Page 1 of 1 [ 8 posts ] 

t55
Tufted Titmouse
Tufted Titmouse

User avatar

Joined: 25 May 2009
Age: 34
Gender: Male
Posts: 46

24 Jul 2009, 4:53 pm

I'm worried about my situation, in that i felt like I've neglected a good deal of my time (in a way i feel like damaged goods). I ask you guys to please give me advice on what to do because I'm lost.

Currently I'm a 19 year old kid Whom has a lot of money (thanks to family) I'm stressing out over what i should do in the future,(I lack direction) my family claims i should just go to college, but i have my doubts in that i lack good self discipline and study habits for college. (I've pretty much completely neglected my schooling) Right now, I'm living with the Asian side of my family (I'm 50% asian) in the hopes that they will help me get through this worrisome time (notably college). I'm going to go to college this fall yet i find it nearly impossible to do anything related to that or anything related to being useful (like driving,attempting to use public transportation, ect.) due to being depressed while doing it. I still haven't applied yet or have done any real research.

I've yet to really consider my interests outside of Video games. Which is what i should be doing but i haven't due to the aforementioned depression.

I seem to have a disconnection with the working world in general, and i don't know many useful facts (I recently didn't know what a placement test was for college). This is due to my hikikomori lifestyle that i used to be living. (and to an extent i still live that way.)

The only thing i really got is a very good work habit when it comes to physical stuff (not sure about actually showing up for the work) so if i don't go to college i might be able to survive. Until i have more direction (If i want to take that route).

While my situation might be a case or me worrying too much and/or me not putting in enough effort. I'm still concerned. But still I ask you the people of wrongplanet. WTF should I do?



pekkla
Toucan
Toucan

User avatar

Joined: 10 Jun 2009
Age: 73
Gender: Female
Posts: 251
Location: Berkeley, CA

24 Jul 2009, 8:13 pm

You sound like you are looking for basic, practical help in figuring out what to do wth your life. Is there a parent or relative that you are living with who would be willing to help you? You have to apply to colleges well in advance of the fall semester, so it sounds like you should take the basic freshman corses in a community college if there are any near you. Usually these places have rolling admission, which means you get in as soon as you sign up. Get on the internet and find out where the 2 year community colleges are, ask for an appointment with a counselor at one that is close to you, and tell them your situation. If you don't know what you want to do, take the courses you will need to transfer to a 4 year college. Just sign up for a part-time schedule so you can handle it. Also, get some help with your depression. Good luck.



kxmode
Supporting Member
Supporting Member

User avatar

Joined: 14 Oct 2007
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,613
Location: In your neighborhood, knocking on your door. :)

24 Jul 2009, 8:34 pm

My grandfather once told me "Find out what makes you happy, then do that for a living. The money is easy. It's sticking with something that will make you happy for 35 years that's the hard part."

You have four basics: english, math, arts, helping people. Pick one!

If you like english then you have a broad category of choices to pursue such as journalism, writer, screenplays, and so forth.
If you like math you can pursue programming, sciences, information technologies, and so forth.
If you like art you can pursue illustration, music, graphic design, dance, acting, and so forth.
If you like to help people you can pursue volunteering, medicine, police, firefighting, and so forth

Any of those sub-categories can lead to more specific choices which leads to a career:

math > programming > C++ > game development
math > sciences > bio-chemical
helping people > volunteering > RED CROSS (travel the world)
helping people > police > NYPD
english > writer > fantasy fiction
english > journalism > New York Times
arts > graphic design > work for Blizzard
arts > dance > Broadway
arts > acting > movies!

Hope this helps.


_________________
A Proud Witness of Jehovah God (JW.org)
Revelation 21:4 "And [God] will wipe out every tear from their eyes,
and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore.
The former things have passed away."


AardvarkGoodSwimmer
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 26 Apr 2009
Age: 61
Gender: Male
Posts: 7,663
Location: Houston, Texas

25 Jul 2009, 12:38 am

Roll with your current positives---the video games!---and casually and matter-of-factly experiment with adding more. Give yourself permission to be nonperfect. Being nonperfect adds texture to life and is so much more interesting than perfect.

I think even if depression starts off situational, it can become biochem. Just like sunshine affecting the pituitary and getting it to release a hormone, and people predisposed can get the SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) without enough sunshine, and it can sneak up on you. And someone depressed is less likely to get out in the morning and get some sunshine, and a similar conclusion applies to exercise. So if you have a doctor you feel you can talk with, that can be a very good thing.

I have learned that the main purpose of note taking is to help me stay alert during class. Whatever the professor is saying right now that is interesting, or that catches my attention, I write down. In the ten minutes between the end of this class and the next, I might ever so casually review my notes and circle things that really jump out at me. Or do this later in the day. And that's it. And this way I stay 100% caught up on my notes at all times. I specifically do not read in their entirety. I scan.

