My loserish life

juanveron45

I will be 29 this summer and I have achieved very little, I am overweight and cant drive and currently out of work

I have a pass cert in applied chemistry I got in 2001

and a pass diploma in 2003

I have 3 years experience in the pharmaceutical/medical device industry but they were all crappy entry level jobs so if I get a new job it will be another entry level

To tell you the truth I dont have much interest in chemistry or science anyways and its too late at my age 29 next summer to go back to college and start over, I dont know what id do anyway.Id be a graduate at 33 if Id did another degree

At my age I should have a nice car, a house , be in a serious relationship be in a senior supervisor or managers position and be earning at least 50k a year but I have none of those things and the most I can expect if I go back to work is 25-30k basic

I have an interest in fitness and nutrition and was thinking of doing a personal training course but im overweight too and need to lose it before I did anything like this otherwise id be laughed at

Does anyone have any advice?

smcelhinney

For what its worth, I just started college at 29, this year, and am loving it. I had no college experience before, but managed to bullsh!t my way through various levels of my current trade. And now Im doing arts, something COMPLETELY different.

My advice, find something that you like (in my case, languages) and pursue it. You will hear so many cliches about "Oh, you've only one life", and "seize the day" and all that rubbish. Clichés are clichés because invariably they're true.

Dont be so pessimistic mate, and dont be so naive to think that at 29 years old you cannot turn your whole life around. Thats what Im doing. And its going well. Thing is, Im quite a confident person by nature, so you would want to get that sorted first.

Just work on the confidence in yourself, and everything else will fall into place.

dr.bollocko

Mate, I think you're just having a glass is half empty day.
You know that you could live happily on 30k a year, a single fella like you.
You also know that you can go back to Uni whenever or right now if you wanted to.

Zambia

juanveron45 wrote:

I dont know what id do anyway.Id be a graduate at 33 if Id did another degree

juanveron45 wrote:

At my age I should have a nice car, a house , be in a serious relationship be in a senior supervisor or managers position and be earning at least 50k a year but I have none of those things and the most I can expect if I go back to work is 25-30k basic

Ha ... why should you?? by your rational everyone over 29 who is earning 25-30k is wasting their time??

juanveron45 wrote:

I have an interest in fitness and nutrition and was thinking of doing a personal training course but im overweight too and need to lose it before I did anything like this otherwise id be laughed at

If you where interested in this the challenge of losing your own weight is a good place to start..

juanveron45 wrote:

Does anyone have any advice?

Catch yourself on ...No -one is going to hire you above 25k - 30k with your attitude (Thinking 25-30k is beneath you) in any job. So accept it and go out and find something you might like to do. If not go and take some entry level job that you are qualified in. Stop feeling sorry for yourself , I suggest a week working with the homeless to see how good you have it.

Mate I think my post may be one of the nicer ones here.

tbh

juanveron45 wrote:

I will be 29 this summer and I have achieved very little, I am overweight and cant drive and currently out of work

I have a pass cert in applied chemistry I got in 2001

and a pass diploma in 2003

I have 3 years experience in the pharmaceutical/medical device industry but they were all crappy entry level jobs so if I get a new job it will be another entry level

To tell you the truth I dont have much interest in chemistry or science anyways and its too late at my age 29 next summer to go back to college and start over, I dont know what id do anyway.Id be a graduate at 33 if Id did another degree

At my age I should have a nice car, a house , be in a serious relationship be in a senior supervisor or managers position and be earning at least 50k a year but I have none of those things and the most I can expect if I go back to work is 25-30k basic

I have an interest in fitness and nutrition and was thinking of doing a personal training course but im overweight too and need to lose it before I did anything like this otherwise id be laughed at

Does anyone have any advice?

29 only feels old to a 29-year old. To a 45 year old, 29 is like 19 to you. Do you get my point?

DAVE_K

At my age I should have a nice car, a house , be in a serious relationship be in a senior supervisor or managers position

What a load of HORSESH*T - it comes together for everybody at different stages. What you've said above is the dream your sold when young over what to aspire to. The equivalent of the American dream

At 30 I was in much the same boat as you - couldn't drive, average job, no missus, no kids

I'm 34 next month, have a full driving license, a lovely wife and 2 beautiful kids, and just landed a management position.

