Anyone else feel like their idealistic parents didn't prepare them for adulthood?

[Anonymous]

Stop blaming your parents for your own bad choices

[Anonymous]

OP, having an MFA will not help you with job opportunities whatsoever. When you are in a creative profession, whether it is music or art or writing, you rise or fall on the strength of your portfolio. If you want to be a writer, you need to write; if you want to be hired to teach writers, you also need to write. You need to write and be published to make it as a writer.

What the MFA will help with is in teaching you how and where to submit, good work habits, connecting you with teachers, classmates and agents for your work. You have to learn to swim with those sharks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This happened to every GenXer. Reality Bites and selling out? The only reason most are okay are because they bought homes before 2000; late GenX are kind of screwed.

This is me.

Sorry OP, GenX, especially those who were too young to buy homes but crimped by age discrimination in their 30s to join the tech revolution (2007, a 22-year-old Mark Zuckerberg famously stated in an interview at Y Combinator's Startup School, "Young people are just smarter.") beat you to the pity party.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSWyNgXeyqA

Our theme song is probably "I'm a loser, Baby"

Loser (Gen X Anniversary Remix)
In the time of dial-up, I was a teenage king
With a chain on my wallet and a mood-stone ring
Now my back alignment is a total crime
And I’m paying off a mortgage for the second time
Got a closet full of flannel that I can't throw away
And a DVD of Clerks that I still play
Suntan lotion on my receding hair
While the algorithms track me from my office chair
Termite damage in the corporate ladder
Does it even matter? No, it doesn't matter
Got a LinkedIn profile full of fake degrees
And a mild intolerance to artisanal cheese.

I’m a loser, baby, so why don’t you kill me?
I’m a loser, baby, so why don’t you kill me?

[Anonymous]

OP, suggest you come to terms quickly with where you are and your options. A MFA is just delaying the inevitable, it offers the least return of any master's. And the writing industry is being crippled by AI, including journalism, which has its whole other sets of problems too, such as declining newspapers and magazines.

I am not opposed to your dog, but having one does add a bit of complication to your life in limiting your ability to move around for jobs or housing. As long as you're realistic about this, it is manageable.

What you should do is to get a job. Even if it's just waiting tables or working retail. Move home for a year or two, which is totally normal for a college grad, work, save money, and take the time to explore career trajectories and options. You don't want to be stuck in low wage jobs forever so don't do it for too long, but it is something and will teach you about discipline.

What I see in your responses is you keep coming up with excuses. The proposal coordinator suggestion someone made was a great one for a college graduate who likes writing, but you blew it off because you claim you have ADHD. Excuses. You're just afraid of the real world. But you know what, it's okay. You will learn. You have to. Step one: get meds for ADHD. Step two: get a job. Step three: do not do the MFA. If you must do a masters and go into debt for it, make sure it is directly tied to specific careers. Such as urban planning--> job as a county or city planner.

Good luck. It's ok to be nervous and apprehensive about life. But stop coming up with excuses. Tackle life like it's fun and be aware to get anywhere will always require work. Consider your student days over. Even a masters should be seen as an extension of work and being serious. But that is fine. Embrace it.

[Anonymous]

People are their own worst enemy. I can tell you a sad story about my life, but also a really good one.
I have chosen to go with the good one and it has paid off.
Want to prepare yourself for real life? Go get a food-runner job in the Great American restaurants. They are hiring food-runners with out any experience. You can become a server within months making $40-$50 an hour.
There, I just prepared you for life. Write all you want in your free time. Not sure why you have the dog. Everyone so delicate nowadays, but physical work does wonders.

[Anonymous]

Is this a troll? If you already are struggling, why make it worse by getting an MFA. That makes no sense.