šŗļø
I donāt have any degree and in another life I worked in restaurants and at CVS. Customers would grill me about my career aspirations and straight up beg me to go to college. I got sick of it pretty quickly and sat down and asked myself what I would want in a workplace and what skills I had that I could use to do something else.
I had some freelance experience and used that to enter my current field and continued pursuing organic opportunities for growth and learning. About a year ago I started working at a company that prioritizes employee development and internal promotion and Iām in the process of gaining enough experience and connections to be able to do something new again! I definitely think itās possible for people who donāt have a bachelorās degree to find these opportunities; you just have to be strategic about it and get your foot in the door at the right places.
There are so many transferable skills you gain in retail and food service that are beneficial in other professional fields like communication, multi-tasking, attention to detail, etc. So you can take those and add them to whatever skills you may have gained at your current job.
Ask yourself what it is that youāre better at than anybody else, the things you would want and definitely not want in a workplace, the kind of tasks you like doing, and kind of guide your search from there. Donāt fall into the trap of thinking youāre lesser than others just because you have less formalized education than they do and remember that people hire likable people they want to be aroundāeven that will take you far! best of luck! š
Sep 5, 2024
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I donāt think you need to do anything immediately, your situation sounds v stressful and disregulating though and Iām sorry youāre going through it
It might be good to slow down and remember all the things you bring to the table. I really believe that self taught knowledge/work experience isnāt lesser than knowledge gained in a classroom. I work in a field completely unrelated to my degree because people saw that I was eager to learn and they took a chance on me. You arenāt lesser because you have an associateās degree - your path was just different! Donāt let your self critic diminish your dopeness š«¶š»
There are also so many jobs outside of food/retail !! Trust šāāļø
Sep 5, 2024
š¼
Tbh I feel like finding a job you like is mostly self awareness and knowing that itās still going to feel like a job
A few questions that Might help:
1. think about past work experience - who has your favorite supervisor been? Why? Same for least favorite - what did they do that you absolutely could not stand?
2. Think about morals - do you want to find ~meaning~ at work or is it more important to have stability and freetime?
3. Think about past coworkers - do you like working alone? On a team? Is it important to be around people during the work day?
4. Think about what you get satisfaction out of in your personal life - is your grocery list organized by aisle? are you the mediator in your friend group? While hobbies might play into this, try and think beyond them
try and translate some of your answers into something youād find on a job description. Maybe this exercise wonāt be helpful but thinking about work like this has helped me land in a job I like
Myself as example: I like organization, having autonomy, having my voice heard, and ~believing~ in the work I do. I also get bored at work quickly. This originally led me to social work where I quickly got burnt out With 24/7 work. Iām in continuing Ed administration where I work a 9-5 ~10 months of the year and have 1-2 very hectic months and that works really well for me.
Feb 16, 2024
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long story short, capitalism is failing (which is for the best actually!) so a lot of the systems we were told to rely on are revealing the ways in which they are ultimately unsustainable. the erosion of the high school -> undergrad degree -> lifetime career and single-income stability pipeline is a very visible example of this. our system wants you to believe that GDP is the only measure of a thriving society, so you need to become the best tool for production that you possibly can be in order to keep this number going up in perpetuity. it's totally natural for you to feel some dissonance between what's expected of you in this kind of culture and what you actually want to do. this system was not designed with the needs of the individual in mind.
our current world does a great job of convincing us that we're worthless if we aren't economically productive, if we aren't "successful," and if we aren't head-over-heels about being a cog in a machine whose only purpose is generating shareholder value. luckily, you matter as an individual inherently, and you get to define for yourself what success is and what you want to accomplish with your life. a job is only a small part of all the things you will do if you keep curious and open to the world.
with college comes the freedom to act upon the agency which you have as a human with free will. adulthood is all about reclaiming this compass for yourself and shedding the inherited narratives and expectations that your upbringing gave you if they don't actually serve to bring about your own flourishing. use college as an opportunity to get to know yourself and work your way up mazlow's pyramid of needs (or more accurately, maslowās sailboat); find community, find hobbies, find what brings you joy now that you have the freedoms afforded you by adulthood. figure out what it is that you most enjoy doing in life and find ways to pursue that, and it doesn't have to be tied to a career/your major (that's great if it is though, count yourself lucky if that is the case).
humans are too complex and capable to be restricted to performing one type of task in one single field for their entire life. sure that's what expertise necessitates, but you don't need to be an expert in everything. the economy is weird right now because corporations are convinced by the hallucination that people come out of college being complete experts in whichever field they studied, so it can be very discouraging to feel unwanted by the job market because you don't have enough "experience." this pressure is an unrealistic expectation, and it is natural to feel as if you do not meet this expectation. the system needs to change, not you! what corporate culture fails to realize is that learning about something is not the same as doing it, and experience comes from doing. college under capitalism is a business. it's not designed to provide you experience, it's designed to maintain a tuition-paying student body. you have to seek out experience yourself.
so try new things, fail on occasion, that's how you learn. don't limit yourself to doing only things which you perceive as being productive, productivity isn't what life is about. life is about experiencing. if something interests you, do it for the sake of your own edification. you'll be a fuller and more fulfilled person for doing so, even if it doesn't leave a blip on your resume. the best things in life aren't going to show up on your transcript or your linkedin page. your dreams do not have to be defined by your career, find a dream to pursue that is true to you and then achieve it. don't fall for the lie that your dreams must relate to your profession, and that your profession defines your worth. reject any narrative that seeks to belittle you for the sake of making you compliant within a system which was not designed to benefit you.
Sep 26, 2024
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My dad teases me about how when I was a little kid, my favorite thing to do when I was on the landline phone with somebodyābe it a relative or one of my best friendsāwas to breathlessly describe the things that were in my bedroom so that they could have a mental picture of everything I loved and chose to surround myself with, and where I sat at that moment in time. Perfectly Imperfect reminds me of that so thanks for always listening and for sharing with me too š
Feb 23, 2025
Schedule sent my resignation email for the morning, effective immediately ā
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Feb 27, 2025
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Iāve been thinking about how much of social media is centered around curating our self-image. When selfies first became popular, they were dismissed as vain and vapidāa critique often rooted in misogynyābut now, the way we craft our online selves feels more like creating monuments.
We try to signal our individuality, hoping to be seen and understood, but ironically, I think this widens the gap between how others perceive us and who we really are. Instead of fostering connection, it can invite projection and misinterpretationāpreconceived notions, prefab labels, and stereotypes. Worse, individuality has become branded and commodified, reducing our identities to products for others to consume.
On most platforms, validation often comes from how well you can curate and present your imageāselfies, aesthetic branding, and lifestyle content tend to dominate. High engagement is tied to visibility, not necessarily depth or substance. But I think spaces like PI.FYI show that thereās another way: where connection is built on shared ideas, tastes, and interests rather than surface-level content. Itās refreshing to be part of a community that values thoughts over optics.
By sharing so few images of myself, Iāve found that it gives others room to focus on my ideas and voice. When I do share an image, it feels intentionalāsomething that contributes to the story I want to tell rather than defining it. Sharing less allows me to express who I am beyond appearance.
For women, especially, sharing less can be a radical act in a world where the default is to objectify ourselves. It resists the pressure to center appearance, focusing instead on what truly matters: our thoughts, voices, and authenticity. Iāve posted a handful of pictures of myself in 2,500 posts because I care more about showing who I am than how I look.
In trying to be seen, are we making it harder for others to truly know us? Itās a question worth considering.
Dec 27, 2024