Your destiny is in your own hands mate ->

There's stuff you can do something about and there's stuff you can't.
Family, wife, kids if thats your thing - you can't really control when you'll meet your partner, you just have to have faith you will - and you will eventually
Driving - you can do something about this, all you have to do is break it into steps 1) Get the rules of the road book 2) Book the theory exam (it's easy) 3) Do the exam 4) Do the eye test 5) Send the application off 6) Book some lessons and thats it your on the road there. The first two steps you can do straight away. Get moving
Weight - this is only a temporary problem that you can fix - leave a couple of things out of your diet (beer, bread, that sort of thing) and get out on the road or down the gym - you'll be on top of it in a couple of months
Your career - get back to college if thats what you want - if you don't you'll get to 33 and you'll be still in the same boat and then you'll be annoyed with yourself you didn't go back and do it because 36 is too old. If you've got no dependants you can do just about whatever you want - all you have to get the cash together for is to pay your rent and put a meal on the table. Sometimes you gotta live frugally and make sacrifices now to reap the benefits later.
Break your goals into smaller more manageable goals that all string together to bring you to your final destination. Thinking about the big picture all at once can be intimidating and put you off doing anything cos it's just too much.

I was in a bar in Clare on my 30th birthday having a pint - feeling sh*t I'm getting old and not really enjoying myself, no wife, no kids, nada - this old geezer there said to me - if i was 30 today I'd be doing some real celebrating - fact of the matter is you're not really old at all mate - it's all going to happen for you - you just have to have faith in it.

is_that_so

What do you want to be? The age thing is irrelevant as is what people you think. Curiously 30 is an age where you begin to care less about what people think.
Many people a lot older than you are going to college, changing careers and getting into new routines. have a buddy who also did chemistry and ended up working in IT. A "zoologist" is now a solicitor. And both of them are well into their thirties.

Two of the things you list are easily fixable.

Learn to drive.

1. Ring a school today and book some lessons.
2, Download or get a form fro the provisional license and fill it out.
3. Start looking at cars, lost of help on here.
4. Buy a car and practise.
5. Book your test.

Overweight

1. Do a little walk every day.
2. Go for a swim or a cycle.
3. In three months join a gym. Lots of them will let you do it for a month.

Job
If you don't like what you are doing work out what you want to do and figure out the best way to do that. Lots of ways to do things.

For what it is worth times of unemployment can be the worst time to be thinking about yourself.

Lifestyle changes require a purpose and a plan to get you there.

These are two things you can fix yourself with a little support and motivation.

On and drop the word "loser" and remember it's never too late.
But you need a plan man as they say.

Savman

juanveron45 wrote:

I will be 29 this summer and I have achieved very little, I am overweight and cant drive and currently out of work

Does anyone have any advice?

Lose weight, learn to drive and look for a job. To be fair OP, these are not exactly serious issues you have to deal with here - anyone who turns their nose up at €25k jobs and complains about having a "loserish life" really needs to open their eyes a little.
Everyone suffers from a lack of ambition, all things considered 29 is not old.

super_furry

juanveron45 wrote:

At my age I should have a nice car, a house , be in a serious relationship be in a senior supervisor or managers position and be earning at least 50k a year but I have none of those things and the most I can expect if I go back to work is 25-30k basic

Says who? I think your first problem is the fact that you're putting yourself under this pressure to keep up with the Jones' as it were. I'm 28 don't have a car (don't want one), don't own a house (don't want a massive 30 year loan on my head right now thanks), I'm not in a serious relationship (thankfully after the last one) and have a job that I like, even if it doesn't pay brilliantly. I'm having the time of my life right now and you should be too. Go after that personnal training course, get into shape and tell anyone who laughs at you to go **** themselves.

DAVE_K

Go after that personnal training course, get into shape and tell anyone who laughs at you to go **** themselves

You could do a lot worse than listening to this - thats good advice

seamy_orr

dr.bollocko wrote:

Mate, I think you're just having a glass is half empty day.
You know that you could live happily on 30k a year, a single fella like you.
You also know that you can go back to Uni whenever or right now if you wanted to.

