I'm 20 years old and don't know what to do in life

[GroovyGuru]

Hello,

I am a 20 year old college student with only 2 and a half semesters left in my pursuit of a finance degree. I hate it. I am extremely scared and uneasy about the thought of becoming a wage slave. The absolute last way I want to spend my life is in some cubical doing boring and repetitive work that will only get in the way of my consciousness work. This work has become my passion, mostly thanks to Leo. I have begun taking meditation and contemplation work very seriously and I've been reading about 3 books every month mostly from his book list. I have been putting off looking for an internship for quite a while now and it's beginning to catch up with me. My parents are always on my ass about it and I just can't get myself to accept the reality of the situation i'm in. I don't want to work a 9-5 job where all I do is kiss ass and work my tail off all for the benefit of someone else. It is completely unfulfilling. I am not lazy by any stretch of the imagination, I always work hard and do well in all my classes and endeavors but I desperately want to enjoy whatever it is I end up doing.

Does anyone have any advice for me? I'm still so young and have a lot to learn but I just feel so lost and a little bit scared. Do I have to just bite the bullet and join the typical labor force until hopefully I start to figure it out in the future? It's so difficult because when you begin to realize just how deep and meaningful pursuing enlightenment is, everything else seems so petty and not worth my while. I would rather spend my time becoming aware of what my existence means than crunching numbers for some bullshit corporation! Please help, any advice is appreciated  

[7thLetter]

Hey, this is just my personal advice, if it helps great but do whatever works for you.

I personally think its a good idea to figure out your financial situation while you're young so that you can do what's most important to you later on in life when you don't have to worry about money and have the time to do whatever you want. Build a strong foundation when it comes to your finances, cultivate the inner game, acquire as much knowledge as you can.

I'm 23, I've been listening to Leo since 18. I've always loved the content and I started leaning towards the spirituality route as well. Understanding all the fundamentals, all the complex insights, meditating, contemplating, etc. I don't regret any of it at all, I've grown SO MUCH. But now that I'm 23, my financial situation is almost the same as when I was 18. Still working different jobs, but now I work a 9-5 desk job rather than my usual restaurant job. At 18 I actually still had the goal of financial independence, but 5 years later I don't have a lot to show for yet mainly because I've focused on spirituality. But don't get me wrong, I love studying and understanding what this world is and what life is. But this issue of money is something you cannot avoid. It will always show up, unless you drop everything and live in the forest and hunt your own food. So now that I've built a strong foundation on my self-actualized self, its time for me to figure out my financial situation. If I were able to take it more seriously at 20 I would've.

So let's take a look at two of your options.

1. You can pursue enlightenment at 20, you'll create a strong inner world for yourself, incredible. Although what about your external situation? Unless someone is spoon-feeding you, then you're going to have to work a job. Or like I mentioned, go live in the wild and hunt your food. Then later on you might regret not taking care of your finances when you were younger because now that you're older, its harder to start a business or anything of that kind. It's easier to start something while you're younger. You can work 9-5 the rest of your life while going for enlightenment, but that's probably not the most ideal.

2. You can take care of your finances early, buy yourself some time, and pursue enlightenment once you've achieved financial independence, and not have to work a 9-5 that you dislike.

It's up to you to decide.

 

 

Edited February 8, 2019 by 7thLetter

[GroovyGuru]

@7thLetter Thank you, your response was very helpful. Option 2 is the obvious answer, and I already knew that. I think I just needed to hear it from someone else.

[Average Investor]

I think doing both is possible, but depends on how you manage time and what you do. Could always start something finance related for your own business. 

[Gabriel Antonio]

I feel for you. Young people are put so much pressure to figure everything out. It should be a gradual process, but our culture is excessively anxious. 

In my case, I used spirituality to bypass the whole system. I was living in a bubble. 

As the Buddha suggested, we should find The Middle Way.

What are your hobbies? Maybe you can turn that into a profession. 

 

Edited February 8, 2019 by Gabriel Antonio

[okulele]

@GroovyGuru i suggest you think bigger than consciousness work. Sooner or later you will awaken, come full circle and see that there was nothing to get. You will be glad to have a place in society then.

[jivvie]

This is just my opinion. Because I’m having similar issues. The biggest thing you want to do is incorporate financial strategy and grow into yourself. 

Listen to Spiral Dynamics: Stage Orange by Leo. Then listen to How To Get Shit Done. Become an economic powerhouse. Then move up into Green, ever you naturally belong. 

