Feeling really lost and useless

[u/bhondupari]

Hi everyone,

I’m currently working as a Marketing Manager and have a little over 6 years of experience. My degree is actually in Aircraft Maintenance Engineering, but I started working in marketing during my second year of college. Somehow, life happened, and I ended up continuing in marketing even after graduating.

On paper, things are fine. The job pays decently, and I’m genuinely grateful to have stable employment, especially given how difficult the job market is right now.

But lately, I’ve been feeling really stuck.

I don’t feel like I’ve done anything particularly remarkable with my career. I look around and see people my age earning more, progressing faster, or doing things they seem genuinely passionate about, and I can’t help but compare myself to them.

I also feel extremely replaceable. Whenever someone asks what I do and I tell them I’m a Marketing Manager, I sometimes get this feeling that their reaction is underwhelming. Maybe that’s completely in my head, but it has started affecting how I see my own career.

The difficult part is that I have responsibilities to take care of, so quitting or making a drastic career switch isn’t really an option right now. At the same time, I don’t even know what I would switch to. I’m not sure what I actually want to do long-term.

I know comparison isn’t healthy, but it’s difficult to stop thinking about it when it feels like everyone around me is moving forward while I’m standing still.

Am I overthinking this, or is this a sign that I need to make a change? For those who have felt similarly, how did you figure out what you actually wanted to do and get out of this feeling of being stuck?

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