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ORIGINAL: Scatterbrain

Hello everyone,

Normally I'd like to introduce myself in a more positive fashion, but the truth is I've been feeling very down with life as of late, and I'm not sure where to go from here. I was hoping I might find some words of wisdom or encouragement from other Christians on these forums.

To be specific... I'm not sure what to do for a career, let alone the rest of my life. I'll be 25 in a month and I feel like I'm running out of time to find a career and get my life on track before I'm 30. I know God has some purpose for me down here, and I feel like I've been praying for the longest time for him to lead me in some direction, any direction, but it seems I haven't gone very far. Or perhaps I just need to be more patient.

I was working in a helpdesk position at a background screening company in Sacramento while attending a technology school nearby (I was trying for my MCSE). About five months ago, my wife and I were both laid off from the same company. About six months before that I got fed up with the inept instructors I was dealing with and quit the school. I figured IT was a pretty stable career field, and in the beginning I had all the motivation and drive in the world to become a network engineer. I didn't love it, but I figured it was something I would be good at since I have a knack for technology.

I got my A+ Certification, landed the job in helpdesk, and things were going ok for a while. Once school started going south and I found myself pigeon-holed into doing boring website tweaking (trust me, it was very boring) and not learning anything new, I started wondering about my career path.

After my wife and I got laid off, I felt completely lost. The economy took its toll on our company and a lot of people left. We were both on unemployment for a few months, I eventually landed a temporary testing job (its boring and repetitive, but I can't complain about the pay, and its very easy), and my wife has been looking ever since. My job has stretched out from one month to five (and counting it appears), and that's a huge blessing considering our situation, but it could just end at anytime.

During my time at this job, I've been blessed with a lot of downtime to do some soul searching as well as look for other possible job and career prospects. I've looked into quite a few different things ranging from the practical to the outlandish:

Law Enforcement, Nursing, Studio Engineer, Programming, Web Design, Network Engineer, Bartending, Pilot, Case Worker, Game Tester, Psychology, Writing, Guitar Center salesman...

I mean, I'm really shooting in the dark here. I've taken an $80 extensive personal evaulation exam (Crown Ministries I think?), which helped me to an extent... but it didn't really tell me anything new.

My friends tell me that making one's dreams into a profession is near impossible, and that its better for your income and state of mind to find the the career that is the lesser of two evils, that allows you to do the things you want to do. They say this now, but how will they feel 30 years down the road? Did they get to do the things they want to do, or were they chained to a desk the whole time?

I wake up every day feeling bored, tired, and listless. I look into other college programs, but nothing is leaping out at me. The job market here is horrible, and even with my experience in helpdesk I can't seem to find another job anywhere.

What about you? Did you find the career that is right for you? How did you get there? Any insight, thoughts, suggestions, comments, criticisms etc.. would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for reading, God bless.

-- Scatterbrained, Sacramento CA.