I obtained a degree in something I hate. Lost all ambition. Will it ever come back?

[Stimlover22]

I grew up in a household with a Deaf parent. Needless to say, I have been fluent in ASL (American Sign Language) since I was a child. I decided to use this to my advantage, so after high school I majored in Sign Language Interpretation and and pretty much excelled and I graduated with an Associate's degree, and began working as an interpreter for the Deaf and HoH.
I absolutely hated it, and I feel like I wasted my time getting my degree. I desperately want to find my calling, but am lacking the ambition to find something else to shoot for, but after my meth addiction (been clean 3 years) I've lost my driving force in life and it's yet to come back. Will it ever come back? I'm tired of just existing in life.

 

[Pretty_Diamonds]

I'm sorry to hear that but it seems like you've done quite well for yourself! You've accomplished a lot!

Just try something else, something new, and find another passion.

 

[SixBuckets]

Try something new! I'm only in my thirties and I've already gone through three distinct career paths (with a bit of overlap). It's the way of the world in the modern age - the idea of doing one thing at one job for the rest of your life is dead.

Even if you study something completely different or obtain a job in a completely different field, the fact that you are fluent to interpreter level in another language will be a major asset to you.

 

[Maya]

You'll definitely find something else OP. I am currently in that transition of wanting to obtain another degree. I'm in my early 30's and I have plans of taking courses next year to obtain that. It might take longer to achieve that goal but I'm in no hurry at all.

 

[Londonscouser]

A lot of people tend to graduate with degrees, but then move onto something entirely different.

In your case, you have a special talent that most of the population don't have. It is an asset for you, and may be highly regarded by certain employers. So in short, no you haven't wasted your time because that type of degree is potentially very useful UNIVERSALLY.

I can see your problem though. Like you, i also suffer from lack of motivation due to my past drug abuse. I have no genuine interests/passions/hobbies anymore. I'm also emotionally detached/numb (can't feel happiness/sadness, cant cry/laugh).

 

[clubcard]

Yep - MOST people don't use their degrees. I lasted less than a year after studying to PhD... if you have the ability, MANY careers are open to you.

 

[Spicebread]

Maybe try a job in ASL with a different environment to a.) give it one last shot and b.) explore other jobs before diving into another path of education. Try working at a hospital or some place similar that has a lot of different professionals in one place. Ask different professionals what they do, watch them, etc. while still earning an income.

It's so hard to know what to do these days. I studied nutrition with the hopes of helping adults with eating disorders or diabetes, and my first (current) job is working with children (which I dislike) talking about formula, titties, and dirty diapers and hearing the ABC's all day. Just waiting to gain experience to transfer to a nutrition job with a different background.

 

[Jabberwocky]

I grew up in a household with a Deaf parent. Needless to say, I have been fluent in ASL (American Sign Language) since I was a child. I decided to use this to my advantage, so after high school I majored in Sign Language Interpretation and and pretty much excelled and I graduated with an Associate's degree, and began working as an interpreter for the Deaf and HoH.
I absolutely hated it, and I feel like I wasted my time getting my degree. I desperately want to find my calling, but am lacking the ambition to find something else to shoot for, but after my meth addiction (been clean 3 years) I've lost my driving force in life and it's yet to come back. Will it ever come back? I'm tired of just existing in life.

This sounds like me. In my last 2 semesters of my Masters in Business I abused meth weekly then quit a few weeks before graduating. Ever since these few months of abuse and it's been now 3 years and a bit am still to get it back. I managed to get into a consulting job and got bored very quickly as it reminded me of uni. However the wage was good, so then I tried to get into business myself writing consulting based reports. It was so hard and I still have 2 reports to finish after 2 months but I have no energy for it even though the wage can be very good. In uni I used to be able to fly through reports and do them in a short time frame now I just cbf. All I want to do is drink and play games.

Any how your calling will come. Maybe you can branch into social services which aren't associated with sign language? Or was there anything else that you ever liked growing up as a kid?