I see so many people saying they make $100,000+ and living pay check to pay check, and to be honest, I’m pretty envious because I would feel so much relief if I had a career that makes me $100,000+ a year.
I can’t survive on my own. I have to live with my parents bc rent in my area isn’t affordable. ($100,000 is still considered “poor” in my area). I make way below <$25,000 a year working as an in-home elderly care-giver and as a CNA (2 jobs, because I’m underemployed at my CNA job - I get canceled due to a low census on the only shifts I have availability at the facility).
I’m also taking courses at a local community college to fulfill prerequisites to apply to several programs. So I alternate between part time and full time status as a student.
My previous degree in college was in humanities and I regret it. I wanted to drop out my sophomore year in college but my parents wouldn’t let me. I wanted to figure out a game-plan of what I wanted to do in my life, after assessing the job market and learning what I needed to do to land specific careers. I went in college with absolutely no idea what I wanted to study, and just folded under pressure from my parents and got a degree. I also had really poor advising, and felt like I was sold a lie that I’d still be employable and could land jobs paying above living wage. It also doesn’t help that my parents are completely out of touch with the job market, and the credentials I need to qualify for a lot of jobs they mistakenly think I’m qualified for. In their time, a bachelors degree was enough to get the job. Now it’s so different.
It seems the only jobs I’m qualified for are minimum wage jobs, that don’t even require a degree.
I feel stuck in a dead-end, hopeless, and doomed to live in poverty. I gave up on the dream of having my own home, car, family, partner, pets. How is anyone else surviving? Anyone else surviving on <$25,000 salary? How do you do it? What did you do to survive? I’m pretty sure if I try to do life by myself, I’d be homeless and die within a few months :(
I’m terrified for my future, feel extremely lost, and don’t know if any of my efforts now will pan out to anything substantial enough for me to survive on my own and be independent. It’s already upsetting enough realizing I probably will never be able to afford retirement, let alone any medical treatments when I become old in age and my health begins to deteriorate.
This stuff is making me suicidal. And I’m not even able to afford therapy and psychiatric meds to deal with this :/