You may be wondering how I got here

I am 37 years old. I have lived in Cumbernauld, Glasgow, Leeds, Sheffield, Shawlands, Lille, and Manchester.

I’ve worked in department stores, customer service, and broadband support. I’ve gone from a freelance journalist to become a paid writer then moved into social media, and now, for the first time in my life, I’m unemployed.

I’ve been married twice, had multiple stag-dos, travelled to various countries around the world, ticking off four continents. It’s been amazing fun and I am very lucky to have a wonderful wife, someone I enjoy spending every day with.

Every position I’ve ever had, I’ve considered it to be a ‘job’, but now, I want a career. Somewhere you know you are building towards the future. A role where you can see the progression and get excited about what you can do.

Education wise, I’ve got the normal GCSE’s you’d expect and Highers in Maths and Art. I then went to Glasgow College of Building and Printing to study Art & Design and Graphic Design, which followed with a place at Leeds Met University for a degree in Multimedia Technology.

Yet, it feels like that course was set about 20/30 years ago now. The programs used are ancient news. Maybe five years later, I would have picked up Photoshop, Illustrator and the likes, but no, I’m stuck with a basic knowledge of 3D Max, Adobe Director and other things no one touches.

Graphic Design gigs never materialised and then you need to get a full-time job doing anything, something to pay the bills…

Enter customer service.

Seven years later and a couple of promotions — I was good, it’s just a mind-numbing thing to do — and while living in Sheffield, my first marriage ended and I decided to move to France to pursue another ‘career’.

Writing about football had become a hobby, one in which I turned into a paid role. No doubt my marriage suffered due to my pursuit of trying to learn everything there was to know about French football, but I had blinkers on.

France was amazing. I was making the least amount of money I ever have, but £600-a-month can go a long way when your electricity bill is £10 and you have no responsibility.

I made friends, travelled on fan coaches to see games and went to 55 fixtures that season. A spell in my life I will always remember.

Eight months later, situations outwith my control conspired against me and I had to move back to the U.K. But after meeting Catrin on social media, that prospect wasn’t as daunting as it would have been a few months earlier.

Freelance writing continued and led to a full-time role at Football Whispers. While there I transitioned into the head of their social media. I was the voice of the website, in charge of Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. I also got to travel to Los Angeles to take charge of the International Champions Cup’s House of Soccer event.

An incredible opportunity. Working beside the likes of Odell Beckham Jr and Draymond Green. It was intense, but fun. Amazing being on site and creating content on the fly.

The idea behind my move to social was to gain experience in the field, something which could be used down the line to move up the ladder.

And here we are, at the bottom of the ladder, holding on to the first rung.

Yet, here I am, applying for social media jobs, looking at industries where I’ve never worked and not sure how I’ll get on.

I want to give it a try and put everything into the role, but I’m still not sure if it’s a career.

Part of me would love to move into something completely different. But I’ve no idea how that looks or what that is, or what I can even do. I don’t feel qualified for anything in the modern world.

This is not where I expected to be aged 37.

https://twitter.com/Gibney_A/status/1143549972396281862?s=20

I’m happier than I’ve been for months. The last job got me so down. It really affected my mental health. The first time I can ever say that’s happened. Even people who have seen me in the last week have commented on how different I look.

Which is wonderful, but in a few weeks, I know the anxiety is going to kick in. I need a job, or I need to know what I’m going to be doing with my life.

I want to have a career and somewhere I can work hard and progress and make my wife proud — hopefully, my kids (pending) too — but in my head, I can’t even see where or what that is.

Ideas and suggestions on a postcard. Sometimes people outside of your brain can see your strengths and weaknesses better than you can.