Hi Nutcracker....am sort of in the same boat as you although am nearer to knowing what I don't want as have been at this trying out careers things for years...hope you don't mind me going on but thought it might help you a little knowing you are DEFINETELY not alone and I do think a lot of women and possibly men feel the same as tbh it's a b*** hard thing to do, to find what you really really want to do...
About 6 months before I got my gardening job I was quite desperate and bored working at tescos on the checkouts and happened to literally stumble one day into the careers office in the library in the town where I live (most biggish towns should have one) upon going in I said to the women that I wanted a change of direction but hadn't a clue what I really wanted...She booked me in for an appointment and then in that interview she asked me things about my schooling etc and asked me to do a test thing on the computer which asks about 75-100 questions about your preferences eg.would you like to work with animals, people or things? that's just one of many....and you know at the end of it ideal jobs came up WHICH she was able to pring out for me in great detail which showed what you had to do, to do this....long I know but that was extremely useful "The Careers Guidance Service" worth asking at your local library and it's not just for school leavers, I mean I'm 35!
sorry for going on but I really do understand where you're coming from and would love to help you in any way that I can ....from this interview ended up with this book which imho is the best job searching book I have ever seen ...they should have copies in your library for you to look at....
"What Colour is your Parachute?" Richard Nelson Bolles.
There's a flower in the book with 6 parts to your dream job:
1.Where (which area)
2.In a field defined by my favourite interests (what do you really love doing the most, it's the thing that you loose track of time when doing, like I love writing and sometimes get carried away with it...but would love it to be in a job that I do?)
3.In organizations having investigative, artistic, social, etc type of people (if you answer a few questions you'll reach 3 favourite types...there are 6)
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My favourite values (eg.growing in wisdom and compassion) and goals to personally guide and cousell people)
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My favourite working conditions....like variety, open plan buiding, crowded organisation or working within a group of 4 etc
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At this salary eg.£100,000 a month only joking and level of responsibility.....eg. do you want to be a manager/supervisor/ an equal in a team, work most of the time on your own etc..
and in the middle of this it asks you to write down your 6 strongest skills (eg. if you're good at communicating at all levels...communicating, producing (you get these from the previous pages)
sorry Nutcracker that's going to sound like I'm a right old knowall but am not at all, it's just that I can't recommend this book highly enough and if you can get hold of a copy and look at it for an hour a day you'll be surprised how much you get to learn about your own abilities...which you have loads of
like I said there are a lot more people than you think that are unhappy with their lives (they smile and seem friendly but that's just their outer persona)....it's good to admit you don't know and I hope you're not put off with my big reply....am just trying to help....lavxxx