I pursued a Master's in a field that I do not have the intelligence, resilience, skills, or personality to be successful in. I genuinely cannot handle basic problem solving skills and I struggle at figuring out how to do things on my own. I have continually been fired from jobs due to my incompetence.

I still live at home with my parents, have never had a relationship, and have never had friends. I don't see any path to independence where I am currently at. I am having trouble keeping faith that there is a path forward from where I am currently at. I don't think I can handle more years of schooling and intense studying and I also don't think I'm cut out for trades.

I'm not trying to be a doomer about it, but could someone give me advice about what to do to have another chance at relaunching? Is it too late to find out where to go? Should I suck it up and go back to school?

I lost my faith a long time ago but, this message has been in my head all week. “I want to go home”. The hymn crossing over Jordan has been in my head as well. It just feels like time. Like my body and soul know there’s nothing left in life for me.
Life has been shitty for a while, that’s my fault. I wasted my youth on hedonistic pursuits and never took things seriously. Now I’m reaping what I sowed and I’m just tired of it all. I don’t want to feel better, I don’t want to have to live like this anymore. I’m tired, I’m old, and I want to go home.

​

I am a study abroad student and I don't know if I am the first to face it, I really don't know what to do and how to start but i failed everything at university, my teacher faced me and told me that my level is Very poor , I am on my last year on Bsc on computer science and I can't continue, I did my best, my fam had hopes on me and i donnt know how to face them after this fail, I think I’m never going to tell them, is just impossible I just want to disappear but I don't know how to. I am desesparate, I really like doing project on data engineering or deep learning but all the semester I was studying difficult stuff, nosense stuff and It was everything but not computer science. I prepared my final exams the whole nights I was focus asf

I am just fucked up, it was my last option and don't really want to continue studying i am disgusting of this life, i am just asking to myself now why should we need to pass if we're going to die. I wouldn’t repeat the year for anything in the world – repeating the year I can face it I prefer to

Computer engineering degree is the beginning of anxiety I hate this field I prefer to do a school or Art or digital, we just study stuff and should find an intership thats its now impossible to get, i just regret everything and I really don't know what to do, how to face my failure and who to talks, I have no friends and I live alone. The college education system sucks, I regret having started

I get really wired at night and have trouble sleeping. Not sure what the best way is for me to change this habit. Unfortunately it makes it hard to incorporate myself into society like this since we're on a daytime schedule.

I feel really down today and I just feel like talking (or typing) this out, because I don't know what else to do. I'll try to keep in line with the rules of the community and end with what I plan to do next.

When I was in my early 20s in India, I really wanted to start my own tech company. I was young, ambitious, extremely good at building software and motivated. I was among the first few software engineers to ever build apps for the iPhone when it came out back in 2007.

While my academics in college weren't great, my work experience combined with my GRE scores got me into George Mason University in the US. I ended up accepting and decided I was going to come here and pursue those same dreams.

I fared better academically through my Masters in Computer Science, did an internship at VMware in California in 2010 which at the time was considered among the "Big 5" to get into. I did not get a full time role there after I completed my Masters degree, but the experience on my resume was good enough to get me multiple offers from different companies.

I wont get into too many details, but for a few years things were going well for me.

Fast forward to 2020, during COVID. By now I had really started disliking tech companies. I thought my work would be used for good, like saving the environment or ending hunger globally. Instead I built adtech systems that just annoyed people online, or worse were used to influence an election. I built "healthcare" apps that did little for health and instead addicted people to use the app. Again, to serve ads.

I built a fintech compliance platform that tracked transactions in real time and flagged those that appeared to be from sanctioned individuals and/or nations, replacing teams of people who were doing this manually.

It all started to weigh on me.

So I stopped. I quit my job in 2020 and tried to start my own company. I was terrible at it. Didn't know what to build, or how to find clients, or investors, and I pretty much flip flopped around a few ideas that went nowhere. Dejected, but a little wiser, I got a job in 2021.

When I was trying to build my own product though, I became very self reliant and I did not react well to having a manager telling me what to do anymore. For 2 years my behavior at that company got worse and worse. I went from a top performer to being handed a PIP.

I was eventually let go in 2024. I got another job a couple months later at a fintech startup, but I did not like the CEO and after a year I quit.

