I am seeking suggestions for a path to pursue my driving mission—reducing as much suffering as possible for all sentient beings.
At 18, I had to drop out of college before completing one year due to the onset of severe depression, anxiety, and ME/CFS. This decade-long battle with intense mental and physical suffering has made me intimately aware of how destructive severe pain truly is. Since then, my internal calling has been to prevent others from experiencing such extremes of torment.
My dream is to work at or run a non-profit organization like OPIS (Organization for the Prevention of Intense Suffering) or CRS (Center for Reducing Suffering), with an expansive view of reducing all forms of suffering. Increasing empathy in the population could be a powerful lever, as more empathetic people may be more motivated to prioritize suffering reduction. Alternatively, focusing on causes of severe suffering like cluster headaches could also create tremendous impact.
Though it is very possible that if I knew the details and demands of running a non-profit, that path would look a lot less attractive. At this point I have almost no idea what it entails.
Unfortunately, while my physical fatigue has improved, I still struggle with significant mental fatigue and brain fog, preventing me from pursuing higher education full-time currently, though this is also slowly improving. I also experience moderate-to-severe social anxiety which can make leadership or public-facing roles challenging.
I have around $18,000 saved that could support a transition. I recently began an electrician apprenticeship, not for passion but as a potential fallback career. However, at 31, I’m uncertain whether completing the 5-year program is prudent if I never intend to remain in that field long-term.
Instead, I’m considering seeking entry-level roles or volunteer positions at non-profits now, whatever my current capabilities allow. This would place me in the right environment while leaving flexibility to eventually pivot into areas like non-profit management, grant writing, scientific research into suffering reduction, or other skillsets I currently lack.
I live in the United States, and would prefer in-person work as I think it would immerse me into the nonprofit environment more thoroughly.
I’m open to combining part-time work with volunteering to maintain income as I build relevant experience. While my mental energy and social anxiety remain obstacles, I’m actively working to manage these limitations. I’m determined to contribute meaningfully to this crucial mission despite challenges.
While my path is uncertain, I’m committed to finding a way into relieving suffering, even if it means starting with small steps. I welcome any advice for making prudent short-term choices to ultimately maximize my positive impact long-term.
Note: I had help from claude.ai to write the above post.
One piece of advice is this: try all of the things that might help with anxiety, depression, and ME/CFS. This was mentioned by @John Salter in another comment, but it doesn’t just apply to starting organisations. It is a worthwhile investment to try a range of things that might work on almost any future career path you would pursue. (So long as you don’t pay severe costs if they fail).
These lists are okay as a starting point for anxiety and depression.
Thank you for those links. I’ll look through, but I’m not super hopeful, as I’ve trialed dozens of medications, all of which have had zero or negative effect. Not even a glimmer of improvement, apart from amphetamine, although that only worked a couple times before tolerance, and is not a practical treatment.
As for therapy, I’ve tried a few times, and maybe it would work if I wasn’t so dang tired. But the work required for therapy takes a lot of energy I don’t have.
And as for ME/CFS, there aren’t many effective treatments. There are a few that work in some people, like LDN or antivirals, although I’d have to find a doctor who not only believes it’s a real disorder, but is up to date on the latest potential treatments, and those doctors are few and far between.
I’m hopeful in the promise that a ketogenic diet could improve my symptoms. One reason is the ever increasing anecdotal and study data showing large improvements in all sorts of chronic illnesses with the diet. Another reason is that removing carbs feels very similar to the withdrawal I felt from the psychiatric medication, so I think it is possible that it is like drug withdrawal, and I would feel better after some time off of them. Unfortunately, the withdrawal is so bad and lasts so long, I can’t just jump right in, so I’m very slowly tapering, just like I did with the medication.
I’m sorry to hear treatments generally haven’t helped in the past.
I sometimes find it useful to think about these things in the following way. It feels like a lot to sacrifice energy to do therapy when you’re already limited in terms of energy. But if it works particularly well, maybe you’ll have something like an extra day of energy a week for… well for your whole life. It might be worth doing even if it takes a lot now, and even if the odds of success are low. (Of course, in some cases the odds are so low that it isn’t worth it).
I don’t know much about the specifics here, my own experience has been with anxiety, depression and adhd.
Thank you for your courage! I recommend getting career advice from 80,000hours, but recruiting within EA is notoriously difficult. You should also tell us what you can do and what your capabilities are so that we can give you more detailed advice.
I actually applied for some career advice from them a while ago, and they didn’t accept my request. For more details on capabilities, check out the reply I just made to John’s comment!