Money

[Deleted member 29899]

Hey......... where did all my emoji's go??? How is it possible that they've been removed? They further explained what was said in jest and what wasn't....

 

[Casey_03]

@imok My apologies, I certainly didn't mean it as an insult. Though with no health insurance or savings, I do have a feeling I will be dead by 60, if not earlier. It is reassuring to hear that 30 is the new 20 though. I guess I have been discouraged by seeing all my peers land well-paying jobs that allow them to have a life, and it makes me realize how little I have earned/achieved in the past 10 years. I mean, I haven't even achieved so much as a pay raise. It's depressing.

 

[ihateusernames]

After I posted last I was thinking of some other things and then forgot to add them, but I see others already have. I spend a lot of time scouring government job listings and I do come across quite a few for journalists. That's not to mention that security analysts and intelligence analysts apparently often have backgrounds in journalism. You'd have a good shot at that with so much experience in a particular region.

Or good ole teaching. I'm not sure what your educational background is, but I'd guess you have a Bachelor's? You could come back to the US on grants and loans, and possibly a fellowship and finish a PhD- then you could teach. College professors always complain about their salaries, but they certainly make more than $12K.

 

[Deleted member 29899]

@Casey_03, no apologies. Just know and understand that you are YOUNG. appreciate that. It doesn't last. Enjoy it.

"No health insurance, no saving, will be dead before you're 60"..... And how will this happen? Have you preplanned a nasty illness? Have you preplanned that you won't be working from now til then, therefore you will have no savings? How will you be dead before you're 60?

"You're discouraged by all your peers"....... Casey my peers are in Paris and in the Carribean. (NOT kidding. It almost kills me going on Facebook). And where am I? Too sick with PTSD to work and sitting on a mental health PTSD forum, that's where I am! And who knows, maybe some of your peers feel exhausted with waking up every two hours with little mouths to feed, are mortgage poor, married and envious of your life and your freedom and the fact that you're not tied down.

You've got your whole life ahead of you kiddo. You may feel stuck with the whole job thing but you're YOUNG aaaaaannnnd.... (insert drum roll here.......) You're WELL ENOUGH to work! I wish!

 

[joeylittle]

@Casey_03 - it honestly sounds like you are getting a clearer sense of your life goals, and you are understanding you are in a career that might not support them. But I also hear in your posts that you don't want to 'go backwards' - I could be wrong about that, might be projecting.

Have you ever done a four-way pro and con chart? If we took a question of yours as "should I stay here and keep trying to make this work, or return to the US and start over", we would then make four categories:

1. reasons to stay in EE
2. reasons to leave EE
3. reasons to return to US
4. reasons to not return to US

Unlike a normal pro-and con list, where ultimately everything can always come out even - this one is more of a thinking tool, and by doing it you will realize something about what you really want to get out of this decision. It might lead to another question.

Sometimes, before doing that, it's good to make a list of potentials - reasonable, but not overly limited. Your list might look like:

• stay there but start networking
  
• return to the US, get a job-job, and re-assess
• stay there, keep chugging, but put your focus on job searching in the US and elsewhere
• Career switch: is there another country you want to go to? Teaching English is fraught with complications, but for someone who has been living the life you have been living, it would probably be not too bad, and you could check out another country.
• Other careers: what sounds interesting to you? Don't worry if it doesn't connect to journalism directly.

Hope this helps.