The standard advice that you take the time to thoroughly review and then carefully rewrite your notes I think is misplaced, and just leads to procrastination.

Instead, I try to do a lot of little things. I try and review the material in a lot of little ways. Buy the regular textbook, yeah, you've got to spend the big bucks and do that and you'll want to do that early, but then if you can buy a second textbook at Half-Price Books, that is worth its weight in gold. And because you're not investing a whole lot in this second book, you can do the whole thing with a light touch. I have found it extremely helpful to read a section in one book, then look up the same topic in a second book. Not all the time mind you, I'm not trying to lay a second set of rules on myself in a mechanical way (and I need to remind myself of this because I can oh-so easily slip into perfectionism), I'm just trying to expand my options and give myself extra tools.

Most tutoring sessions end up being too long, but if you can hire a tutor for shorter 20 minute sessions, that can help.

Most professors are happy to answer questions in their office, but usually only one question per student, or sometimes two.

And try to prestudy if you possibly can.


t55 wrote:
. . . This is due to my hikikomori lifestyle that i used to be living. (and to an extent i still live that way.) . . .


This sounds interesting! Can you please explain what this means?



t55
Tufted Titmouse
Tufted Titmouse

User avatar

Joined: 25 May 2009
Age: 34
Gender: Male
Posts: 46

25 Jul 2009, 7:06 pm

First of all thanks again for showing you care. .

It seems i was hasty in my post and i forgot some information to add. And i didn't seem all that clear on some issues.

1. I did graduate from high school but only through an incredibly easy individualized education program. And because of that i lack a lot of important skills (I even found myself struggling on this content due to some tenancy to try and comprehend the content rather than to just do it).

2. My depression is mostly situational (whenever i actively do something related to working or studying) I'm not constantly depressed. But only when doing this certain things.

And to answer AardvarkGoodSwimmer's question, Here is the information about a hikikomori LINK (Wikipedia hikikomori)

I often use that word because it seems frightfully similar to my own condition. Yet I'm not as socially withdrawn as true hikikomori.
1. I was completely socially unskilled (I was often excluded from social groups and bullied)
2. I often thought of the school's curriculum as overwhelming (even though it was completable)
3. I'm the oldest of my parents offspring
4. I would set my own sleep cycle (sleep at 3:00 AM in the morning and awake at 12:00 PM)
5. Ect



AardvarkGoodSwimmer
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 26 Apr 2009
Age: 61
Gender: Male
Posts: 7,663
Location: Houston, Texas

26 Jul 2009, 9:20 pm

t55 wrote:
. . . struggling on this content due to some tenancy to try and comprehend the content rather than to just do it . . .


That might actually be a positive.

I'm sitting in on an Organic Chemistry class this Summer, and once you're already in a college you can do that, sometimes even your previous college, ask the professor in a brief and straightforward way, and a fair number will say yes. It's probaby okay to just attend the first class, but after that it's really better to ask. Okay, excellent professor and he gave me his permission. And at one point the first week he said, "Try to understand it. I couldn't memorize all this stuff."

And I felt I knew what he was talking about. Memorizing it is the shortcut. Understanding and comprehending is the slow and steady method.

Now, you want to get good at both methods and a lot more besides. When you have the time and energy, understanding is one of the best methods. It is however a high energy method. You can't do it all the time. Sometimes ever so casually studying something when you're dead tired at night and when you have a TV in the background, as long as you have the right show, sometimes that can be surprisingly good. Or, I remember taking college trig at age 34 after failing it in 11th grade. Well, it was still a real boring topic. So, what I did, I had stumbled upon the book "Hard Landing" about commercial aviation post-deregulation with all kinds of personalities and happenings and big chronological chunks, and it was a surprisingly good book. So, I would do a couple of trig problems, read the book, a few more problems, read the book. And it worked. The whole thing worked.

So,
try science,
try journalism,
try writing,
try literature,
try art

Now, some of these are kind of long shots as far as making a living, but if you get good at art and drawing, that has to help you with biology. It awakens different parts of your brain. (With biology, you seeing things through microscopes, you're trying to draw, you're trying to see first hand, you're trying to really see)

The advice we give students of "try harder" is often misplaced, and is really often disengaged on the part of the adult and school authorities. In many cases, the student needs to try less hard, but try in a diagonal direction.



Space
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 2 Apr 2006
Age: 40
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,082

26 Jul 2009, 11:37 pm

It doesn't matter what you do, just try something. Get a job, go to college, go to trade school. If you don't like it, try something else. Part of finding out what you do want is finding out what you don't want. You have to start somewhere!



ruennsheng
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 4 Feb 2009
Age: 33
Gender: Male
Posts: 3,523
Location: Singapore

27 Jul 2009, 8:33 am

And most importantly, be yourself!


_________________
Ex amicitia vita