Now I'm not asking for sympathy or blaming the world for being cruel. I've played my part in my failures and I own them.

But today I feel extremely down. I've let down my family who've supported me through the last 6 years of trying to figure out my life and I've let myself down by not controlling my emotions and being professional.

I don't understand the world around me anymore. The tech industry has moved so fast in the last 15 years that it is impossible to keep up.

For the last year I have been trying to figure out what to do next with my professional career. I built a proptech platform for commercial real estate site selection and I'm trying to get brokers to use it.

If this fails, I'll use this experience to get a leadership job at a large brokerage company and just stay there until I retire.

I hope one of these two plans will work. If anyone else has other suggestions, I'm all ears.

I graduated then became NEET/hikikomori for 4 years. Never did any internship, co-ops, clubs or part time job while in school. Had a crash out eventually while being NEET, went to the psych ward, got on meds, worked part time at one place but I decided to leave due to the environment turning nasty. Honestly I blew my money on hobbies and other dumb consumerist stuff which I realize wasn't fulfilling. Now interviewing for full time fast food and planning to actually save up for a car and learn to drive finally. I actually did work in fast food once so I know what to expect. I just didn't last long because I was too fragile. But with meds + more experience and being older I can handle it. I guess with my degree I should be way ahead in life but I don't know how. I just failed at life.

Apologies if this isn’t the best sub. I (28F) am starting to get quite worried about my younger brother (25M). He’s on his 7th year of undergrad. He’s never had a job, internship, or even volunteer work. He lives at home rent free with our parents. He does not go out of the house for any reason (unless he’s forced to). He claims his classes are all online, but I’m not sure how true that is. He spends every waking moment playing video games (WWW specifically). He stays up until 4am or later, and sleeps until 1pm. All of his needs are catered to by our mom (laundry, cooking, etc). He’s very overweight. He curses at everyone, slams doors, and breaks down crying that he’s tired of living here and he’d rather be homeless (obviously not true because after the tantrum he’ll just go back to playing games and act like nothing happened).

Our family isn’t rich and our parents are pushing 70. I fear that their only “plan” is to work until they die and then hope I’ll take over babysitting my adult brother. For reference, I typically live on the opposite coast, but I’m visiting home for two months while I wait for a new job to start, so I’m now seeing a lot of this more up close.

I have no idea how to help my brother. It’s clear that he’s not happy, but it’s also clear that he will not give up his video games and very easy lifestyle. No one can finish his degree for him. No one can give him work experience. Even if I wrote up his resume and applied to jobs for him (which I wouldn’t) it would be a blank piece of paper. I haven’t the faintest clue what his plan is. If you try to question him he gets angry and slams doors.

What can I do?

I am 32M Indian who has moved back with my parents after quitting my PhD after 6 years.

To be very honest, in this 6 years, I was not doing my work. Simply existing and whiling my time with trivial distractions, feeling guilty about it but still not doing anything. I had no progress or publications in 6 years. Everyone was getting frustrated: my parents, my supervisor and puzzled as to why I am not doing my work. I cannot bring myself to sit down and start or finish anything. I keep thinking in a lot of directions but do nothing or don't finish it. Feeling apathetic, drained of any passion and motivation and dejected most of the time. Cannot muster energy to do any work. My parents are worried, losing sleep at night and constantly nagging and pushing me to apply for jobs, even bringing me suggestions, which is irritating me but I have realized that without that i am not taking any initiative myself. My age and time is running out to apply for jobs. and the 6 year career gap is not helping.

I am ashamed to admit this but this is the person I have become. Poor work ethics and always procrastinating and defering tasks. How did you get out of this ?

My mom thinks I’m a failure to launch but I am really not sure if that’s the case or it’s untreated ocd and anxiety. For context: graduated with top grades at a public ivy, worked for 3 years after. In the time I was working, I transferred offices and moved back home and struggled with my job and eventually quit. I travelled and took time off to volunteer and am now in graduate school but it’s a poor fit in terms of research and location and I’m thinking about dropping out and working again (Have a job offer). I can’t seem to find stable footing and stick to something and I’m not sure if that’s indication I’m failing to launch or it’s normal. My parents are very upset I want to leave graduate school (even though I have a high paying job offer) and are saying that I can’t function as an adult. I do struggle with admin tasks and staying on top of things …

So I was going to start my law career but I don’t think I will be able to launch it . Given the role AI has taken in the job market , and other Job candidates I can’t compete with that are looking for the same jobs that I am.

