h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Take time out to identify what is important to you.

Then work at ways in which you can enjoy those things/ activities.

F'rinstance, even though I'm an accountant, I recognise that I need a creative outlet. So I make sure I get time to write poetry, dance, make videos etc.

I recognise that I enjoy cooking, so I make sure i get a couple of nights a week when I can really get going with the pots and pans.

I recognise that I feel better when I exercise, so I try to get to the gym 3 times a week, but also forgive myself if circumstances don't allow, and acknowledge that that's why I feel sluggish and tetchy.

I make a list of things I still want to do and see. And then work out how I can manage one off that list.

I realistically remind myself that life is struggle - getting to the end of a day without losing my temper or slapping someone is probably something to be celebrated.

And I find something to be thankful for or appreciative of each day.

Crap. I have no income, I'm not eligible for unemployment money, I'm in a pile of debt and I can't pay this months rent. Any suggestions?

Write a ?

This is beginning to look serious, Xan. Take on some job, however menial, to at least cover some of it.

I've been trying to find a job for months. The sad part is I quit the last job, to get a job with more hours.

Xanatic

So are you still based in Dublin?

Sounds like you went to Ireland during the apparent boom-time ten years ago and the economic situation there has returned to what has so often seemed the "default setting".. one in which Irish people emigrate. So in the immediate situation as you describe it the challenge is now not "what should I do with my life?" but "how do I manage to hang on until something better turns up?"

One idea:

In the UK this is around the time when people are having to look realistically at their chances of getting the grades that they need in various examinations. It was a time when my French wife was often being approached by people looking for private tuition, and it seems that passing exams is an area of expertise for you. Science and maths are so often poorly taught, and for that reason decent private tutors too are rare.

Good luck..

Cass

I think Xan was last seen somewhere Scandinavian.......

Thanks Beatrice.. His roots were in Denmark..

From what we are given to understand "the Scandinavian Social Model" is quite distinctive. It seems- from reading Eric Hobsbawm- that this was shaped by the fact that the economic catastrophes of the Thirties were even worse there than in Weimar Germany, probably not accidentally.

At the moment people tend to look at the Swedish model because Sweden is doing so well compared to other places. But with the re-unification of Germany and the rebuilding of Berlin and ex-communist eastern Europe, Sweden is much better placed than- for example Ireland which is where he was in 2002.

Cass

Yep, I've actually been in the south of Sweden for a few years. The social security net is perhaps not quite what I thought. Apparently only a third of unemployed people are recieving unemployment benefits, and the local homeless shelter only has 20 beds.

Do you have any elder relatives that could advise: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q29YR5-t3gg

I don't want to pry Xanatic but can't you go home? I know living with parents/other relatives isn't ideal or great for the self-esteem but if the alternative is homelessness it's an option.

Thanks Xanatic

Sweden..

I saw something on French TV last year (?) about the changing face of Sweden with quite a lot of immigration- not unlike perhaps what happened in Ireland during tne Irish boom.. Is there anything like the tensions of change that inspired that right-wing extremist in Norway last year? .. For several decades we got used to a whole belt of countries from the Netherlands through old Scandinavia being seen as islands of more "civilised", enlightened and genuinely socialised culture... Any ideas for solving your immediate cash-flow crisis?

Cass

It's an option, though a bit of a dead end probably. I doubt there'd be much jobs to find where my parents live.

Xanatic

Have they got a web-link from which you could start a web-based enterprise? In my last school there were A Level classes being taught almost exclusively by video-conferencing. Are there Danish specialities that you could market? Collect Danish stories like the Grimm brothers did for Germany and produce a book of them. Or write a coming of age novel based upon what you might have been running away from.

As this "What should I do with my life?" thread does not seem to have produced an answer in ten years, perhaps reconnecting with your roots might remind you of what ideas you had 'back then' for your future- apart from studying academically and experientially through travel.

Good luck anyway.

Cass

So, two job interviews in the morning. That's at least something. Sadly both jobs are kind of far from here. Which means if I get them, I might not actually have the money to pendle to them. I guess I'll have to figure out that problem later.

Xanatic

Perhaps too late to wish you good luck. Sweden presumably is at least an hour ahead..(The coverage of the Putin election reminded us that Russia has 9(?) time zones).. But good luck anyway.

Cass

Not too late, I'm just researching one of the companies. I can tell I'm in over my head. Though hopefully I can still earn some money before they fire me for not knowing what I'm doing. Thanks.

Thumbs pressed, fingers crossed an' all!

Xanatic

Well perhaps they will want to give you some "in house" training to make sure that you know how to do things "their way"..

May be helpful to someone with lots of academic qualifications and perhaps not too much experience.. Many years ago a marine engineer friend who had had to go up to Liverpool to repair a ship recounted how he had chatted on the way back to someone who had just spent the day interviewing candidates. They were all very good on paper, but really what the panel was looking for was someone with common sense.

Just a thought.

Also a good night's sleep is often a common sense start.

Goodnight.. Good luck.

Cass

In-house traing rocks! Yesterday I was screening cell lines for bacterial plasmids. Next eeek training with the new purchase orders database and the week after proper pipettibg techniques (which will be good since being dyspraxic fine motor skills take staggering amounts of concentration.)

Hope it works out Xan.

I had to move to take up this job but had LOTS of parental help to do so.

So I had a second interview with a company today, and a second interview with a company monday. Hopefully one of them will work out.