Hi I was you last year and you yet again this year (with different circumstances).
I came from a family that discouraged similar things in working abroad as a teacher, but to get over it I went and tested the waters beforehand by doing small 1 week teaching options in and around Europe (I live in the UK). For you to get over that initial fear, and to send a clear message to your parents and family, I would advise going to a different part of your country and doing some kind of short course support teaching.

I want to remind you that our limitations are in our mind, and other people’s words are just what they are – words. It took a year of depression to realise that I have control over my future and choices if I just made those decisions. Family may put you down but its because they are frightened too. They too have put themselves under limitations, and seeing you take a brave step frightens them. But its okay to be a little frightened yourself, but as long as you are excited for the road ahead.

Try this, sit with your feelings, listen to them and for every thought that holds you back counter it with a good thought so for example: I am so confused= “I have multiple paths I can take in my life and I am lucky”
I am too scared= “I can do this. I am brave. I have made brave decisions before”

What I call this is to “make yourself uncomfortable by being kind to yourself” we are used to being so critical of ourselves and this man-made idea of quarter-life crisis is to reinforce that self-criticism and self-loathing. These ‘crises’ are just to remind you that you are not complying with societies observations of where you should be and my advice is to ignore them. It’s okay to be where you are. We are all on different journeys and to be sound with yours is the first step to compassion.

I too am 24, I moved abroad last year to teach, circumstances didn’t work out, I became depressed and came home. For a whole year I was beating myself up for not being at a certain place, for not having a job, for being depressed and- let’s just say I was very very unkind to myself and treated myself badly. It was a year of bad feelings towards myself and a breakup with my boyfriend a couple of weeks ago to realise how much I had let my mind control my thoughts, how much I allowed everyone else to control my path and how much I was disrupting my own ‘flow’ in life. Now I am taking small sturdy steps to get there again and its on my terms. I have to trust myself, other people and the family you are around cannot be changed but the one person in control of you is YOU. You can command that change!

Listen to yourself. Listen to your body- not the negative mind- and make yourself uncomfortable by being kind to yourself. Trust that you are where you want to be because coming to these boards for this advice shows something fantastic- you are reaching out for that help! 🙂 You are getting ready to take those steps, be proud of yourself, I am of you 🙂

Namaste 🙂

• This reply was modified 9 years, 11 months ago by CherryTea.

I support Inky with their suggestions on road trip and tutoring too! That’s a fantastic idea because when they see you are happy doing your passion, it will become infectious and then the only way will be up!