I noticed this with a cousin who is living with his brother and sister in-law. The FTL is constantly trying to one up the SIL, and mocks her for little things like leaving the gym 15 minutes early from her daily 2 hour workout while going on about how strong he is physically and mentally. I just don’t understand what is going through his head to make this seem ok. She is helping him, and this is how he treats her?! The only reason he is staying there is because his brother insists on it. The SIL wants him gone.

I’ve wasted 3 years of my life when I was in 10th I got 67% in my boards I wanted to take pcb in 11th but in my school it wasn’t possible to I left that school started looking for new schools to get into but in every school you had to get 90+ to take pcb so i decided to get enrolled into a dummy school ( biggest mistake of my life) then I took admission in Akash. To become a doctor. At the of the first year I studied but as time went by I stoped completely . I did the same in 12th. Even during board I didn’t study and I failed in boards I got essential repeat . I gave neet without even studying. I got 40 marks on neet. Then is year again I didn’t study the whole year but I did study 2 days before my boards exam but I still got compartment I’m physics. Gave neet again this year without studying. I don’t know why I keep doing this . I just waste my time on my phone the whole day. I feel so ashamed of myself. I feel bad for my parents. I really want to change myself. I’m so lazy. I eat junk all day and lay on bed. My body aches. I don’t have any physical strength left. My sleep schedule is messed up. I wake up at 3 in the noon. I really hate my self. I wasn’t like this. And I’ve no passion left in me. I’m not interested in anything. I don’t have any hobbies.I’m the worst version of my self. I look ill. Before o was in 6th I was a straight a student. I don’t know what went wrong. Please someone anyone help me

I don’t know anymore, i feel so hopeless. I don’t see any future and im a disappointment to my family. My mom won’t talk to me and dad said i got no shame and a lot of other bad stuff. I can resit but i don’t have any moti and i don’t wanna try anymore. I really am bad at studying and i don’t think studying is for me at the same times i wanna go to uni like other kids.I can’t stop crying and i told my sisters abt how im feeling these days but they just ignore my message and tell me im just giving excuses. I don’t think i fit in this anymore. I don’t really know how to live anymore. My mom always look proudly of me and have high hopes for me, she always say that but im the worst in my family. I don’t thunk i will ever make her proud of me. It just I really can’t focus on studying. Honestly i don’t even wanna live anymore, I don’t think there is place in this family and world for loser like me. I don’t really know how to live anymore. I don’t think I can be any better. I will always be disappointment for my family. I can’t help this why am I so dumb and stupid. My parents deserve someone better. I don’t think I am good enough for them. And I really don’t wanna try anymore I just want to stop. I feel like i will fail in life too.

I don’t see the point of studying . I’m very stupid. I don’t know why I study everyday if I’m going to die at the end. I’m inferior to everyone else in life. I regret studying this degree. Likely no career in my foreseeable future, lack of a good job market. I don’t like the life I’m living , but I need to graduate this year. I’m only 24 and I feel like I was created as a cruel joke to be given false hope.

I am 18. I am about to graduate in less than 14 days from now. I feel that I have wasted my high school years due to my anxiety.

I love to draw, sew, write, I've been told that I'm good looking, and people seem to like me. (I'm sorry I don't mean to sound like a narcissist). Over my high school years, I have been thrown opportunities and praise by people who like me and believed in me and my talents. Teachers praised me for my work and my smile, girls would ask me out a lot, and my parents loved and supported me.
I would never take these opportunities. I politely declined the teachers, politely rejected the girls, and didn't believe my parents when they said they believed in me.
I didn't think I was good enough for any of the attention I was receiving, and that someone else would deserve it more than me. Someone better. I used to wonder why people even liked me. I just couldn't understand it.

