I turn 30 in 4 weeks. Kind of freaking out I didn't spend my 20's making the right decisions.
It's no excuse but I dropped out of college because I was struggling and couldn't mentally handle it (had a brain injury that sucked and struggled with learning disabilities all throughout my youth.) I wanted to go to school to run ski resorts because I love skiing and have been doing it since I was 4.
Ending up spending the better part of decade "ski bumming"-it doing all sorts of various stuff and living with family due to our proximity to some ski areas nearby my house and worked whatever job I could find/saved money. Had tons of fun and met some of the greatest people ever doing it too. Got to travel all over the country and to some different countries just by some lucky opportunities. I decided to get my EMT-B back around COVID because a family member who is a nurse suggested it and had an idea of working as a ski patroller one day.
Ended up pulling the trigger on that and it's been my life for the past 4 years almost. Also very fun….But stressful work for extremely low pay. Recently relocated to Colorado 2 years ago on my own which has been an interesting experience to say the least, but starting to feel a huge wave of burnout and just not really feeling "the spark" or motivation anymore. Living in a remote mountain town that's hard to make friends in and meet people also doesn't help. I also feel old-as-shit working around a bunch of people in their 20s as well but no hate to them at all.
Looking around at all my other peers/friends who are my age, it makes me both happy for them and bums myself out because they're all getting married/settling into their respective careers/enjoying stability for once. Stuck with the paycheck-to-paycheck life which makes saving money and planning finances almost impossible, but we're able to keep a roof over our heads, our truck running, and food in our belly (barely), so there's that I guess. I'm scared I'll end up as that 40-something barfly with nothing to their name and it's fucking with my head pretty hard and not sure where to go or what to do.
I do want a career change. Just not sure what. Advice is appreciated but I just wanted to vent and let some things out because I wasn't sure where to go and I know asking strangers for advice on the Internet isn't the best, but I figured some of you might have similar experiences. Thanks for reading my ramblings. Peace and love to y'all.