I'm 40 and still don't know what to do in life

Growing up I never really had a purpose. I was driven and motivated at the things I was concentrating on but Big Picture, I had no clue what to do.

I've been a chef for 20 years now and I quit my job because each day is worse than the last.

People have asked the question, "if you had all the money in the world, what would you do?" a million times since I was in HS but still the answer is "I don't know"

Being a chef, the 14 hr days, working nights and holidays, not being able to see my family or have a stable relationship have taken its toll. It never really bothered me before but now I crave those things. I now how no job and looking for work, but I feel like I have been institutionalized. People that have gotten out of prison don't know how to adjust or act in a "normal" world and I have that feeling.

I guess what's bothering me is that for so long I was defined by my occupation and now without the title "Chef" I don't really know what I am. A friend told me that should be the exciting part and getting to reinvent the definition of myself but I don't have the building blocks to begin. I haven't been a son, a brother, a husband, or a father that most people I know are at this age.

I need to break this and start living but like I said, nothing really makes me happy. Does anyone else just not care about life? I'm not looking for meaning or a higher purpose, just direction to some semblance of normalcy

Posted Jun 3, 2017, 5:37 PM UTC

88
Loading comments…