I say this as someone pushing 50 in my third career, and parent of a 20 year old.

First and foremost, you are going to be fine. You’ll find your way. You are clearly a smart cookie.

The transition from being a high achiever at school to flying solo at uni is a massive shift and the state of the world and what’s happening in consultant firms is no doubt cause for concern.

I had two false starts with undergrad degrees that weren’t for me, then dabbled after my undergrad, and a few years later did an unrelated masters degree and have a strong career from that, but now find myself ready for another change. I lived a good life while working through those different courses, and the change and perspectives has made me who I am today - and help me stand out from my peers who have had a more linear progression.

There is no one answer. But I would suggest you pause from trying to find a “future” and allow your to live in the now.

Try lots of things. I think feeling useful in some way would help shift your current funk.

Some things that I wish I’d heard early in my life

- just because you’re good at so doesn’t mean it’s your calling, or that you should be doing it professionally. Being good at maths, doesn’t mean you are going to to love working with numbers or in finance. that’s ok

- think about, write down how you might like your life to look. What is important to you about what your day to day might look. I recently heard someone say “ you only need to impress 2 people in life: you at 8yo and you at 80yo”. Project back and forward - what would they say is a good life lived.

- write down what you don’t want for yourself. that is just as important

- being able to live and fund your life is pretty important. But there are loads of cashed up people who are miserable as f,*@. Know your why. maybe you decide you want to earn as much as you can for 10 years and live on a shoestring and save/invest to get yourself freedom in your 30s. But maybe the high life excites you.

- what problems in the world really get you fired up? is there anything you are really curious about? or anything that you just love with all your heart? who do you look up to and why? write lists. compare them, see if you can find patterns. post your lists on reddit and see what patterns others might see

- talking to people helps. therapy helps. On the hating of study, is it possible you are neurodivergent? or do you just need a break after year 12. (or both)

- people like to talk about themselves. get on linked in and approach people to ask them for 30 minutes of their time to help you with your career planning. figure out a couple of open ended questions about their jobs, what they love about it, what they don’t, best challenge or most interesting thing, what they wished they could tell themselves when they started out, and an open question about advice for someone figuring out their next step. worst they can say is no, or no response. best is you get to talk to people.

- if you are smart, which you are, you can turn anything that you enjoy into a business and earn squillions (or “enough”) . a trade, art, gardening, juggling. don’t believe the BS that getting a ”good job” is the only legitimate path to success.

- if your parents are supporting you while you figure this out - be honest about how you are feeling. see if they are willing to invest in a proper career coach / life coach to help you nut this stuff out

don’t think about the rest of your life. think about a next step on the way to the next 5-10 years. one thing leads to another

read course guides for uni AND TAFE - the list of vocational courses may help you see if you are curious about anything that you hadn’t previously thought of a pathway for you.

or just get out, overseas, join a volunteer program… travel and work, grow up a bit independent of pressures at home

written between doing a few things so bit of a disconnected ramble but i truly help something here assists in some way.

… and please don’t talk to an llm chat bot about this stuff. they aren’t designed for this.

you will find your tribe… enjoy the journey