assessment instrument [11/30] -- Screened in 2014 with ASD by using the University of Cambridge Autism Research Centre AQ (Adult) [43/50]; EQ-60 for adults [11/80]; FQ [43/135]; SQ (Adult) [130/150] self-reported screening inventories -- Assessed since 1978 with an estimated IQ [≈145] by several clinicians -- Contact on WrongPlanet.net by private message (PM)
Start by rewriting your CV or resume to describe your management skills including all your talents (but with a business-management and marketing slant).
Try applying for job openings you find for managers in private schools, large businesses who need marketing managers or human-resource managers, businesses or colleges who need "special project managers" or product managers with manufacturers, for example. Just reading the employment notices in these areas will teach you about what is expected.
Also, contact professional employment agencies (headhunters) who will help you focus and refine your skills. If they see talent in your skills, they will be your best advisers.
Don't overlook contacting non-profit organizations like your local YWCA, Boys and Girls Club or homeless shelter. They are a good way to get your feet wet in a new career without the demands of the corporate world. You could even start volunteering some time to a non-profit organization where you could learn about its environment and expectations. Knowing these things will help you advance more quickly at other businesses.
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Diagnosed in 2015 with ASD Level 1 by the University of Utah Health Care Autism Spectrum Disorder Clinic using the ADOS-2 Module 4 assessment instrument [11/30] -- Screened in 2014 with ASD by using the University of Cambridge Autism Research Centre AQ (Adult) [43/50]; EQ-60 for adults [11/80]; FQ [43/135]; SQ (Adult) [130/150] self-reported screening inventories -- Assessed since 1978 with an estimated IQ [≈145] by several clinicians -- Contact on WrongPlanet.net by private message (PM)
I have taken a few steps towards getting training for the good jobs. I'm taking dog training courses online, but, from what I can tell, I've successfully wasted my money. The lessons are good, but I'm paying more than I would have for a course at a regular four-year college. I've also been practicing creative writing and posting online. People are brutal and really know how to crush dreams. You would think that after earning a degree in English I would be at least a somewhat decent writer, but I think there's a lot for me to improve upon. Plus, it's a horrid distraction from my teaching job, because I constantly daydream about what to put on paper. As for CPO, I'm already totally disorganized, like abysmally disorganized. I don't like it. Believe it or not, I actually like being in a clean and orderly place, but I don't know how to keep it that way. It always seems like too much work and not enough reward. I feel like helping clean other people's houses is out of the question, even though some teenagers do this as their summer job. Why am I so bad at this that I can't even do what teenagers do successfully? I sometimes honestly just feel worthless. I was learning a foreign language in preparation to go overseas, but I got to the part where I could benefit from having a conversation partner and froze. Situations like that make me pretty nervous. I hate that people I respect and really want to learn from probably believe I'm some kind of jerk because of irrational social fears.
I was diagnosed with ASD about a year or so ago, and although it answered a lot of questions, it also made me just feel like dirt. No one really cares about you, and if you work with people all of the time, you begin to wonder why people claim to care so much about the health and well-being of others when they really don't.
One of my English professor had once assigned us to read a Pulitzer Prize winning short story for homework. I took the story home and read it, and then spent the next few minutes trying to figure out how the story won a Pulitzer Price. It was mediocre at best. It turns out, most of the class was equally perplexed. It just goes to show how subjective good literature can be. I've concluded that fame in the literary community is much more a matter of marketing than quality.
How does this pertain to you?
You don't need everyone to like your writing to be a successful writer. You need the right people to like your writing to be a successful writer.
okay. i am 34 years old. and i do not just feel like i am not "capable of doing half the things i want to do." i am incapable of doing all the things i want to do (in terms of vocations). without exaggeration. seriously. in the past, i have wanted to become a writer, a structural engineer, a physicist, an accountant.
and then only jobs i have had were minimum wage. and got fired from almost all of them. all the job skills i know how to do, all the other idiots also know how to do.
https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/repay-loan ... on/teacher
there are some programs that forgive student loans, for teachers.
and i do not earn enough to cover anything. and it has been a long time since someone made the mistake of hiring my worthless corpse. pretty soon i have to start aggressively panhandling.
