I've had an epiphany, maybe...

Hi @Rubyf, I am new to forum. I relate to your surprise at reaching Birthday milestones. I didn't think I would make it out of my teens... because my brother (now deceased), who was MI, regularly threatened to take the lives of my family and then himself. Sometimes I went to bed wondering if I would wake the next day.

My life began after he died (yes....guilt there)

Then I had a lot of trouble existing and death became my fall back plan to relieve my psychological distress. I was so surprised I managed to make it to 40.....but kind of impressed that I did.

Now I am 49, I am trying to make it to 50.. I think back on all of my struggles and I think (a bit triumphantly) wow... I made it this far.

YOU ARE HERE! .That is the main thing. I think the other stuff (licence, voting, tax) is of secondary importance. Pretty sure there would be some sort of government support that could help you with those things.

I have found advice on this forum, really helpful, I hope you do too.

Hi @Rubyf,

I agree with @Misty1, things like getting your license and voting are really of secondary importance; it's just so great that you made it to 32! You are still quite young and there is plenty of time to learn whatever you set your mind to.

Not ever registering to vote is actually pretty common. Think about whether you really care about politics before you decide to commit to the electoral roll... because once you are on there, you are stuck with having to queue up to vote every so often. It could be a blessing in disguise that you never enrolled.

The tax office have heaps of information on-line if you can be bothered to read it all.... they are also helpful if you call them.

Do you have anyone in your life that could be a mentor for you? That you can go to for advice? I always had my parents there for advice, but by the time I got to 18 years, then I kind of prefered to find out things for myself.

You know, becomming an adult has been daunting for me too. I can't say it has a lot going for it! It's pretty much all about taking responsibility for things..... all kinds of things. Cooking for yourself, doing the laundry, turning up for work on time, being nice to everyone all the time, paying the bills.... managing your time and making a lot of decisions, too. Deciding who you want to be.

Who do you look up to, @Rubyf? What kind of people do you admire?

@Rubyf,

I relate, never throught I would make it past 26, so I never planned for an 'adult' life.

Google.

It helps me do most things.

Also I agree with @Sahara, if you can find a mentor to help you out, that could be really positive. I get a lot of anxiety and I was too scared to go to a petrol station to fill up my car and check my tires, so I bought a very supportive friend a bottle of wine and she took me out one day to learn how to do it so I wasn't scared the next time. The good thing about being an adult, is there is always someone who has done it before, you just need to tap into your resources. I'm wondering if there is something like a case manager, or free places to help you do your tax etc? Maybe the mods might know of what resources there are out there?

Hello @Rubyf I think that it was a fair & good epiphany.

I agree with the other posters that those nitty gritty practical things arent the main game ... its great you got to 32.

I have felt similarly a lot about not seeing myself with a future .. In the last 15 months I am getting better at that.

About a week ago I was in a Carer's Workshop ... where the focus was primarily about encouraging those with disabilities to vote. So ... things are changing ... and the 3 levels of local, state, federal arent properly talking to each other yet ... vis a vis names on the rolls ... but they are intending to ... thats the official story I heard anyway ... also if you go on the Australian electoral office website ... you can enrol once and it should be passed down the tiers to the other levels ... however if you enrol at a local level you may need to re-enrol at the higher levels separately.

Nothing is set in concrete ... not even the govt.... once you are enrolled you are required to vote and may be fined if you dont ... best do a donkey vote and learn about the system gradually .... rather than not vote once you are on the roll ... at least then you are learning about what a lot of crazies run for election ... and that might help you put your own crazy in a bit of perspective.

concrete does break down eventually ... but takes a bloody long time .. sorry little greenie blurb

Good Luck