What would you do if you were me?

[PickALifeAnyLife]

NC because these details are so outing.

I'm in a rut and want/need a change of life, career, lifestyle or all three.

I'm hoping MN can read my profile with a detached, objective eye and tell me what you would be doing next in my shoes.

I grew up bilingual and have moved around a lot, although never outside of Europe. Travelling further afield appeals to me.

I'm self-employed and good at my work. It pays extremely well for relatively few hours, but is repetitive and unstimulating. The plus side is I can work remotely.

I'm highly creative and my biggest strength would probably be my flexible thinking and imagination. I have no problems coming up with great ideas, creative solutions, fun approaches to things. I'm clever and witty in the stuff I come up with, I've planned surprises and made presents on behalf of other people, I've had friends ask me to write custom poetry for their partners, you get the idea. In another life, I think I would have been great working in advertising.

I've always thought I would like to have my own business, a creative idea I bring to fruition, rather than just being a self-employed contractor.

I also have a lot of empathy and am quite able to make links and connections that help people understand the way they are. I'm a good listener and am a gentle person deep down, so this combined makes me wonder if I wouldn't make a good therapist of some sort. I did Gestalt therapy and got so much out of it I toyed with the idea of training.

I'm a confident person and someone who puts people at ease. I can find common ground with a huge variety of people quickly and easily, and find it easy to open up and encourage others to open up to me.

I write, paint and play guitar but fail because of my weak points which I'll now discuss

I have massive problems with procrastination and sticking with things. I have the idea but struggle to execute it on my own. I work best with just one other person and have managed to get things up and running when I have just one partner. Alone, I don't have the gumption, in a bigger team I lose interest.

My lack of sticking power means I don't follow through with things - I want to write a novel but can't make myself sit down and do it. I want to play the guitar better but can't stick to a schedule. You get the idea. My biggest barrier to being happy in life, I believe, is that I spend most of my time living in a total dream world.

I feel trapped staying in one place and have always moved around. But my boyfriend now is adamant he wants to stay where we are. Part of me wonders if all my moving around hasn't just been a distraction from deeper issues surrounding sticking power.

Sorry for writing all this down, it feels really self-centred to do so, but I'm hoping someone with an objective eye can give me some ideas I hadn't considered. I've tried to be as honest as possible.

I'm open to re-training although would rather not. I'm interested in developing my creativity in some way and getting more sticking power. I can't decide if I need a change of job or not.

I'm 30 and I don't feel excited about what I'm doing with my life.

Travel journalism?
don’t know how you would start though

My immediate thought from reading your post was PR. Could you use your languages and knowledge of Europe to identify smaller companies that don’t currently have a presence in the UK and identify strategies to introduce them to the UK marketplace?

My immediate thought from reading your post was PR. Could you use your languages and knowledge of Europe to identify smaller companies that don’t currently have a presence in the UK and identify strategies to introduce them to the UK marketplace?

And obviously I believe that so strongly my phone posted it twice...

Have you ever considered looking at ADD? It sounds exactly like how it can present in females.

You sound like me.

I’d say - do exactly what YOU want now, before kids, you do not want regrets or to be stuck in a real rut that you cannot escape from.

You don’t know what you want so work that out. You don’t need to be ace at guitar, write a novel and paint like Picasso all at the same time so what is most important?

Can you return to your current, well paying but unsatisfying profession at a later date? If so then why not try something new?

@BasinHaircut
It's good to know I'm not alone! What did you end up doing, and how do you feel about it, if you don't mind me asking?

I can't help but feel I need a project of some kind. A business or maybe writing a novel. What I really want and am lacking is something all-encompassing I can throw my energy and creativity into. Maybe I should have a kid (joke!).

When I get into something it becomes my life. I wrote a play and had it put on and became obsessed with it. I worked on it until the early hours of the mornings.

I'm super fast at working and in my current work is heavily deadline based - I have to leave it up until the very last minute to start working so I can push myself into a hyper productive panic mode. So basically my problem is getting started with something.

It's really interesting you say that @TrinitySquirrel because someone told me that before. But how do I control it?

You sound a lot like me, OP. Except I don't play the guitar. I start a lot of projects and don't finish them. I'm great at ideas not good at implementation. Can't work in a team but not motivated enough to work alone (1 or max 2 people is great). I worked in advertising, but not as the person actually writing/ creating the ads. I prepared the message behind the ads and did a lot of new product development. Sadly though, I'd say you're too old for advertising although maybe other linked industries would be ok. I considered hair dressing at one point but would have been massive paycut. I'm now at home with kids but I'd love to do something more. Best of luck, OP.

@MerryMarigold

Thanks Merry, it's so uplifting to hear there are others out there

I agree I'm too old for advertising and regardless, as with PR, I don't think I care enough about selling a business to want it. Strangely enough, I also considered hairdressing!

It's a good point about whether it would be easy to go back to your job and therefore if you could try something out for while. I forgot I also love moving and building new relationships. I'm rubbish at maintaining relationships. Dh is my absolute opposite in most ways!! Which causes conflict bit is probably for the best when it comes to kids. I have a friend a bit like me and you and she's working a boring job to start up a cake business. She's incredibly talented at it and loves it. Though still early stages. I can see her doing it for a few years. Your profile may fit quite well with consultancy, working on projects and then starting while new project in a different company. Also v well paid, but not v creative. Journalism? Lots of deadlines and the writing of course. Maybe look into it.