what is a "decent writer" is subjective. you can't measure the quality of your writing. plenty of times, someone told me i was good at writing and should get published. but they themselves did not know what it took to go through the publication process. and they might have been biased in my favor b/c at the time they were my precious lil "friends".
vice versa. likewise. the feedback about your writing, that someone gave you, might not be accurate. if they themselves have gotten published, then that is one thing. but if they have not gotten published, then you should not even take their responses into account altogether.
everyone is good (smart) at some things and bad (stupid) at other things. (theory of multiple intelligences). IQ test. weschler, wais, wiat. stanford binet.
maybe you are not good at cleaning houses, but you are good at other things.
it could have to do with anything, from executive functioning disorder, to organization, to anything.
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besides there are plenty of things i am extremely bad @ too. big deal. that does not make you any morally inferior to someone.
likewise, what if you were good @ cleaning houses, then what? whooptie do.
yeah that's it though.
b/c in the past, sometimes i wished i was good (or at least better) @:
structural engineering, mechanical engineering, math, physics, computers
english/writing/reading
socially
handling emotions
physical strength/speed/coordination
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but. hey. whatever.
so what, i am bad at them? it is not a felony to be bad at them.
and someone that is good @ them is not a morally superior person to me.
It's just a game I play... the right people will come to me and for the other idiots it goes over their heads.
Earlier this year I put an ad in the big paper saying "Aspie for short-term hire as consultant" and no one wants to hire me LOL So I'll just come here and have fun with you guys instead and screw them for their greed and ignorance and go on destroying the planet and wish some of you were with me on this LOL
Those were good suggestions. I was a pretty decent short story writer once upon a time, but I've gotten out of practice, and my OCD sometimes won't allow me to write, but I guess that's another story entirely. I guess I can share it anyway. I sometimes get the idea that certain things are "wrong" and it's difficult for me to get those ideas out of my head, really difficult. I didn't have this problem when I was a child, but after I became an adult I met people who constantly feed these OCD worries. Right now, it's at a point where I do feel guilty for a lot of the things I once wouldn't have thought twice about. I hate this feeling, too, but I just can't shake it sometimes.
I have taken a few steps towards getting training for the good jobs. I'm taking dog training courses online, but, from what I can tell, I've successfully wasted my money. The lessons are good, but I'm paying more than I would have for a course at a regular four-year college. I've also been practicing creative writing and posting online. People are brutal and really know how to crush dreams. You would think that after earning a degree in English I would be at least a somewhat decent writer, but I think there's a lot for me to improve upon. Plus, it's a horrid distraction from my teaching job, because I constantly daydream about what to put on paper. As for CPO, I'm already totally disorganized, like abysmally disorganized. I don't like it. Believe it or not, I actually like being in a clean and orderly place, but I don't know how to keep it that way. It always seems like too much work and not enough reward. I feel like helping clean other people's houses is out of the question, even though some teenagers do this as their summer job. Why am I so bad at this that I can't even do what teenagers do successfully? I sometimes honestly just feel worthless. I was learning a foreign language in preparation to go overseas, but I got to the part where I could benefit from having a conversation partner and froze. Situations like that make me pretty nervous. I hate that people I respect and really want to learn from probably believe I'm some kind of jerk because of irrational social fears.
I was diagnosed with ASD about a year or so ago, and although it answered a lot of questions, it also made me just feel like dirt. No one really cares about you, and if you work with people all of the time, you begin to wonder why people claim to care so much about the health and well-being of others when they really don't.
Hopefully this will be a teachable moment to those who get those 'feel good degrees' or go into social justice warrior type of things and get a degree in women's studies or gender studies or liberal arts.
Instead of getting these useless feel good degrees to show your loyalty to the Democratic Party you should instead get a degree into a field that's hiring or requires people.
Take a dirty job go dig holes in North Dakota along the pipeline and make three grand a week.
There's work at the Hyundai, Kia, and other Korean car factories. I've heard a lot of people did not like those jobs, and to me, a school teacher is a great alternative to all the other jobs you wanted. Tom Hank's character in Saving Private Ryan was a school teacher, so that's cool.