27, still working fast food and retail, no career, no degree, and no idea what to do with my life
I'm 27, and I don't have a career yet, working 2 jobs between fast food and minimum wage retail. Even busting my ass working 6 sometimes 7 days a week I only clear $24k a year in income. I f###ing hate this way of life, but I have no car, so my options are limited. Living with family 12 hours away from my gf and all of my friends, and I have no social life here, and it really gets to me.
I grew up in poverty, and I'm always scared of being broke af for my whole life. Kinda feel like a failure in life. But idk what career to choose to get out of this bracket.
I've looked at all the trades, and they all sound terrible to me. I have scoliosis and a bad knee, plus fibromyalgia runs in my family so I feel like a trade with a lot of hard manual labor is a bad idea long term.
I'm also not eligible for military for various physical and mental health reasons.
I have done 4 years of university, but didn't get a degree in anything, but all of my gen eds are done.
I have way too many hobbies, but idk how to make a career out of any of them. I'll list them here if anyone gets any ideas to suggest.
- Creative writing (my dream job is to be an author, but not a stable primary path to pursue)
- Photography (Can't afford professional equipment and work too much to be able to do gig work at the moment)
- Video editing
- Music (I can play a little bass, metal vocals, and make electronic music on garageband)
- Drawing
When I was in uni, I went through 4 majors (pre-veterinary->English->Psychology->Animation)
I also really enjoy Physics and philosophy. I enjoy learning physics in my free time. Built a little shadow-telegraph device for fun with a motion sensor and a circuit board. I really wish I could pursue something in physics tbh, but I'm scared I'm too old to get a PhD, and idk what career I actually WANT out of physics, I guess research would be cool but I also know it pays shit money.
Idk. I'm just so tired of the grind. It feels pointless sometimes. I'm scared of the future. I'm tired of the present.
Posted Jun 10, 2026, 4:31 PM UTC