I'm not sure if you're ok with tough love, but it's all I know. Ask James, ask B, ask BigJ, sorry I'm not sorry for being a blunt instrument.
Your posts don't help with anybody provide you any advice. You're either indifferent because you haven't found something you're passionate about or you're just totally apathetic and this thread is pointless.
Hoping it's the former, not the latter, but you're absolutely right.
It sounds like all you care about is making it to the next meal and having your fundamental needs met, but I don't believe that's true. I'm going to tangent here and talk about Maslow's hierarchy of needs.
This is one thing that is really unique with millennials. Once the basic needs are met, (food, water, shelter, sex, sleep) then safety, and finally belongingness, there is a sense of accomplishment. They tend to feel they have everything they need and they don't need to work to get anything else. It's true, they don't
NEED to work to get anything else, but it leads to a lack of satisfaction later on in life because they evolve and grow and their internal needs become more prevalent. One line that confirmed my theory was your statement about having a girlfriend. Your reason for not just picking up and leaving is because you would then lack that state of being and you wouldn't be able to pursue your esteem needs because you don't have that relationship and intimacy anymore and would need to start over.
Hell, maybe your girlfriend is part of the problem. Maybe she's dragging you down. It's also possible she's excelling at what she's doing and you're uncomfortable with it. We really haven't gotten into the rest of the details of your life, goals, family, etc.
Definitely stuck at the "Esteem Needs". Shit, I may just be a millennial after all.
As far as my girlfriend goes, she's been amazing. She up and left NJ when I took a job in Boston, without really asking her. She had an incredible job in Boston when I told her I had an opportunity I just couldn't pass up in CA. We fought, almost broke up, but at the end of the day she uprooted again for me. She actually works for a much worse company now than she did in Boston. She's a duck on a pond waiting for her contract to be fulfilled so she can find something better.
Would I up and move around constantly if I was single? Maybe, but I do love where I live now. I have no problem staying for a bit.
As far as goals, plans, etc goes, let me see if I can get some thoughts down.
Family- Mine is in NJ, hers is in NY. We do not plan on having children. We have 2 cats and that's too much sometimes, haha.
Life/goals- I would say I'm happy most of the time. My work is really the only source of grief. I enjoy getting out and doing things after work and on weekends. This position has late night and weekend obligations at a moments notice (I have been told we're working Saturday on Friday evening, or that we're staying late at 4p). Doesn't allow for a lot of planning. Something I did recently was take a motorcycle rider education course. 2, 8 hour days of classroom and riding to get new riders ready for the road. I absolutely loved it. I had to reschedule it twice because of work. This lack of a real work schedule is preventing me from enrolling in the welding course right now, or taking classes to get my MBA (I already have my Masters). Hell, it's preventing me from taking a cooking class, or whatever.
If you have EVERYTHING that you need right now, go work in a record store, or be a video game tester, or be a bouncer at a strip club and look at titties all day. If you want to work with your hands, you can be a welder, or make wood statues with a chainsaw, or be a glass blower. But if none of those sound appealing, you know why. It sounds like money needs are an influencer as well.
Money is an influencer. Right now, money isn't a problem for me. I budget, but I'm not all that flashy to begin with. I could make cuts if my income was adjusted. That's part of it though. I was led to believe this job would be between 50-55 hours a week. I agreed to my compensation based on that. I can do 50-55 hours standing on my head. Above 55, I get expensive. I know this. You are now encroaching on my personal life. That's the next piece. I'm salary. I don't get comp days or anything when I work the weekends. I just get more hours for the same pay. I do think I need to go back to hourly. If you need me to stay late, pay me for it.
It's possible to travel the country with no obligations. But it doesn't really sound like what you want to do because you would have done it already. But committing to the military without a plan is a bad option for you as well. You wouldn't be doing it as a sense of mission or desperation to get out of something bad, it's just an escape route to do something cool for a couple years. But six months in, you'll be ready to gtfo because it doesn't get you where you want to be. Share some ideas, goals, dreams, travel, income desires, family plans, etc. and we can provide some better guidance.
I have always wanted to serve. I do feel somewhat like its an obligation I haven't fulfilled. But I also do not agree with our countries foreign policy, so it gets complicated. In what I researched, it doesn't appear that any Coast Guard forces are deployed to a foreign "warzone". The caveat is that they get deployed to disasters with much less notice of deployment than other branches (like 24-48 hours). I actually think I would enjoy the job quite a bit.
Goal- to have my own welding business. If I wound up with an hourly welding job, taking sidework for extra cash, I think I would be happy as well. I want to stop being a manager responsible for the performance of others, but if I can be my own boss, I would definitely take the opportunity.
Dreams- Kate Upton? Seriously though, a modest carriage house with a few toys and a 2nd story/rooftop deck.
Travel- I like weird travel options. I want to go to Africa and China. No desire to see Rome. I want to snowboard in South America and Asia. I'm going to a different part of northern Italy snowboarding in January. Already did the Alps, now the Dolomites. I want to explore this country and Mexico with no real plan. I want to go to Alaska. My crazy uncle wants to go on a gold mining expedition up there. I am so in. I really just like a unique experience. Fuck a cruise or an all inclusive resort that you never leave.
Income desires- I can pay my bills with ~$50k. Anything after that is gravy.
Family Plans- I don't want children. The girlfriend agrees. Marriage is out there somewhere, but not as close as she would like I'm sure.
If you take anything from this novel I just wrote, it's that if you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there.
I think my novel is longer. I don't know where I'm going, but I'm OK with that. I am trying to enjoy the journey. The road I'm currently on is full of potholes and no view... Alright, that was corny.
