I went through a very similar experience (except my parents kicked me out at 16 so I hardly had time to get comfortable).Drathnoxis said:You know that question that everybody always asks from the moment you start kindergarten? The one that always seems so far away until you realize that you've already graduated? The question I'm talking about is of course: what do you want to be when you grow up? Well, a while ago I realized my answer to the question. Nothing. I don't want to do anything.
I really don't want to get a job, I had a job when I was 15 and I realized that working really, really sucks. I don't want to go back to school. Even though I did well in school with a 90 average I still didn't like school, and also I can't think of anything that interests me enough to spend 4 years and tens of thousands of dollars learning(and then that leads me back to the situation where I have to get a job). The only thing I've ever had a real interest in is video games, but I don't really want to get into the industry either. Really I have no aspirations in life at all. I don't care about having a lot of money, or fame, or power. I don't even want to be in a relationship or get married.
Basically I'm perfectly content to be exactly where I am. But the problem is I can't just leech off of my parents forever. I know everybody expects me to become a functioning member of society, nobody is too pushy about it but the knowledge of their expectation that I do *something* is starting weigh on me. I just don't know what to do; on the one hand I would like to do nothing, but on the other hand I'm starting to feel like a useless burden and I think I'm noticing my self esteem dropping.
So Escapist, how did you answer the title question for yourself and what should I personally do with my life?
I wasn't satisfied with where I was (or I could only be satisfied when I could distract myself from worrying about it - like through playing video games...), but that wasn't because I ever felt like I was somehow obliged to 'be a productive member of society', more so it was because my life felt empty and meaningless, and I hated feeling indolent in general.
I took a long break from school, struggled to find some career path I could tolerate, did some traveling...but basically what I needed was to take the time to sit down and really earnestly reflect on my life and what I wanted out of it (separate from any question of career).
Long story short, I decided that I wanted to open and take part in a dialogue about exactly *this* problem - the problem of what we should all be doing with our lives. To this end I went back to school to study philosophy, and while there I met some amazing people who encouraged me further along that path - and I'm now a grad student on my way to becoming a professor (which by the way, is something I never would have imagined myself doing back when I first entered college - I wanted school to be over with a.s.a.p., not live there).
So it turns out I don't really have an answer yet because I am still looking - in fact, ironically, I'm potentially making a career out of looking. But I have taken at least one step toward finding an answer; I'm putting myself in a position (both in grad school and in my future job as a professor) to really engage people on questions like this (which really leads down the deepest of rabbit holes you can imagine), and in the meantime I'll be working a job that I might actually enjoy - or at least will be infinitely more tolerable than about any other option I can think of (only because I can use it to further a great purpose/desire for my life).
So my advice to you is to take the time you have now to seriously reflect, and seriously (and critically) engage those you trust about this question, including why they made the choices they did of what to do, etc., so that you can figure out what you really want in a broader sense than career-wise (the career should be chosen in light of what you find, not before). Until you have a sort of epiphany that gives you a new sense of direction and the motivation to go with it, I recommend you *not* go back to school - you will need that motivation to get through it. If you can get by without working for now, and your family isn't breathing down your neck about getting a job, then take advantage of that, but really use the time rather than wasting it away on games (this coming from someone who tended to do just that).
You might be surprised how much your desires can change, or that you had ones you didn't realize you did; it's totally possible to go from being someone who cares about nothing in particular to someone who has strong, clear convictions, and feels motivated toward noble goals for good reasons.
Ultimately, no one can hand you a ready-made answer - at least, not one that you'll be satisfied with - you need to work it out through your own will, and with the committed help of people you trust. Look back on your life thus far, and then to your future, with a confident attitude, and harness a genuine will to self-improvement, and you'll be on your way. It may not be easy (I almost gave up on life before I had the epiphany which set me in a new direction), but it's worth seriously applying yourself to.
P.S. Unless you have a personal relationship with a career counselor, I would not bother going to one, or wasting your time with 'career interest' tests. I was entertaining the thought of working with nature at the time, so those told me I should have been a vet. Yeah, not exactly how it worked out, and I'm glad it didn't, thanks.