I was a graphic artist, musician and truck driver for a long time until I had my third injury event and then I decided I needed a real edumacation so I started that in my mid 30s. As a 9th grade dropout, it took some remedial classes to get up to snuff for college writing and math. But I did it, was ready to pull my hair out a few times but came out with a graduate degree too. But that was in 8/01. I had a couple possibilities and one that I was negotiating... a sweet position doing exactly what I had in mind with a notable organization for a great wage and benes... could have paid off my loans in 24 months... and it evaporated into thin air two weeks after 9/11. Everything else that came up thereafter went from positions that paid $60K+ down into the low $20Ks, if I could get them... not. That went on for over three years, I had had enough and was in my late forties by then.
I tried to wait out the first bu$h term by going after another graduate degree to increase my marketability but by then the corporate world was controling what you could study and you had to have $$ backing you up when you walked through the door so that didn't work out either. After a couple semesters of that nonsense and a heavy case of depression I decided to just sell my world and moved to my study area since there are tourism towns surrounding it, at least I can make beds, wait tables, run a cash register, work in catering and operate heavy equipment to have food and shelter. I don't like lots of modern things and I was actually happy to not have a phone or computer for a couple years, it helped me reconnect to the natural world that I know best and love most. Now I have most of what I need to live and stay healthy but I don't have a job as I am healing up from the back injury I got this summer thanks to public safety net that is oh so temporary. I'll have to find work next season but the job creators here know I'm a good worker as I do my job and show up when I am supposed to.
So for many of us the pipe dream of a rather care-free retirement was never really an option as I have come to realize. (It's just TeeVee propaganda to keep us on the corporate treadmill for someone else's profit and our expense.) The best we can do is all we can do, and to come to the realization that uncomplicating our lives and accepting some simpler options are probably best. Besides, I don't feed the corporate beast much as I keep my transactions on a local level, the nearest city is over 100 miles away so I go there twice a year and get what I need in bulk and get immediate perishables in the town nearby as needed. Don't need the latest fashions or gadgets and that suits me just fine as it greatly reduces the stress level. That's what I know and I'm going with it since there really aren't any other realistic options that I can see. I am too old to compete with the younger generations and would have far less than acceptable living accommodations at a higher price elsewhere. If I need something, I deal with it the old fashioned way, I save up for it.
As far as continuing to smash my head against the wall looking for an elusive career, why bother? I've been out of the "loop" for so long that nobody would even give me a second look. I had two file drawers of job search related stuff, twenty resume versions, application (copies of), rejection notices etc... I shredded it and moved on knowing it wasn't meant to be. I even sold my professional wardrobe. Sure I cried at first but I got over that too.
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