Confident & determined to change my life

gstack166

Hi, as the title suggests I'm confident of turning my life around & for the sake of my child in determined to do it.

I'll start off with a brief(ish) history, I'm a recovering compulsive gambler - it pains me to think of the money I've blown these last few years & feel like an absolute fool. Its a horrible disease & worse for the fact that very few can see it, you can hide it well & I did. I kept it bottled up inside and let it eat me apart. One of the proudest things I've done in my life is check myself into Gamblers Annoymous & it probably has saved my life. I've gone 14 months this week since I last placed a bet.

My daughter has been the main reason for this as it tore me apart looking at her after another bad day at the bookies.

I'm determined for her sake to better my life, I'm in a dead end job, that like most manufacturing jobs isn't the most secure. I've just turned 30 so still feel I've plenty of time to turn this around.

Let me say firstly here, I'm a man that needs an arm around the shoulder to achieve my full potential. Same way when I was a child & played sports etc I always needed encouragement & it drove me on, and that's what I've posted here for.

I lived in Spain for 6 years in my late teens early 20's & had a good grasp of Spanish then but I'm a bit rusty now. Basically, I would love to do a college course to combine that & a travel agent course but having searched a small but around the web I'm having trouble determining if this would be difficult to achieve for someone in my position & qualifications (Junior Cert only)

I have travelled the 6 continents in my day & have a passion for it & a love of the Spanish language. Am I naive in thinking I can achieve this & if not can someone please please, please offer a bit of guidance or reccomendation for me. As I've said, I'm determined to follow through with this as far as I can go, for both myself & my child. Apologies for the long post.

Feels like a weight been lifted off me writing that.

LegacyUser

I know it has not been easy to admit you have a gambling habit and it is good that your working hard not to go back gambling.
I know your working at the moment in a factory/manufacturing job but you don't see a future in this and you are keen to become a travel agent.

I also know that some colleges off the leaving cert to adult learners like you who left school after the jc or at a young age. Would you consider going back to do the leaving cert? I know someone who was unemployed for a while and he went back to do the leaving cert. He got the leaving cert and got a job in a well known company after this.

I would advise you to look into studying one of the IATA travel courses. These courses are recognised in Ireland and abroad.

If you put the following into google - IATA travel courses in Ireland you will get a lot of information on the courses. I know that Colaiste Ide in Finglas have this course and it is one year full time. I had a quick look at the requirements and they look for a leaving cert and interview for this course.
I would ring this college and ask can you speak to one of the lectures on this course. Tell them that you left school after the jc and about your circumstances now. I know that some courses do take in mature students but you need to speak to someone in the colleges in regards to this.

I have heard that some travel companies take on people that have done a lot of traveling and train them up to be consultants. I think that Trailfinders in Dublin do this and thier office in in Dawson st, Dublin 2. Contact their hr department, let them know about your previous travel experience and ask them what is there recruitment policy.

I would also look at going to a career coach and get their advice.
I hope the above helps you out and let us know how your doing here.