I need some advice on what to do with my life!

Think about getting your EMT-Basic and applying for the Peace Corp

Try attending a community college and find out what your interested in you can always transfer to a university later.

Get educated. Try the community colleges and get a diploma, get a degree and then travel.

@GloPro Excellent advice. That does both. Let’s her travel and gives her some idea of what’s out there.

There are plenty of jobs available driving trucks, and there is a shortage of “able-bodied seamen,” to transport cargo across the seas. You can get paid to train in either of these fields and then get paid well to work and travel.

Flight Attendant?

My 2 cents…Save up a few grand, then drop everything and go backpack another country for a year or two. The opportunity to do something like that decreases with age… Unless you win the lotto.

It’s pointless to go to school if you’re not ready for school, either intellectually or financially. And doing badly now can hurt your chances when you are ready.

But you aren’t going to get much in the way of money to travel unless you work for it or your parents pay for you to travel.

At 19, you can do something less-than-earth shattering to earn some money for travel. In several years you may have clearer goals and the energy to accomplish them, before you hit 24 and search for the man to take care of you, which contradicts starting your “adult” life.

When my son traveled around Europe, he taught English as a second language to Italians, worked as a gardener in a small English town, was a tour guide and had several other very pedestrian pick-up jobs just to keep his pockets lined. He also perfected his French and learned Italian.

Get a job on a salmon fishing boat in Alaska for several months. That pays really well and teaches you the meaning of sweat equity.

Look for a job in the travel industry; then your job will involve travelling.

Go to work at McDonald’s for a year and take part-time studies in a different fields until you find one that you like.

Try to get involved in some type of volunteer work in a different culture that gives you college credit. This will help you to broaden your horizons and see life from different perspectives. It will also help you to develop skills and lessons that you will be able to use for the rest of your life. Moreover you will learn so much about yourself when you are away from home. So make the most of life by doing the things you love.

Recruiter. The military teaches you as you go. Get into working with drones. That would have you traveling in all sorts of interesting places. Lots of government jobs prefer military service first.
There are numerous things to choose from. You can be a photographer, go into medicine, blow up stuff, electronics, supply, news rreporter…... many ideas can present themselves to you as you train and get paid. Or, you could hang around military bases, get married to a military man, and move around the world with him.
Those are the best ways to make a living while you decide… that I know of.
Another choice would be waste management. I think if you worked with garbage, ideas would start forming very quickly for you.
There are placement tests people can take which evaluate your strengths with your interests, and shows you what sort of job you should take. I took it. It told me I should be a jet helicopter pilot. That was thirty years ago. It sounded pretty exciting back then.

@Cruiser That’s pretty harsh, doncha’ think?
Very few people know what they want to do with thew rest of their lives at 18.
I don’t know what I want to do with the rest of my life now at age 54!
I’m sorry but I can totally relate, being who I am, and I think that if a young person does not have the desire, motivation or “ambition” fuck ambition, it really is pointless in many ways
that exploration and travel and adventure and getting a taste for this big wide world IS a noteworthy “goal.”

I ran off after graduation to homestead, all by myself, on a remote 200 acre property in the hills, much to my familys shock and consternation. OMG! I did’nt apply for that nice, safe, secure state job and spend the next 30 years driving the same, mundane, stretch of freeway to my little cubicle every day. blows brains out
GAH! A fate worse than death for a creative, free spirited type.

@sarahjessicax I suggest you take a Meyers/Briggs personality test to determine your particular temperment style and suitable/potential work/career strengths.
One size does not fit all, and I was an excellent mom after I fulfilled my yearnings to explore as a young person.
Hell…I still want to explore, travel and leave this played out country. haha
Don’t let anyone tell you to go against your natural leanings. Screw conformity!

@Coloma, thanks for providing the name! That is the test I mentioned. I could not squeeze the name from my memory.

@Jonesn4burgers It is so important to know who we are, how we operate. I am a firm beleiver in personality theory/testing.

@Coloma Reality is harsh no matter what age you are and better to learn that lesson early on so one is not perpetually expecting to some day be saved by a night in shining armor. She/he said she/he has no idea what to do with her/his life other than she/he wants to travel all over the world….raise your hand if all you want to do is travel the world!!

