I feel like there's a few paths in front of me, and the longer I delay the decision, the more "in a rut" I feel.
I've been very ambitious and have had some small measure of success. I'm now thirty. I completed a postgraduate degree at the start of this year. I live in a comfortable place doing uninspiring but decently paid work, and right now I'm just saving up for the next step in life.
The problem is, finding that next step is far harder than I initially anticipated in a highly "competitive" field. I also feel haunted by the memory of living off very little money, and get a constant sense that I should be more financially secure; that someone my age should have a house, a car, at least a full driving license.
I hate the thought of sitting here and selling my life by the hour, only to give it all away again on the next big risky venture, achieving qualification X so I finally have a chance at job Y. I will probably do it, because stagnating in comfort and giving up my dreams is worse for me than going through another few years penniless. But increasingly I'm becoming aware of the tradeoffs: advancing years with no assets, no family, and a girlfriend who's wondering why we don't have kids.
The next few decades could look radically, shockingly different depending on how I handle decisions over the next few years.
Well you can pick off the easy wins, like getting your licence (assuming driving instructors are still a thing in the post-lockdown dystopia). That's something fully in your control.
Agreed, but even that takes money, which again detracts from long-term goals. I know I don't really have a choice, but God it's a bastard to constantly have to trade-off the present for the future.
I know what you mean. Time is a motherfucker and there's many bitter post-doctoral people if you want evidence of chasing a dream gone sour. If you're unhappy in your job then that would be the tipping point but the question is really on how unhappy you are and whether that is going to change.
As a rough estimate I'd say you have until 35 before you're really in a brown-trouser situation. Can you achieve your dream by then and still have time to do the usual family shit? Can you not achieve some balance however tenuous it might be?
>>30862 Well if you're going to fly the space-planes out of Sutherland then you're still going to need to drive to it.
