u/leftofthedial15

I've recently been getting very, very anxious and frankly scared about my future. I'm supposed to graduate in December, but we'll see. I was supposed to graduate in December 2024...and then December 2025 but had to drop out both semesters, and of course one of the courses I need is only offered in the Fall.

I'm 29 and autistic in addition to bipolar. I still live with my parents and am 100% financially dependent on them. I have also never had a job. At fucking 29.

The degree is in political science, but everything I ever saw myself doing in that field or related ones requires grad school/law school. I currently have a 2.1 GPA and can only raise it to a 2.2 max, so that's clearly no longer an option. Plus I'm not all that sure more school is a good idea considering this has taken me 11 years. Taking easy courses to boost my GPA also isn't financially feasible. I've done the math, and it would take 36 credits of a perfect GPA to even get back up to 2.5.

I really have no idea what to do. I've never had a job, and I don't have any useful skills. I've been told I write well. My grades on written assignments back that up, but I don't know how exactly I'd prove that. Otherwise, I wouldn't say there's anything I'm particularly good at. I have terrible, terrible social anxiety so a customer facing job would be hell. I'm getting bored just thinking about learning to code and have no interest at all in the tech industry. I've been thinking over the last few days trying to come up with some field/occupation that I feel I could be passionate about, and I'm coming up empty.

So that leaves me with....what? I seriously have no idea, and that's why I'm asking y'all. It's a longshot, but maybe your comments can help me figure something out.

I'm under no illusion that most people love, or even like, their jobs, and that's what scares me the most. Even if I can get a job that I can tolerate while not depressed, I know myself and know that in a depressive episode I will not be able to make myself get up and out of the house if I'm not at least a little bit interested. But it just seems like my options are so limited that it might be impossible to find something like that.

I'm 29 and will finally finish a degree that I started 11 fucking years ago. I finish in December. I did the math, and even if I made an A in every remaining class, I still finish with a 2.2 GPA. 11 years for that. And I know you probably mean well, but please don't tell me that sticking with it for 11 years is some kind of accomplishment. It feels a bit infantilizing in addition to the fact that I could not disagree more.

I also have bipolar disorder. I'm not sure if that's relevant at all, but I figured it might help people if they have suggestions. It also serves as a partial explanation of why I'm here :/

Anyway, I decided yesterday that since all of the careers I'd been interested in almost always required grad school, which is clearly no longer an option, that I don't need a "career" per se.

I don't need much. I'll live in a shoebox. I'll drive a shitty car. It's readily apparent to me now that finding some joy/purpose/fulfillment is much more important than finding a "real career". I'll do just about anything that pays the bills and is at least a little bit fulfilling.

Therein lies the problem. I'm not sure what kinds of jobs I should be looking for. You'd think it would become easier once I decided that I didn't give a shit about having an actual career, but I'm having a hard time finding anything or even knowing where to look.

If it helps, my interests are mainly fishing, photography, kayaking, and reading. I don't think I can really find a job in any of those areas, but that's ok.

Do y'all have any suggestions on where to look or start looking? Are there any strategies or something that can help me figure out what exactly might meet my criteria, most importantly the fulfilling part.