Changing my mind often, HELP!

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Hello all!

My fiance tells me I change my mind like I change my underwear. I need a fellow Aspie help. I am going to school for my bachelors in Psychology and now I added a minor in criminal justice. I am absolutely bored at school. It's boring. Now I keep saying I will change my degree or do career training or something. I think I might just finish this degree but I have no idea what I want to do in life. Do any of you have this trouble? Had this trouble? Are in this? Any ideas or helps?

I don't know.
Catherine

I'm an aspie high school teacher with an Associate's in Culinary Arts, a Bachelor's in Education, and a Master's in Curriculum and Instruction.

When you say that you're bored, could you be more specific? Are you bored with a specific class or are you bored with the entire course of study?

It's quite natural not to enjoy specific classes. When I got a degree in Culinary Arts, I had to take a wine course and this was problematic for me because I'm allergic to alcohol. While other students sipped various wines and discussed the dryness or fruitiness of this vintage or that, I had to rely on book smarts just to make it through this class. I HATED IT.

In graduate school, I had to take a course in statistics. The professor who taught this class was an alcoholic who'd come to class so smashed that he'd have to lean on his podium for support.

I made it through the boring classes because I kept my idea on the "big picture" i.e. graduation and launching a career as a Culinary Arts instructor. It helps that my personal interests have aligned with my chosen career.

So what about you? Is psychology aligned with your interests? If not, have you considered talking to a guidance counselor?

What do you want to do with your life?

Oh that’s cool. Do you enjoy being a high school teacher? What I mean by bored, I don’t need to study to pass the tests. Everything just seems very obvious. I feel like I am not being challenged enough. I am also second guessing what route I want to go with for my masters because I feel if I do anything with therapy like: social work, mental health counseling or psychology; it would be took much sitting and talking which that is what it is. I like to keep busy and doing things. In class my one class Developmental Science the teacher just talks and talks for 2 hours. We don’t talk, we don’t learn and we don’t watch movies. I have an Associate’s Degree in Social Work, and now going to my Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology with a minor in Criminal Justice.

The classes I am taking right now are: Criminal Justice 101, Victims and Their Experience, Research Methods and Design (Probably the most interesting, has my attention all class, we do in-class labs, I am learning the most here.) and Developmental Science. Now that you ask the specifics of being bored. I cannot sit still in my specifically 2 hour Developmental Science class. I feel as though I am not really learning. I am also thinking millions of other things and not knowing where my path is going in the future. I feel as I just went to college at the age of 23, now 26. I want to be able to find something and jump into the job field.

I understand what you mean that it’s natural not to enjoy specific classes that makes sense. That stinks you HAD to take a wine course. Your reason of making it through is my reason why I am seriously anxious and constant thoughts of different careers go through my mind. I don’t have a big picture as in I know when I graduate with my BA in Psychology there aren’t many options out there for anything. I will most likely need to get my masters but in what is what I am confused in. Occupational Therapy. Mental Health Counseling. Social Work. Something…. Totally unrelated like CAD drafting.

I have an appointment I totally forgot about with career planning tomorrow after my classes. Psychology has always been an interest. I love writing 10 pages about Autism, Anxiety or Depression. I have no problems with papers about topics like that. I love to learn how the brain works and to help people. I used to read psychology textbooks before I started college. I feel that I need more of a challenge. I never had the night where I needed to study. That I needed to understand something that I didn’t know.

What do I want to do with my life? I have so many answers for that question. I have thought about being a bookstore/toy store owner, occupational therapist, therapist, special education teacher, computer tech and etc. But in the sense of not answering what career I want. I want to make enough money never to have to struggle again. I want to have a job I enjoy. I want my life to involve some movement not a constant place of sitting and talking. What do I want to do with my life, I have no idea. That’s exactly why I am stuck. I know I am visual and hands-on learner. I love helping people. I love having accomplished even the smallest task. I want to figure out what I want to do with my life because it would make this college stuff easier for me because I would have an end point to look forward to. When I earned my associates degree in social work I did an internship and I decided that’s not what I wanted to do. It didn’t seem as interesting as I thought it would be. It was nothing I wanted to do but I did realize I didn’t want to work with kids under the age of 10. I pushed to graduate a year early by doing 5-6 classes per semester. I had not only a diploma, to make my family proud to look forward to but I was also moving into my first own apartment. All of that pushed me so far that now I am here in this new college unsure of my next step. It’s not that much fun.

