Help me decide on a sensible career path please? Considering dropping uni to travel
Cut a long story short. I went to uni at 18, lasted 3 months and moved home. My mum then died the year after and I applied to uni again to go the following year. Through all of this grief life really had been a blur and I didn’t really figure out what I wanted to do.
Summer 2024 I went solo traveling on a 9 week stint for the first time. I felt alive. Went back to uni to start my first year after foundation studying graphic design. I went to uni again in my home city because I felt I couldn’t leave family as we were all still struggling, plus I had the house we inherited so it felt easy to stay and commute. Also I was silly enough to just rush when choosing what I wanted to do because I thought it was cool. I was interested in GD and career wise I only wanted it so I could work freelance .
Anyway, I did the first year and went traveling again but this time for 4 months, basically the whole of summer. I’ve come back and the trauma hit- moving back into the house my mum raised me and living in the same city after growing so much whilst being away. So I have now taken a year of absence from uni because I absolutely cannot enjoy my course if I tried. After seeing so much of the world and knowing what is out there I cannot be at home anymore, especially all the trauma built up from my youth and my mums death.
Now I’m in a limbo state because I’ve sold the house I inherited from my mum, have a year off uni but am also dealing with depression, so as much as I want to find something new for myself all I want to do is leave and get out of my city. I’m 22 btw turning 23 in June. I know where my interests lie and my passion is to see the world, but all I do is worry that without a degree I won’t get far in life. My degree is literally holding my back but I cannot stay and continue- it is tearing me apart
I would appreciate any advice please. I’ve contemplating traveling until September to see if I’m ready to go back to uni, dropping and finding a new course when I’m older , going into an apprentice ah I just don’t know!
Posted Mar 3, 2026, 11:30 AM UTC