47 years old and don´t like my job, but don`t know what to do for a living.
by Miguel Vicente
(Venezuela)
The Question
Hello, I was just looking for answers and navigating through the Internet found your web page.
I am 47 years old, went to college in Texas but had to return to my country due to family money troubles, leaving my engineering career right in the middle. Then I went to college in computer sciences here in my country and had to quit to help my parents economically.
I have been working for 25+ years now. Have experience in personal computers sales, information systems, cell phones sales and ended up being an auto body shop manager.
Got married 15 years ago and have two sons now 10 and 8. I have always wanted to be a commercial pilot, but my near sightedness made it impossible. Now I am sure it is not what I want to do. I can`t find myself happy and can`t stop working because I need to make a living and my salary is low even though my bosses are great and trust me fully, economy in Venezuela is really bad.
I have being reading anything and everything about setting goals but the main problem is, on the career subject I have NONE!!!!
What can I do if I want to make career changes when my real calling is impossible from a physical point and now age?
And reading won`t get me any money, which is something I love, I "eat" all kind of books, as people tells me.
ANd people trust me when selling, because they know I care about them and help them get what they really want, even in the shop.
What can I do to find a real JOB that I can profit from under the circumstances???
Thanks for your time on reading this , Noel.
Noel's response
Finding your true calling can be very difficult, but very worthwhile. Most people never find it.
I am not sure whether you are saying you no longer want to be a pilot, or you no longer want to do the work your are doing, and the only thing you want to do is be a pilot.
Assuming you still want to be a commercial pilot, and it is not possible because of your age and your eyesight, it is time to let that go. In order to do that, you might make a list of all the things your believe being a pilot would give you (e.g. flying a lot, good wages, prestige, whatever).
Once you have made a list of the things you want to have from being a pilot, do some serious thinking about where else in the world you could get those same results. Perhaps there are jobs other than being a pilot that will give you most of what you want.
Go to this page: Your Life Mission on my website, and do some of the exercises, including the 'Lifetime Goal Setting' exercise, and 'Personal Mission Statement' exercise. These may help you figure out where your passion and soul purpose lies.
Of course also think about what you would do (besides being a pilot) if money were no object.