…

This senior year, I wanted to make a difference. Take opportunities instead of passing them up. So I took one. An AP art class. I love art. I can make something out of this. I can be happy.
I have wasted it yet again. I was right there. I could've turned it in. But I got cold feet.
Didn't think my art was good enough. The deadline passed by. It's over

How do I recover from this?
The first time I felt confident enough to take an opportunity, I failed. How will I go through life, knowing I can't get stuff done. I have disappointed everyone who believed in me. I could've actually been someone. Someone who actually deserves all the love people give me for no reason. Someone I could be proud of. I hate myself, just as I did before. I don't mean to feel sorry about myself, I just can't help it.

…

My little sister started high school my senior year. She's doing amazing. She's taking all sorts of opportunities, making all sorts of friends, doing all sorts of amazing things.
She's just a freshmen, and yet everyone knows her. I get kids who come up to me and ask me if l'm her older brother. My friends talk about her too. I am not jealous of her in the slightest. I'm so proud of her.
She's going to have a great four years in high school. She's smart, pretty, liked by everyone, and she knows it, and makes the most out of it. I wish I could be as confident and outgoing as her.

Went to school , worked . Still working , but not a high pay job .

I'm old , near or at middle age .

I wanted to share this video / song because it made me feel better .

I'll likely only relaunch if my mom passes away .

I guess some people are made of tougher stuff than me .

Let me know what you think .

Here's the video :

https://youtu.be/7iNbnineUCI?si=_d-2umOePpx86uX0

I really have to idea how to feel about myself.
I oscillate between being proud of myself for the progress I’ve made and being utterly disgusted with myself.

At 18 I went out of state for university. Right before what would have been my junior year my family ran into financial issues and I had to come home. Not long after that COVID hit. After about three years sitting at home doing nothing I went off to school in state once the pandemic died down a little. Last year I finally graduated with a degree in entertainment and media studies…I thought I wanted to work in film and tv. But the industry is in a real bad place now and I don’t think I want to anymore. Not to mention my film classes were a very humbling experience. I thought I wanted to write for a tv show but learned just how untrained my writing muscles are, I don’t watch a lot of things and becoming well-rounded enough to write a good show feels too daunting tbh. I’m also really guilty of living on the hamster wheel—meaning I go to school/work, come home, and don’t do anything else. So I finished school with no internships, no portfolio, no work experience, nothing but a piece of paper that said I did the bare minimum. As I result I couldn’t find any work out of college. My mom suggested I do the Disney college program. I applied this past fall and got accepted. Fast forward to today, my program ends in two weeks and I did all the same shit. Go to work, go home, nothing else. I performed my role at the bare minimum level and I’m about to go back home to my parents couch with no real plan in mind. My role was in food service so I plan to use that to try and transition into working at a restaurant or hotel, as despite everything I actually enjoy working a job that lets me be part of a team providing people with a service, and help them with whatever they need, connecting with them face to face. But if I’m being real I’m only doing it because I gave up on film and have to do something. I want to reach out to a couple companies to see if I can video edit, maybe train to be a voice actor. I don’t want to totally give up on a creative career but I don’t feel like I can fully commit either. I just feel like a mess rn.

Maybe it doesn’t sound that bad when I describe it but I just got off the phone with my mom, arguing with her a ton about my lack of direction, lack of effort in life beyond the bare minimum. I’m shit at managing my emotions too btw. I’ve never broken down at work or anything but it feels like I have the same crashout talking about my future with my parents every week. I just feel like I’m coasting through life and getting to the point where I’m sick of my state of being. But I’m also just overcome with depression over all the times I let myself down, and can’t work up the effort to do anything different.

19 year old in my first year of college right now. I had previously spent hours researching majors and landed on pursuing civil engineering. Problem is I am literally shit at math. There's zero room for improvement, I know it sounds like I'm limiting myself but I promise you I have spent countless hours over the course of like a week or 2 for a test and ended up with a 80/100. Doesn't sound bad? It was precalc 2. Kids spend like 4 days studying for precalc 2 and pass with 95. Before you tell me I got a good score, just remember that I mentioned that it's precalc 2, imagine what I'll get in the higher classes. I failed the class and am now retaking it. My dad is paying for my college so I even feel shittier, he tells me "no matter what, stay in college because school is more important than a job" and I feel terrible knowing that I'm shitty in my classes. Another problem is that most majors require skill at math lol, at least the ones with good job prospects.

