One of my friends emailed me:

My undergraduate exams finished this week. Since then, I've been under a lot of mental pressure, feeling like a useless person. I can't even handle a single day like this. Previously, even if I had nothing to do, I would at least be at the university a few days a week and wouldn’t feel this sense of despair. I talked to one of my friends and decided the best plan is to enroll in a master’s program next year. But right now, I’m practically doing nothing. I asked one of my old online friends what they were doing, and they said, “Projects, translation, traveling, going out, movies, games… lots of things.” I’ve never had even one of these. Can you help me? Anything come to mind? Right now, I’m just thinking about who could guide me. In real life, either I don’t know who to ask for help or there’s no one I can see. I need to get out of this situation quickly. And income? Zero.

Before reading this post, check out: Life Algebra

Preface: I’m not a career or life coach, nor do I have any expertise in this area. What I share comes from my own experiences and perspective on life, nothing more.

Let’s start from the end, income and money at zero?

Income, money, and other related values come when you create value and deliver it to society/environment. You probably went to university to gain working skills. Now use those skills and enter the job market. Either create a job, work for someone, or if you feel the “economic situation” in your country is unstable, consider migrating.

“Projects, translation, traveling, going out, movies, games… lots of things”

You haven’t had any of these? I’m sure your online friend didn’t mean traveling to Hawaii (though that’s possible). I’m confident that the city you live in has countless interesting and notable places you haven’t noticed or just passed by. Travel opportunities are always open to you. Movies and games are freely available on the internet, torrent sites, and other distributed networks. Translation and projects are abundant on freelance platforms, you can find endless opportunities with a simple search. It just takes some seriousness and persistence.

In my opinion,

You (not necessarily intentionally) have put yourself into a cycle of weak excuses for depression and inaction, originating from your fear of independent life, which started when university ended. I understand because when I faced a similar situation (beginning of migration), I actually vomited twice in one hour. Find enough reasons for yourself to go all-in and push yourself to the limit. Make peace with your true self and try to solve your problems, letting go of those that can’t be solved and moving on. Push yourself to take action, challenge yourself, let go, move forward, do some magic, succeed, enjoy life, and listen to this song without overthinking.