When is it too late to "make something" of yourself?

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I don't know your exact situation, but I think this is a common trap and sooner or later everybody ends with this feeling.
It sounds like a conspiration theory but so far what I observed is: Usually children want to be a firefighter, a nurse, a policeman, doctor, teacher they want to help, to be a kind of a hero (usually badly paid jobs), as we grow up the pressure starts to build up that we have to have some kind of a career, a degree, a steady, well-paid job, status(?), then we choose a college according to these expectations, and maybe we still have intentions to make a difference, to achieve something, or not. Then when we get our first job its just a relief that we could fit in, you can earn money, and save up for a car or whatever meaningless sh*t, and most people don't really care about that maybe what they are doing isn't make a lot of sense. Than the time just goes on and one day you wake up as a 40-50 year old and you don't understand where have your dreams gone... well you wanted to make a difference... and boom mid-life crisis.
The trap: you have a family to take care of, bills to pay, maybe depts, you can't just quit, and chase your dreams right? So the solution: alcohol, a new car, a mistress, whatever...
I think I've gone trough something similar, just as a 24 year old, I also choose the safe path, till I had a mental breakdown because of the meaninglessness of what I've done so far with my life. But I'd like to believe that it is never too late to change this, even if it means financial insecurity and maybe you have to disappoint others.

In many parts of the United States and Canada, a car is an absolute necessity, not a luxury.

There are towns in New England that have volunteer firemen. You can have your boring day job and also be a hero!

We even have volunteer firefighters in Floral Park, NY---walking distance from the Queens County border.

Of course you can volunteer, and it actually helps a lot to feel better. I think my point would be that maybe you choose a profession, for example you are an engineer, you can go and have a steady, well paid job at multinational car producent, most of the time you don't do anything that makes any sense, that makes the world a better place. And you can be a intern, or a regular emloyee for a worse salary, at a startup where you contribute to the research of filtrating the COˇ2 out of the atmosphere, and it is not sure that it'll ever work, it isn't a secure position. If you have some talent or knowledge what you worked hard for, and you have to choose between contributing to something that just maybe could someday make the world a better place, or have a steady job somewhere where you have to work with something in what you can't believe at all, it is not that easy. These jobs just kill your 'soul' and rob you from everything what should be important. You can do a lot as a volunteer but you can do more if you choose a job where you can use your unique knowledge to achieve something that helps someway, to someone.
And even if a car somewhere is a necessity, my point would be that young adults tend to 'sell' their ideals, or dreams about making a difference, because of the short term advantages, like having a good salary to buy things that aren't neccesary, in a lot of case cars, the next pair of shoes to wear 4 times, or a 5th watch, a new phone, when the previous is still perfectly working...

Then there are who design more lethal weapons, as if the existing weapons aren't already lethal enough.

That is somewhere my point. Weapon production is a well paid steady job too. And with the same knowledge you could produce water filtering devices too, or you could work on a research on how to produce energy in a more sustainable, and effective way. Or still with the same skills you could build an extensive railway network in Canada, in the US, or in anywhere really, so people who can't afford to have a car could move freely, and the pollution could be lowered too.

I am increasingly suspicious of the whole idea of "making something of yourself." It's a mantra suited for Type-A hardcases too busy achieving to live. For the rest of us, it's just a stick to beat our own backs with. I've seen friends make themselves miserable by getting a "better" job than the last one. The happiest person I know is in the same minimum-wage job I am!

I'm probably older than most here, and it's taken me a long time to learn this, but life isn't about making yourself into something acceptable to the outside world, it's about finding out who you really are and relaxing into yourself and allowing the world and it's treasures work for you.

We are here on a journey back to ourselves and it's never too late to get to know ourselves, to learn how to love and accept ourselves and to build a life around ourselves which brings joy, meaning, and exhilaration. Of course, as we get older, there will be changing circumstances, but while there is life, there is still time to come home to ourselves.

Find out what you love, and do it, whether it's a career or an interest or a hobby. It doesn't matter what it looks like from the outside, what matters is how it feels on the inside. What are you passionate about? What gets you jumping out of bed in the morning? What makes time stand still for you?
Forget about making yourself into something else, be who you already are with as much enthusiasm and drive as you have.

Without reading the thread I'll say this.
When I was 47, I started an aprentischip educatiuon to become a rigger.
Before I was a computer tech, programmer, net specialist, security, whatever. I have worked in all fields of computers, and not to brag but been pretty good at it.
So, nearing 50 yo is not to late imo.

/Mats

Once your autism lands you on layers of social programs. You will never get off unless you are very lucky. Most never do. Then you circle the drain for years with the "prospect" of getting into VR, etc., but it's designed to fail. Move up one notch, lose health care. Move back one notch, get food stamps again, move up one notch, lose food stamps....

Meanwhile the companies who manage those programs and check in on you just got a multi billion dollar grant. No way they are letting you out of their net.

How can everyone be expected to achieve a situation that maximizes their potential value to society, when the positions that would allow this are necessarily scarce? What, then, is wrong with merely pursuing whatever it is that satisfices one's own sense of well being? Many of the roles that are shoved on people to fulfill are pointless.

Some people only 'make something of themselves' after their life has ended.

I always thought by now in life (at almost 40) that somehow i would be further along but figure it just isnt going to happen. I've worked retail and now am dabbling in a mailroom job and its not what i want to do for long. Honestly at this point a job that will let me make enough without getting into an autistic meltdown would be a big win. It's hard because most jobs come with some significant level of stress and I'm learning i have to carefully balance to not hit a figurative wall and completely lose it due to being unable to cope. Just switching to my current job involved months of meltdowns (managed to keep them at home and not on the job thank goodness). I think at this point winning the lotto is my only hope.