Send to a Friend

zophu's avatar

Non-profit, non-political, non-religious, non-volunteer jobs for non-educated in Austin, TX?

Asked by zophu (5711points) February 7th, 2011

I’m looking for a job that wont drive me (more) insane after a few weeks of working. I’ve got to feel like whatever I’m doing has a real purpose beyond my own personal gain. I understand that investing in myself will help me be better able to help others in the future, blah blah blah—I need to feel the drive of active purpose or I’m going to slip back into extreme depression once this amazing caffeine-augmented manic phase is over. Volunteering is great, but I’m not running on any simplistic altruistic delusions here. I want an altruistic environment, but only because it seems like the only sustainable way to go. (Possibly because of my lack of self-sufficiency, that I have no faith in any essentially competitive system, possibly . . . but that’s a sad possibility, so I don’t care about that right now.) Maybe if I thought I was being truly altruistic, volunteering part-time while helping people sell people crap they don’t need full-time wouldn’t be a problem. But it’s a problem.

These are reasonable requirements, I think. I probably wont think that for long, though. So, I need get involved in something before I crawl into a dollar-store or some other gate to hell to fill out an I-submit-entirely-to-the-general-misery-of-society-and-hold-out-hope-for-a-sense-of-purpose-only-as-a-coping-mechanism-or-abstract-spiritual-state-please-let-me-participate-in-your-parasetic-business-and/or-dogma form aka job application

1. Non-profit
2. Non-political/religious (Works for social change, but either through direct practical application, or by inspiring cultural changes; not necessarily instantly gratifying, but at least apparently effective)
3. Unspecialized position (unless training is provided)
4. Does something I can believe is useful: basically anything that helps people adapt to the monetary-market system without playing a part in perpetuating it; things like the application of truly sustainable technology, for example.

And yeah, I’m involved in all the generic coping stuff for preparation for failure that I can’t believe is inevitable right now but probably is. Therapy, group therapy, medical stuff, exercise, diet, hobby, etc.. sometimes I think that if I just had a few people who thought like I did, or more like I did, or who thought in a way that complemented or harmonized with the way I think, we could make some awesome stuff happen. but i guess it’s that way for everyone. I really don’t want to have to depend upon the generic coping mechanisms; they’re too much of a catch-all, a trap.

Oh yeah, besides the whole depressive phase thing, semi-homelessness is also an imminent problem . . . that I am only partially capable of accepting consciously. So, time limit here. Tick-tock. Any possibly-useful information would be great. Keep advice to private messages if you don’t mind, just so I know you’re trying to help me specifically and not using me as an example for others or something. Thanks. Oh, an addendum to the advice request: you don’t need to cut my sails, they’ll be gone on their own soon enough; any lessons I need to learn about lowered expectations can come then.

Also, nothing said here is personal, I’m not a hot-potato time-bomb sort of thing. I’m not going to harass anyone you connect me to, or hassle you for more information than you offer willingly.

now, any other presumed presumptions I should try to compensate for?

Using Fluther

or

Using Email

Separate multiple emails with commas.
We’ll only use these emails for this message.