I am sorry if I come across as crass…but I grew up disliking clueless people and trolls that it makes me ITCHY when they cross my path. Please pass the Calamine lotion.

@Coloma, absolutely. I was skeptical before I took it, way back when, but ended up stunned by the results. There is so much we don’t know about ourselves at that age. The test helped me sort through what I did know, and discover things I hadn’t really noticed about myself. I definately recommend it for very confused young adults.

@Cruiser I agree with not expecting a knight in shining armor to save you, but, being a confused young person and wanting to travel the world are not such far fetched concepts.
Certainly not a life sentence of laziness or cluelessness.
Some personalities are explorers, not gaurdians of traditional things.
I think it wrong to label someone clueless and out of touch with reality because they hear the beat of a different drum.
What will you do if one of your sons wants to have an adventure before he commits to the next 20, 30, 40 years of his life?

Ya know how many people die within a couple years of retirement if they make it that far?
I encourage young people to have their adventures earlier rather than later.

@Coloma you are awesome as always to champion the hope we all have no matter how old or young we are. The best we can do is lead by example so turn the hot tub to 105F and fill a pitcher with ice water.

@Cruiser You got it bud, come on in the waters fine, and shit…so what if that pitcher of ice water we pour over our heads is reckless, cause a coronary in our middle aged hearts…so we die in hot tub bliss when our hearts seize up and miss out on Obamacare when we’re 92. Boo Hoo. lol

@Coloma errr…the ice water was to wash down the “seasoned” brownies you told me you were baking tonight! ;)

I agree with @Cruiser that the OP sounded a but lazy and spoiled. Definitely still too young to make adult decisions.

@GloPro That’s a pretty harsh comment too.
Applying the words “lazy” & “spoiled” to someone who isn’t feeling synched up with the flow of societal expectation, feeling confused and unmotivated to pick a little box and tape themselves up in it for the next 40 years at age 18…well….how many of us are still doing now, what we were doing at age 18?
Life is ever changing and what one may want at 18 is usually not what they will still want at 30, 40, or 50.

It;s a very rare individual that makes a decades long life choice/ career choice at age 18.

True, I agree it’s harsh. But if she misses class more often than not because she failed to manage time better (and blames it on traffic), and correlated flunking all of her classes to the traffic making it impossible for her to attend class she has growing up to do. Her ‘adult life’ isn’t going to start until she’s 24. Coming from someone that moved out at 17 and had to pay for everything I did, including school, the way her question is worded does sound spoiled.
That’s why I gave the suggestion of taking only one class and then applying for Peace Corps. You cannot deny that traveling the world without a plan just isn’t feasible for an 18 year old girl that believes education to be a waste. As @Cruiser said, that’s going to take a bankroll from somewhere, and it most likely isn’t going to be her money unless she’s spoiled a little.
I see nothing wrong with wanting to travel and explore. BUT one needs to be honest about how that adventure will be financed. She could be an exchange student if she cared for education…

@Coloma I do agree that blaming traffic is not a valid reason for skipping class.
The peace corp is a very good idea as well.
Another is, a friend of my daughter has been traveling the world and teaching english in foreign countries since she was 18. She is now 26 and has had tons of adventures, well suited to her free spirited personality.

If she wants to travel why not become a travel agent?
Combines both money, career and happiness to explore the world at the same time.
Do not worry about what you would like to do in life…I have an older brother who at age 71 years “STILL” is trying to figure out his career?
He obtained his university degree years ago and spent the rest of his life “paying” off the debt.
Now he is retired and is relaxed on a comfortible Pension where he can do whatever he desires.
His Hobbies include “stocks and Investment strategies” , but NOT involving money…he just likes to play with numbers.
He also does research into historical books etc.
He is enjoying his retirement even though his whole life was rough in working meanial jobs to pay off his huge student debts.

Doesn’t Peace Corps require a college degree?

I’m a college student myself (business student at FGCU), so I can relate. What I would in your shoes is speak advice on how to plan for the future, and then come up with short-term goals (1–2 years), mid-term goals (5–10 years), and long-term goals (20–30 years). Then, set objectives on how to get to those goals. Hope this is a starter.

Get a life goal