How do you pick a career path? ?

Question

I am becoming so stressed and depressed! I have no idea what i want to do in life. I tried cosmetology, good at first then hated it, i am in college now for early childhood education, great at first.. now i hate it.I don't want to wipe butts and noses all my life.. I cannot think of anything to bring self-fulfillment, success, and actually be a beneficial career for the earth.

I live in a little town in maine, and i don't really want to stay, but I'm not so sure i want to leave. I go to a community college, which makes me worry the education i am supposedly getting is probably not worth anything. Ugh!! I just have no idea what to do with my life!! How can i find out?

Answer 1

Take a career assessment test. Here are some free ones.  

Answer 2

You have to figure out the entire range of things you're interested in. Like for example..

I'm interested in...Sports, fitness, traveling, politics, modeling, languages and cultures and sexuality and teaching. (What an awkward mix right)

I started off coaching, then become a personal trainer. then realized I didnt like not having a set annual income. So just like that coaching, training and modeling were out,

Now you should really start researching your other interest and what you're can do with them career wise. You can do that by simply going to some college and university websites to find out what type of degree you would obtain. i.e...Travel and tourism for traveling, Bachelors of science for sexuality, languages and cultures or Bachelors of arts for intentional studies for travel, languages and cultures.

Then take that and google it to see what you can do with those degrees. It takes some time. Its not something you should look up carelessly. But at some point something is going to pop up that catches your eye that you wanna look into more. Trust me years ago I never taught that I would be studying anthropological linguistics and I d**n sure didnt even know what it was back then.

Also since you're going to a CC I would suggest changing your degree to general studies...that way you only concentrate on basic classes and its easier to to transfer to a 4 year school.

You should also find out whats your priorities. What do you want out of life? A family, married, stability? Spontaneous? Adventurous? Educational? Rewarding? Is money important or happiness? Sometimes you cant have it all so decide which are your top 3 and go from there.

Good luck and dont rush it.