[Kevin Gueug]

Hi, speaking from my perspective at age 26. I totally feel you. When I was 20 I was also afraid of being stuck in wage slavery. I was just not ready for it and the thoughts of it made me really depressed and suicidal. I escaped reality with alcohol and weed at my freetime. However time shows no mercy and suddently adult life is slapping you in the face. Today I realize just how much I played the victim and that I did not take 100% responsibility of my life. Finish college so you atleast get a nice foundation for worklife. I worked evening shifts at a cargo warehouse on nice summerdays doing low conscious work, stuck within grey walls and concrete floors, moving boxes, and pallets and of course I got backpain. I let out when it was dark and that day was gone. That really felt like slavery! But I needed money and I did not go to college. I collapsed and moved to my dad at 22. I got some shit togheter and graduated private school for 1 year. Now I work as IT service desk, I got my own office, I got better salary, my boss works in another country, I travel a little, I learn more about how business works and I got nicer colleagues. I was shocked by how nice the company treated me, I was not used to that. I was so grateful for just having a better quality work. Now I rent a small apartment. Now I have secured the bottom of Maslow's pyramid. Now I study personal development.

[Moreira]

Im 35yo and dont know what I want to do in life. Tried like 7 different jobs, and I get tired of them easily.

The most hapy time I remember is when I was a student and my only duty was learn, mantained by my parents. We are born in this system to suffer working as slaves, only a minority work on what they love, ar are born rich, or work in family business, my  purpose is te be free of that slavery.

[Salvijus]

Logical mind says take care of your financial situation then work on enlightenment but all the saints and gurus say otherwise. Go for enlightenment and god will take of your survival. Make truth your highest priority and life will organize itself to give you the nessecary space and time to do that. I know it doesn't make sense but just type any spiritual teacher that you're listening to and listen for yourself. All of them say the same thing, and I agree also

Edited February 8, 2019 by Salvijus

[Knock]

First of all, I understand that the thought of finishing study and entering the real world can be quite daunting. We have all been there before, and noone knows what they are doing.

Just a perspective broadening opinion;

I think this idea of 'wage slavery' is doing a great disservice for the abundance, security and connection that a 9-5 job provides. Since working a 9-5 job, my life has been substantially better. Before I was working casual jobs with weekend shifts and could never hang out with all my friends who had 9-5 jobs. Even though I had a lot more time to pursue enlightenment, I had no connection, no money and no stability. With my wage slave job, my life has been amazing. I can now hang out with my friends on weekends, I have more money than what I know what to do with, I have a fantastic exercise and meditation habit that I do every weekday, now that I have a routine. 

My advice is to keep studying, get yourself some work experience, try it out for a few years first before you disown it. Fully integrate 'orange'. Satisfy your lowest rungs on Maslows Hierachy. You can't expect to instil self-actualisation in a healthy way if you forego these steps. 

May I ask what drew you to studying finance? 

[GroovyGuru]

@Knock Thank you for your response. What drew me to studying finance was that I've always known working a 9-5 corporate job was not ideal for me. However, finance is something that will always be in demand and will always provide a good salary. So, it's sort of a back up plan in that I truly hope to continue figuring life out as I get older and go through new experiences and perhaps one day start my own business or figure out an alternative way to make it on my own, but if for whatever reason I don't, I have a great degree that will always be able to supply me with a good job and income. 

[tsuki]

@GroovyGuru I'm in my 30s and here is my advice:

It may sound silly, but you are alive because of your parents, which are a part of society. You are not a separate, self-sufficient organism. You are finite being that is contingent on external circumstances. Embrace it. It is not just about biology, it's about everything in life. To live is to exchange energy and you are your parents' effort. They made you for their own benefit, so you don't have any debts to pay, but you still want to live and you need people to need you. Make yourself useful. Being useful is not your life's purpose, but it will let you live. Boring, repetitive work can be mastered and brought out of your consciousness to give space for things you find more important. I am a mechanical engineer and things that most people find difficult to understand are boring and repetitive to me, so I know what I'm saying.

Contemplation and meditation is super important, but given your circumstances I'll say that you are procrastinating. Do you know what is worse than boring repetitive work in a cubicle? Boring repetitive work in a supermarket. That, or boring repetitive begging on the streets. There is a reason why self-actualization and self-transcendence is at the top of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Fail to secure the base and you will get nowhere - despite all of the genuine effort you will pour in. Find your internship. Leo is not going anywhere and you are still very young.

