To ask for your help with my life?

[Lostinterior]

I’m 20 and feeling really torn about my future, and I’d really appreciate some honest perspective.

For context, I was made homeless at 17 so I had to grow up very quickly. I now live with my boyfriend on a large property (we don’t live with the owners, we’re in a tiny property on the land). I run my own dog walking/pet care business and earn about £1,300 a month, including £800 from the main clients whose property we live on (rent free). I’m also studying Forensic Psychology with the Open University.

On paper, I’m stable and doing well. But I feel constantly stressed and “on.” My days are wake up, rush to work, manage clients, come home exhausted, stress about the housework, sleep, repeat. I feel strung out and worry I’m wasting my youth.

Long term, I want financial freedom, a nice home, dogs, a family, travel, respect, stability and peace. I enjoy my degree and like that it’s respected, but I don’t think I actually want to become a forensic psychologist, it’s a long, competitive and uncertain path.

What I’m really drawn to is interior design. I love photography, refurbishing and selling vintage antiques, and the idea of creating beautiful spaces. I’d also eventually love to run a dog grooming studio from home once we own a house.

My problem is I have no idea how to realistically move into interior design without blowing up the stability I’ve built. I can do a qualification alongside my degree, but how do you actually get real work or clients when you’re starting from scratch? Especially when I don’t want to lose my current main client (the £800/month one) and the housing that comes with it.

My boyfriend and I would also love to travel by campervan for a year after I finish my degree, before settling down. But I’m scared about how we’d earn money while travelling and what we’d do when we came back to the UK. The thought of coming back with no clear path really worries me.

Part of me thinks we should stay put for a couple of years, save hard, I finish my degree, start an interior design qualification, maybe train in dog grooming, build some kind of portfolio quietly, and then travel once we have a solid financial buffer and plan. But I worry I’m being too cautious and missing out.

Has anyone successfully transitioned into interior design laterally while keeping another job? How did you get your first proper projects? And has anyone done a planned “build first, travel later” approach in their early 20s?

I’d really value honest advice – I feel very aware of security because of my past, but I don’t want fear to run my life either.

How many points do you have towards your degree and how many credits are you talking each year?

You could take a year out or do just 30 one year.

There are a lot of choices but I think how far you have to go is key. If I only needed another 60 credits, I'd just get it done but if it's a long road, you can have a break and pick it back up again.

Even if you don't go into the field, having a degree is valuable and gives you additional options long term.

However, running a grooming business alongside your current work seems like a good fit and I might prioritise doing a course in this and having a break from your studies.

Interior design is harder. Again you might be better to start with the more practical elements like upcycling and upholstery. Get some skills under your belt which are useful regardless of whether you use them professionally or not.

I think you can't go too far ahead. Do you like your current set up in terms of work/living? If so just decide what to focus on for the next year, see where you are at the end of it and then decide on your next steps.

Why are you stressing about housework ?
In a small house with no children.
Is your boyfriend equally stressed about it ...?
If not why not ?
Take a leaf out of his book or redistribute tasks.
And don't be a perfectionist.

It will allow a BSc after their name whatever they do, which doesn't hurt.

Which was kind of my point. It's actually getting a handle on how you manage stress which is key here. I am not judging: I am the same but it's taken me a long time to figure out that the stressing is actually more of a thing than anything I am stressing about. For me, regular exercise (even if it doesn't come naturally), spending time out doors, giving myself permission to switch off and not do anything productive all important. Have tried mediation as well, but am less consistent with that.

Wait until your degree is done, or drop out if it seems pointless tbh, and then reassess. You can do whatever you like and change every 10 years if you want to. But don’t do 300 things at once because you’ll end up blowing them all due to burn out.

DH and I set our lives up first and then travelled aged 30. I’d say it was a touch late because we weren’t happy slumming it and found so much of it uncomfortable. So maybe 25-27ish would be a better age for that.

52% of 25-29 year olds have a degree in the UK. There are people with degrees in thermodynamics, engineering, pure maths who work full time in Aldi. Degrees have been devalued and spending years finishing a filler degree you don’t want to work in isnt time well spent. Bsc doesn’t mean anything if its an irrelevant degree.

There are only 4,000 forensic practitioners working in such roles the whole of the UK! Why thousands do the degree each year baffles me.

Similar position here and working in an industry being rapidly overtaken by AI. Probably wont have my job by the time this year is out. Wish I had some sort of trade /something else to fall back on.
I'd definitely focus on the dog grooming/walking business. Im no expert on interior design but I do know an architect who had said that interior design is very affected by AI already. Maybe it's better if you build up manual skills e.g. painting etc as part of it...
Anyway I think you sound like you're doing well for someone of 20. I was living abroad teaching English at that age having lots of fun but with hardly a thought to my career or future!