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I quit my job last March and it was a bad idea.

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Re: I quit my job last March and it was a bad idea.

#11
post #4

I was feeling really sad for you until I read this: What doesn't make it any easier is that I'm 20 Relax. Get a job at the supermarket, or anything that will pay the bills for now. Figure out your main gig slowly on the side. If you share more about your freelancing work, people here might be able to help you out.

Hey man, first of all get out of those suicidal thoughts , you're still young , you havent seen much, yeah life is hard , i agree , but life is more worth it, just think about your parents and loved ones , enough of it , coming to the advice revorad gave really good advice, you have just reached 20 , you got lot of life ahead of you. For now join a supermarket , if possible try joining some tech company even if its a small ,low paying job, it will help you pay your bills and being in the industry , you'll know what's going on in the market and you'll also improve your contacts.

Re: I quit my job last March and it was a bad idea.

#13
I think you're being tough on yourself. You're not an idiot, you just took a risk that didn't pay off, but that's part of how we learn.

Looking back at your other post that was a shitty situation and the desire to get out of there must have been pretty strong. Maybe I'm wrong but when you're under that sort of pressure and that unhappy, any alternative can look good and it can be hard to work out what the right way forward is.

Personally I'd look back at what was happening before you quit and why you quit. Understand that, understand that decision and what you can learn from it. Then look at what happened after you quit and what you can learn from that.

Then take all that and draw a line under it. Seriously, learn what you can and move on. There is nothing to be gained by beating yourself up so take those lessons and start looking at what you do next and how you can avoid repeating the situation.

But genuinely thanks for posting this. I think sometimes it's easy to get carried away with the whole "quit, go it alone" ethos and not see the other side. The reality is that most small businesses and start ups struggle or fail, and freelancing can be tough, especially at first, so it's a realistic chance that if you go out on your own then that'll be the situation you face. Sometimes we forget that so while it's been painful for you, hopefully someone else will benefit.

Fingers crossed that you manage to take this experience and turn it into something useful.

Re: I quit my job last March and it was a bad idea.

#14
tell your dad to go fuck himself for not understanding that taking a risk for a life changing decision is something that shuold be encouraged in the young. Some people are born to never try anything, others dare and get burnt. The point is you tried, that makes you better than me. I applaud people who try and fail wheras I pity people who do not. You picked a fight against all odds and lost - ask your dad how much hes lost on lotteries. The point is you have time to rebuild. As for friends, find the funny side - that is their purpose in life. If they arnt building you up then im afraid they ain't your friends. You need tears of win my friend.

You are 20 ... no offence but your still a kid ofc you have no idea whats going on. welcome to the world, you define yourself - if your parents are being assholes you need to move out before they damage you with their expectations of you. They are only mad because you didn't do what they wanted - because you 'owe' it to them. Really they owe you an apology for birthing you if they want to own you. Doing what you did shuold show them that they did a good job, you felt ready to go out and try something. You saved money and invested it - it was a bad investment but at least you tried. If you try again i bet you will realise that 4 months is actually VERY little time. Go read about poker bankrolls and varience.

I was practically a hobo at 20, im not much now but i have created a career for myself by hitting rock bottom, looking about and saying fuck this im gonna teach myself to program and then blag my way into jobs for a few years untill i really know what im doing. 11 years later things are very different - I had no hope back then.

Re: I quit my job last March and it was a bad idea.

#15
PLEASE DON'T CONSIDER SUICIDE. PLEASE.

The feeling that all doors are closed is ALWAYS misleading. There is always an open door, alas maybe you don't see it today, or tomorrow, but it's there. The one thing you should do is to find ASAP someone who never shouts at you, who is not blaming you, and who is cab listen and consider the options. THERE ARE MANY OPTIONS. YOU WILL GET OUT no matter how unrealistically it looks right now.

Re: I quit my job last March and it was a bad idea.

#16
You're 20? You have your whole life ahead of you, get back on the grind and make it happen! It may feel hopeless now, but I assure you it's not. I'd bet you have skills that other people would love to have, you just need to figure out how to better apply them.

Don't give up, hard work pays off, I was in your exact situation or worse when I was your age :) (I'm 23 now and have turned it around)

Oh, and parents say things like that, ignore or fight them, it doesn't matter, just don't let it get to you. If you have friends that make fun of you, you are either misinterpreting what they are saying or they are not actually your friends. In the latter case, get rid of these people, they are harmful to your psyche.

Get in touch if you need more help, talk to the people around you too, people care more than you expect

Re: I quit my job last March and it was a bad idea.

#17
So... what do you do? When you're freelancing? I'm 25-30 and did the same thing back in January. Same deal, high school "equivalency", no college degree (two degrees worth of units, no focus), had a job, decided to stop going.

Hit me up, auto24842127@hushmail.com Maybe we have complimentary skill sets? Can we make this work? Or let's just bitch. Do not kill yourself.

Re: I quit my job last March and it was a bad idea.

#18
it surprises me that you are 20 years old. from your previous post i thought you were somewhat older.

what does your resume besides the company you quit look like?

do you have a degree? are you looking for jobs but having a hard time getting interview invitations?

Re: I quit my job last March and it was a bad idea.

#20
Hey, do you think that you are the only one that had (has) big problems? No hell no, think of it as you are lucky, you are still young, you have your health the rest are just small things. And never think again of suicide, that's not an option, that's a way to say you are afraid of live, you didn't gave life to you, so you should not take it as well, you are granted with it. Reach out to freelancing sites, www.freelancer.com or others make an account and starting posting on each job you find lower your rates for the first couple of projects until you get some feedback. Put up a portfolio and you will see that within a month if you do this full time you will for sure get some work. Oh and yes, in the meantime you can search for a job. Waiting for stuff to pop up from no where will not happen and think of this as a life test, don't fail it. Good luck
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