Feeling lack of meaning/ lost
I'm 22F. The only reason I'm posting this is to get some thoughts off my chest and to see if anyone else relates to me or has any positive words to share.
Some backstory of my life: Both of my parents migrated from other countries to the U.S, leaving their families behind. Shortly after moving to the U.S, they crossed paths and my mom got unexpectedly pregnant with me. I'm an only child. My parents never got married and after 8 toxic years, they split up when I was 6yo due to my dad being verbally and physically abusive toward my mom. My mom was adopted as a baby and has never had any contact with her biological parents or any of her blood family. With her adoptive family being an 11-hour flight away, I don’t have a real relationship with any of them. Same with my dads side of the family. As I got older, my dads abusive tendencies eventually became directed at me, essentially ruining our relationship. So ultimately, all I’ve ever had is my mom. And honestly, we don’t even get along most of the time.
I realized pretty early on how alone i am in this life. Throughout middle and high school, my mom was too busy working so I was never pushed academically and was never enrolled into sports or extracurriculars. I spent the last year of middle school and all of high school hanging around the “wrong crowd” smoking, drinking and basically not doing anything productive to prepare me for adulthood. Post high school graduation, I had no clue what I wanted to be or what career I wanted to pursue as that was never top of mind. I told my college advisor that I wanted to avoid coming on campus as much as possible and ended up picking one of the “online only” majors without putting much thought into it. Long story short, I regret my major but I'm 4 classes away from getting my bachelors so im just pushing through at this point. Not only have I never had a “dream job” but knowing that I'll need to work a 9-5 for the next 40 years makes me feel even more soulless. And that's if I can even secure a job in today's horrid job market.
Religion was never centered in our home and I don't feel aligned with any religion honestly.
I’ve been told to turn to God for guidance but I struggle to blindly follow things like religious belief systems because I'm the kind of person who needs to see it to believe it. I can’t bring myself to live by something that feels made-up. Adopting a mindset where my worldviews and decisions are guided by verifiable, empirical evidence rather than emotion, tradition, or blind faith is more my speed.
The main reason I wanted to make this post is because I feel a darkness surrounding me constantly. Everyone around me seems to have an idea of what their future will entail but I genuinely have no clue and that bothers me because I do want to be working toward something. But what? It’s hard to feel purpose or meaning when the state of this country alone is in shambles. The only things I really like are thrifting and music. When I think of the possibility of creating my own clothing or something, I'm reminded of how much money it would take to get things started, money I don't have. I can’t afford to dabble in new things until I figure out what it really is that I love. My mom is getting old and I just want to move out and not be a burden anymore. Does anyone have any advice on establishing independence when you feel such a lack of drive? Any advice on making life feel more meaningful? What keeps you going everyday?
Posted Mar 30, 2026, 6:01 AM UTC