Do you fight your gender?

[Jade]

I’m usually fairly good, at not letting my outward presentation alter my true feelings about my gender, but I was having a very tough day. I took a self care day yesterday, and put on my favorite little black dress with a cute new sweater, spent some time getting my makeup and hair just right, and went out to the mall to walk around, window shop, and do a little thinking. It worked wonders, and really helped me get back to myself. Part of the reason for my current struggle is just struggling to find work. At the same time as I have been finally being open in the world with my gender expression, I’ve decided to retire from the career path I’ve spent more than a decade on. I was in restaurant management, which is a thankless job, requiring lots of long hours and late nights, which cost me two relationships. I’m now married, and my wife agrees that she doesn’t want me working late nights and long hours either, however, I don’t have many other job skills, and I do not have a college degree, so I haven’t been able to find much. The frustration finally bubbled over on Monday, and I had a terrible day. The discussion here, with y’all, has been so helpful in getting my head straight. I needed it, and now, today, I’m gonna get back at it and send out more resumes.

[Ativan Prescribed]

I worked in areas that required a college degree but was able to talk my way into the position, just based on skills and learned things that went with the job.
A college degree is nice, but it is a round degree of things, it really isn't all that hands on and directly involved with what most people will be hired for.
You have lots of skills that they just aren't able to teach in a college or university type of program, they are academic were you are more on the real side of the the things that are required.
Lots of strengths in knowing how things work on a street level and higher, instead of just having the higher and very little if any street smarts to go with it.
Common thing for people to graduate with a masters degree and have a hard time finding the work they want, mostly they have to go through the ranks before it all kicks in.
If you are good at what you do, then you were doing more than just the required things that the job wanted from you.
If you are good at anything, then it is because you have an edge on it and most people lack that very thing in life.
So it isn't a matter of if you can do the things that a degree taught you that you will never ever use in a real life job anyways, it's what you did that was better than the next person at what you have already done.
Does that make sense? You already have more than a college degree is going to teach you about how it really works in life, they just can't and don't teach that in college.
Don't be afraid to step up to a job that you want because you don't have that degree, you have a degree in what they the college grads usually don't have.
I worked with a guy who had a masters in physics and I had a few incomplete courses mostly from tech college, a rounded process to fit you into a job better.
I passed this guy up simply because he couldn't hold it together on the field, he knew the game really well, just had no practice time and was no good when it came time to be up at bat.
Any work history and hobbies and all the odd jobs you ever had in life are worth a lot, mix in a college degree and you really do have something there, but the real world vs a degree, real world beats it almost every time.
If you have the on the job experience for a position that calls for a degree, they do that because they are hoping to find both in a person, but if they have to settle, real world experience wins.