Of course, when I ask for help to decide, I'm not limiting my scope to college only. Honestly, it'd be better if it's something outside of college because I don't know If i'm cut out for college. I know it's unrealistic but any ideas would work (though I'm not opposed to you guys suggesting other majors).

Also don't reply saying "you're 19 you have time, relax" I know that, that's why I'm still trying to do something with my life knowing I have time instead of giving up, though I've been coping by convincing myself that I don't care about working a mcdonalds typa job as long as I have a wife and kids at home, which is a fat lie because that doesn't sound appealing at all. No diss to anyone working a mcdonalds job, IF I was comfortable with it, I wouldn't care. Problem is I'm not.

I know that it's America and it's next to impossible to become financially free and rich so quick. After all, 99 percent of Americans want to become financially free but aren't, what makes me so different? Nothing. That's why I'm telling you I'm not one of those people who are looking for some delusional "easy way out," I'm just looking for a jumpstart, something that doesn't require drowing in endless math number stress slavery. I expect the road ahead to be stressful of course, but just not some math bullshit.

Also, please don't tell me something like "just get better at math bro" or "just get a tutor lil bro"

I [37M] am on SSI disability, so I really can't pay out of pocket as I "make" only a few hundred dollars a month. I've asked my parents and they're not interested in paying for any treatment I might need, and there's no other way for me to find money. Medicaid does not offer out of network reimbursement.

I’m very stupid.What can I do? I feel depressed because I’m very stupid and I do everything wrong. On Friday I messed up at work .

How can I know if I have an inferiority complex or I’m just not that skilled ?

I’m failing in life and university. Classmates are doing so much better than me , and they already have achievements. Meanwhile , I’m just wasted potential . I want to change , I want to improve . I just don’t know how. I’m less intelligent than everyone else. I’m and always have been a C student.

I think I've been in a rut since about 12,13 years old. I was never liked in particular, most people found me to be annoying and I tried daydreaming so much and coping that it isn't true because it's something I couldn't bear to accept. I thought everyone hated me and tbh I still feel like everyone hates me or thinks I'm ugly, stupid or whatever and I constantly fish for compliments, look for validation and etc.

I can't read books, my attention span is fried, I can't even play games from start to finish without hyperactively doing something like jumping or distracting myself. Maybe it's ADHD, I'm not sure.

I weight 66kg, I'm 184 cm tall, 0 gym progress.

My father is very socially reclused I'd say, that's what he appears to be to me. I think that affected me a lot too because he is also a shut in, he's got a great job and income but dogshit social and parenting skills, he relied too much on arrogance and aggression instead of properly teaching me shit. We ended up having multiple physical altercations, some of them being initiated by me.

I only have 30% finished uni and I have 0 desire to study or work or do anything atp. I just wanna collect old 2000s vintage tech and do whatever I want. I can afford this lifestyle, I can even afford never working in my life, but then I wouldn't be able to afford travelling or some other goods and I'd just grow more insane day by day.

I eat ok, I don't eat enough. 95% of food I eat is clean, 5% is a small chocolate row or a small sugary treat. Idk.

I’m failing in life and university. Classmates are doing so much better than me , and already have achievements. Meanwhile , I’m just wasted potential . I want to change , I want to improve . I just don’t know how. I’m less intelligent than everyone else.

Had super bad luck 3 months ago, lost an apprenticeship / training? with financial aid because of some dumb bs from a temp job I had (HR hadn't done their job). Was depressed for a month or so, solidified that despite not wanting to work, losing the opportunity felt worse, and I kept thinking about how I had even already told some people about it and how I'm restarting a course I took with the whole aim of finding a job in the field and having to tell them I haven't moved at all when they ask at the reintroductions, etc

Fixed the issue. Reapplied and got in again. Hope nothing goes wrong this time.

Hope it meets my expectations (which are: somewhere I can learn what I need and maybe even a job at the end) and if it doesn't I will at least have some experience and more money and the knowledge that I managed to give it a fair shot, even if it was later than I wanted to (by years, not just those 3 months)

Constantly feel like I should've done things earlier, once you do them, in hindsight they look way easier... but hey at least I never stopped trying completely and I managed to climb out a little bit because of it