There is another thing about your situation that you may be not aware of: the reality that school presents to you is fabricated to make teacher's lives easier. This vast, nauseating feeling of open-endedness of life is the existential reality of your adulthood. There is no ladder to climb from freshmen to graduate. There is no objective system of grades to build a hierarchy of good and bad students (employees). Your boss is not going to grade your assignments according to a standard. Everything is as open-ended as your situation right now. Never forget this despite everybody else's best efforts to present reality in a different light. Nobody knows where we're headed and nobody knows where you're coming from (including me). Get used to it.

[Nahm]

 

On 2/8/2019 at 0:11 AM, GroovyGuru said:

. I would rather spend my time becoming aware of what my existence means than crunching numbers for some bullshit corporation

People have carved through stone walls with spoons for freedom. People risk their lives to flee tyranny for freedom. People have lit themselves on fire, for the freedom of humanity.

Crunch the numbers, learn, develop, earn income, move out, support yourself. Free yourself. Then create a non-bullshit corporation, and show others how to free themselves. This is not other than enlightenment work, it is your calling. 

[Aquarius]

You can do many things with a diploma. Or more diplomas. 

[Leo Gura]

@GroovyGuru Why not select a new career (not finance), one which aligns with your interests and also has some practice viability. For example, you might be interested in being a counselor or therapist or social worker or teacher or whatever.

If you know for sure that finance is something you hate (and you do), then it would be idiotic to keep pursuing it, trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.

I changed my major half-way through college from Aerospace Engineering because I realized, just like you, that I do not want to work in a cubicle crunching numbers for some defense contractor.

You must follow your passions. But also try to keep an eye on the pragmatics of how you will earn a living. You must develop a clear sense of what your career will be. It is not good enough to just take some major and then have no idea how you will actually earn a paycheck. For example, if you're going to be an English major, then you should also have a practical career plan like: I will be a popular fiction writer and sell books.

Answer this question for yourself: What am I gonna be selling? To make a living, you gotta be selling something. The key is to be selling something you believe in, something you're passionate about.

For example, I sell metaphysical insights that improve people's lives.

What do you sell?

Figure this out NOW! Don't wait! Once you hit the labor force your options will be severely limited and you will be stuck in wage slavery from which it is very difficult to break free. Your plan to escape wage slavery must start NOW. There is no time to waste. Invest some serious time pondering this and laying out a realistic plan.

Don't worry about dropping finance. In a few years you won't even remember it mattered. Changing majors is not a big deal. Graduating with a major you hate IS a big deal. It's a big mistake.

[non_nothing]

From my experience, I'd suggest you being loyal to Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Get your financial situation fixed if it's not, for aiming a short-term 9/5 job with taking advantage of your license degree. Then pursue something you really want. The power of 9/5 is that it gives you so much solid reason and experience to really go towards the opposite and be financially independent which as you have said you like

[Obsurdity]

@GroovyGuru My suggestion would be to get a job out of college and nightcap to build a side business that eventually allows you the financial stability to work on your own terms.

You don't necessarily need to pursue a job in finance. You have a solid understanding of numbers and can definitely get a job straight out of college with that strength alone. You can also look for start-up type environments that are going to a) grow your skills much faster than a corporate job and b) likely be far more engaging than the standard 9-5.

Use this job to fulfill your basic needs while you experiment because the process is much longer than one assumes it to be. The unforseen consequence of 'jumping ship' immediately from the 9-5 world is you'll be forced to scrape for long periods (likely your entire 20s) to fulfill your basic needs and make money. This has the benefit of making you scrappy as fuck and able to handle anything but is not a path for everyone. You'll find that you end up neglecting your greater purpose anyways since all your focused on is paying rent and eating food.

The security of a job is going to allow you space to focus on higher needs in Maslow's Hierarchy.

---------

I'm 26 now and said screw the 9-5 in the last year of my engineering degree in order do my own thing. If I could have done it differently, I would have IMMEDIATELY shifted my focus away from 'screw the 9-5' and towards, "how can put myself in an environment that will give me the skills to eventually create the freedom and creativity I was looking for". I would have looked for a job in a digital marketing agency/tech startup that was on the small side so that you can play a part in everything that was happening behind the scenes of the business, acquire useful skills, and see the process of marketing fulfilled for multiple high-level companies before attempting to do it myself.

I'm still on my path towards the freedom I'm looking for but it's taking much longer than I'm expecting. It's likely going to be another 4 years at least before I can finally take a sigh of relief... you'll save a lot of emotional distress by sucking it up for a few years at a job!

 

Best of luck | Cheers

Ryan