Cactus Jack, I think these are good questions:
Quote:
Originally Posted by cactus jack  What have you retained and what have you learned? How do you utilize that? |
This may be what my psych is pushing for. They are hard questions for me, though. I'll have to think about this more.
Damiea, yes, you're right, I think it is mid-life crisis, but I think it's complicated by ptsd.
She Cat, your post made me realize I should have filled in more background on me. It was so difficult for me to articulate my problem that I neglected to do so.
Since I was a teenager I knew I wanted to work on books. After college I got a job at a publishing company, and I worked there for nearly 20 years, my entire career. Then I was laid off this summer. The industry is such that I don't see a decent future in it for me, so I am also at a professional identity crisis. I have no idea what kind of job I want to do now. I'm living in a rural area without a lot of opportunities and I don't want to move because of family considerations as well as my own personal preference.
Emerald River (beautiful name, by the way) and She Cat, I think you two have hit on where I'm at. I feel like a different person than who I was 20 years ago. I've been trying to figure out how to get that back, and that's where I'm stuck, too.
One of my practical problems is, as my psych says, I have some self-exploring to do, in terms of figuring out my next job. I can't live on severance and unemployment forever. I don't know if I can handle a job and I don't have the energy yet to do the self-exploration.
I'm sorry if I'm not being very articulate. This is really difficult for me. Thanks for all the comments, everyone.