Sorry mate, where in this person's initial post did you presume that this was a male poster.

On a completely different note OP you have so many options available, if you don't feel like doing Pharma/Chemistry don't, life is too short...
Look on http://www.nightcourses.com/ for a course you may be interested in, do it part time. In the meantime get a job, doing absolutely anything just to get your mind active and get out and get active. If you don;t feel like going to a gym, just walk, join a society, take a dance class and get out there meeting new people.
The world is your Oyster

juanveron45

Thanks for the support folks

I suppose theres alot I can control about my situation.

The thing is im not sure what I want to do with my life, I have an interest in personal training but I love drinking beer and eating nice food from time to time so I dunno if that would suit me, but I have the knowledge as far as exercise and eating to get into menshealth cover model type shape I just have to apply what I know

Apart from that I dont know what else I could do, my main motivation is to earns lots of money and I know this is wrong and I should concentrate more on job satisfaction maybe earn enough money to be able to buy a house and nice car on my own wages

What kinda course would one do if there only interested was making money?

I suppose if I got in shape, did the personal training course and set up my own business I could hit 2 birds with one stone, nice earnings and job satisfaction

bug

juanveron45 wrote:

I will be 29 this summer and I have achieved very little, I am overweight and cant drive and currently out of work

I have a pass cert in applied chemistry I got in 2001

and a pass diploma in 2003

I have 3 years experience in the pharmaceutical/medical device industry but they were all crappy entry level jobs so if I get a new job it will be another entry level

To tell you the truth I dont have much interest in chemistry or science anyways and its too late at my age 29 next summer to go back to college and start over, I dont know what id do anyway.Id be a graduate at 33 if Id did another degree

At my age I should have a nice car, a house , be in a serious relationship be in a senior supervisor or managers position and be earning at least 50k a year but I have none of those things and the most I can expect if I go back to work is 25-30k basic

I have an interest in fitness and nutrition and was thinking of doing a personal training course but im overweight too and need to lose it before I did anything like this otherwise id be laughed at

Does anyone have any advice?

Your the same age as me with roughly the same qualifications, and I cant drive either. , to be honest I'm not sure I want to.

Stop comparing yourself to other people for a start.

Most people only get themselves "sorted" in there early thirties realistically.
I ended up doing a completely different job than science, and gave up all hopes of becoming the next Newton about five years ago.
I still take a passing interest in science but never want to work in the field personally.

You don't have to be skinny to sit in college doing a course in nutrition and fitness, I hear they have some good courses in Dun Laoghaire.
In the meantime eat well and get some excercise, if nothing it'll change the no-hoper mood your in. You can get a part-time job in the mean time.

There are lots of things you can do. Who cares what everyone else has, wishing isn't going to get you anywhere, only action.

Whatever you do don't get down about it, there are more people in the same situation as you than you think.

I_and_I

"I suppose if I got in shape, did the personal training course and set up my own business I could hit 2 birds with one stone, nice earnings and job satisfaction"



Thats not a bad idea, I am starting one in the next month, I am fairly fit but I have been lifting weights for size in the past couple of years so I am still a bit flabby around the gut area but the course work should get rid of that.

