For context, i’m a 23M. I grew up under the expectation that I would be joining the service like the previous 3 generations in my family as a pilot however my home life was never good as a kid. Both parents walked out on me as a baby, was adopted by my grandparents who were very strict conservatives. I clashed with them hard as a teenager and despite being a straight A student through elementary and middle school, I gave up in high school. At 16 I dropped out and picked up work full time and have been working full time since.
Fast forward to now, I make decent money working as an art framer. I absolutely love my job to death. Its fulfilling, I look at all kinds of beautiful art, photos, and trinkets all day, I craft stuff with my hands from scratch, and I get along fantastically with my coworkers and bosses. I’m able to afford to drive a very nice new car, my apartment, and can get approved for credit or anything no problem.
The downside to that last part is that i’m about $6k deep in credit debt. I can pay it back and have been but what i’m scared of is losing my hob for some unknown reason whether thats due to our economy here in the u.s. crashing or war or maybe my boss has a bad day idk. I’m terrified of losing my job because I still haven’t gone back to school and gotten my high school diploma or ged. I have expressed great interest in the past in going back, getting my adult high school diploma and enrolling in college and shooting for a degree in mechanical engineering (something i’m very knowledgable and interested in).
If I lose my job, I lose everything. Despite only having worked 3 jobs in my life, HD for 2 years, Lowe’s for 4, and now my new job, and have never been diciplined and have only ever been promoted and given raises for my hard work, I feel completely un hirable in todays economy for a decent wage given my background. More or less, I don’t want to go back to retail. I love working for a small business and especially one in the crafts field. What do I do? Who do I talk to? I know going back to school will help my cause but graduating with a degree in mechanical engineering will take time and i’m scared of what will happen between now and then. This anxiety eats me up too where I can’t sleep at night or it creeps into my mind when i’m feeling my happiest. This is awful, you guys