You must be very bright if you find your psychology courses boring. You must also be very wise to realize that pursuing a career which would have you sitting in an office for extended periods whilst constantly talking (possibly with someone who needed therapy) would be excruciatingly boring for you.

Have you considered the possibility that maybe you need a hands-on sort of job? That's what I like about teaching Culinary Arts. A lot of what I do ... perhaps as much as 75% involves teaching hands-on production. My predecessor TALKED about Culinary Arts and in the end, she ultimately failed her students because they learned nothing. They read about the five mother sauces but never made them ... and since they didn't make any mother sauces, they didn't make any sauce derivatives. They READ about knife cuts but never practiced a batonnet or a brunoise.

I am a chef instructor and like most chef instructors, I believe in having students learn by doing. This keeps me occupied and interested and it certainly keeps the attention of nearly all of my students particularly since they know that if they don't follow the recipe, their product won't turn out well, and they won't have anything to eat.

Have you thought pursuing a CSI type of job ... medical examiner ... coroner ... forensic engineer? Every case would be different and there'd even be field work.

Two weeks ago, the state troopers brought a, "Every 15 Minutes" presentation to my school. They staged a two car collision using real students as victims of a drunk driving accident. The state troopers "arrived" at the accident within moments of the audience hearing the "dispatcher" report the accident. The fire department arrived along with EMTs. A rescue helicopter touched down while firemen used the "jaws of life" to pry open one vehicle so they could examine an "injured" student. The student was subsequently loaded onto the helicopter and flown away.

A forensic engineer arrived. After conferring with the officers, she took pictures of everything and began measuring how far the "driver" had been "thrown" through the front window. The driver was BTW supposed to be dead and the troopers had staged a really realistic scene in which the driver had impacted upon the asphalt head first. There was "blood" and "brain matter" everywhere ... a grisly trail that showed where the driver had impacted and how far his body had slid.

Two guys from a local funeral home later arrived and after the forensic engineer was finished taking pictures of the body, they put the body in a body bag, loaded it onto a gurney, slid the gurney into the back of a hearse, and left.

It was amazing how realistic it was. Hopefully the students will remember this and will always remember to buckle up and NOT to drink and drive.

Anyway - perhaps you could do something that would have you out and about. If you're in good physical shape, perhaps you could even become a law enforcement officer with the eventual goal of becoming a detective ... or instead of working for a municipal police department or the state police, you might aspire to working for the Feds as an FBi agent or an agent with the ATF, the U.S. Marshals, Secret Service, Treasury etc.

And yes, I usually like being a teacher. Today my 8th graders (I have one period of middle school kids) decided that they could leave the kitchen and run outside up and down the hall. I don't know why they thought they could do this and quickly disabused them of this notion. (sigh)

My immediate supervisor also told me that I need to spend this coming weekend doing some on-line workshop training with our Infinite Campus software (for attendance and grades). The principal had mentioned at a faculty meeting that this was option but the dean is now telling me that it's not ... so there goes Saturday ... *poof*

(double sigh)

Oh yes, I change my mind all the time!

I get bored quite quickly, especially in jobs. I think the longest I've stayed in a job is 18 months. I really should settle down in a position soon though because my resume is already 4 pages long!

I have no advise for you - just the consolation that it's not just you

Just glad I am not alone. Thank you

because something is easy for you is a reason to do it, not to shy away from it. i hear you can be in human resources with a psychology BS and make oodles of money. on the other hand, with your wanting to be out and about and your crim. just. minor, how does police work sound? we need more officers who are in it to be helpful.

When I was reading the OP's post, I was thinking along the same lines of advice: forensic science involving laboratory work could fit the bill.

11 years of college off and on and I am still in the same boat.
They eventually gave me a useless bachelors degree in general studies. Like a pity degree. I would light it on fire if it didn't cost so much!
I'm 2 semesters away from finishing my medical lab tech degree. I like blood bank and micro.
I also work as a county medical examiner. I love it, but it is part time, per case work - so it is not a steady income. I am also second in line so I do not get many cases.
I would love to be a forensic pathologist or a pathologists' assistant, but I screwed up too much in school and I'm far too old for graduate work.

I hope you figure it out, but I totally relate.