Dudess

OP, I'm the exact same age as you and only finished college last year. I wouldn't be earning anywhere near the figures you mentioned, but do I regret going back to college late? Absolutely not. I don't care if I'm not as senior, or earning as much, as I would be if I had done everything straight out of school. I went for my dream and I'd regret NOT doing it. Therefore, you should pursue your dreams. It would be crazy not to. And now that you're out of work, you should treat that as an opportunity.
Qualified at 33? Perfect. You could have another fifty years of life left. And you'll have more maturity and life experience than somebody who's qualified at ten years younger. You might get some exemptions anyway, given your previous qualifications, so it might not even take that long.
You shouldn't be thinking in terms of catching up with others. The days of everyone at 29 being really senior and earning great money are long gone. I don't know anyone my age who can be described as the above. And we're all still renting. These days, people are spending longer in college, going travelling, enjoying their years under 35. Makes sense - people are living longer.
Learning to drive seems daunting, but there are some superb instructors out there who really make you feel at ease behind the wheel - no matter how nervous or inexperienced you are. Maybe get someone to teach you the basics in a car park or something. Then fork out the money for actually going on the road. It'll save some money. Again, I know plenty of people my age (same age as you) who can't drive.
You asked what kind of course would be the best one to do if you want to make money, but that was after mentioning a couple of times how you're interested in fitness. Therefore, go for the fitness option. I could name various areas that are very lucrative, but why bother when it's obviously a career in fitness that you want to pursue? And if you're not keen on spending much time in college, well the courses that would lead to a high-paying job tend to be several years long.
Now to be a bit more strict: I think it's bizarre that you say you're very interested in fitness and know a lot about it, yet you are overweight and this is stopping you from pursuing your dream. You of all people should know what to do about your weight! And a fear of being laughed at and being unable to cut out beer and nice food - those are not good enough excuses to avoid putting in the work. It's as if you want an easy way out and to be spoon-fed, when you know it's up to you to just get up and go.
There is no easy way out. You have to think positively, change your attitude, take on board the advice people are giving you, start exercising and eating healthily (you can still have the odd treat, but if you want to be a trainer, you're going to have to sacrifice booze and junk food - but what do you want in life? Beer, chips and cakes whenever you feel like it but being stuck in a job you hate? Or a job you love with less beer, chips and cakes, which you'll stop missing after a while anyway once your blood sugar is in check?) So get up and just DO it!!! Treat it as an exciting time in your life - because it actually is.

summerwine

If its any consilation im 27, on alot less money than you are but the big difference is that I don't compare my self to all my friends and people around me. Alot of my friends and people around me are earning well over twice what I am and I understand its very difficult. The main thing is to follow your heart and things should slot into place for you! I have followed my heart in all aspects of my life and I am happy with this.

I find dublin especially these days is getting very money orientated and puts alot of pressure on people that don't find their niche in life. Ever considered going to a life coach? It worked for me! They can be expensive but at the end of the classes you come out knowing what you want to get of out of life.

Good luck!!

Zambia

summerwine wrote:

If its any consilation im 27, on alot less money than you are but the big difference is that I don't compare my self to all my friends and people around me. Alot of my friends and people around me are earning well over twice what I am and I understand its very difficult. The main thing is to follow your heart and things should slot into place for you! I have followed my heart in all aspects of my life and I am happy with this.

I find dublin especially these days is getting very money orientated and puts alot of pressure on people that don't find their niche in life. Ever considered going to a life coach? It worked for me! They can be expensive but at the end of the classes you come out knowing what you want to get of out of life.

Good luck!!

My life coach was the one out of Dublin , it leaves from Busaras every 1 and a half hours.

Black Swan

juanveron45 wrote:

I have an interest in fitness and nutrition and was thinking of doing a personal training course but im overweight too and need to lose it before I did anything like this otherwise id be laughed at

Does anyone have any advice?

Fitness would be a good place to start. It should improve your health, outlook, and self-esteem. I part-time instruct martial arts on nights and weekends and we get unfit people beginning our classes all the time, so you will not be alone or laughed at.

dr.bollocko

seamy_orr wrote:

Sorry mate, where in this person's initial post did you presume that this was a male poster.

His username. His interests. The way he wrote about what he wanted and where his life was. His attitude. Mostly.

Why, did my assumption upset you somehow?

I wasnt wrong either. I think this bloke's a bloke.

greenteaicedtea

I went back to school at 28 and at 31 I had my first full time job. No point in being unemployed at my parents'.

Life is short. Just do what you want now, no point in waiting any longer. Start taking action on small things, once you get in the habit of doing things to improve your situation, you'll feel better, and you'll do more things.

Try to picture yourself living the life you want to live... at a subconscious level we then try to do things to achieve that. And maybe be realistic about what job you can get... most people do have to start at entry level jobs With more life experience and maturity, you might climb up the ranks quicker than someone younger anyhow.

nobodythere

juanveron45 wrote:

At my age I should have a nice car, a house , be in a serious relationship be in a senior supervisor or managers position and be earning at least 50k a year

Would that make you happy?

Or make you look happy...