3 years of past experience in my role. took a career break to focus on my final year of my mba program. i have now applied to 1200+ roles and have gotten roughly 12 interviews and so far no offers the past 8 months. my industry is in accounting.
not sure what to do. im crashing out and my mental health is deteriorating
I am 25 years old, and over the past year and a half I have felt stuck in a constant streak of failure, bad decisions, and bad luck. I wanted to explain my situation honestly because I feel mentally exhausted and unsure of what direction to take next.
A few years ago, I was doing well academically and professionally. I was working on my MBA while also receiving an opportunity to work at a great firm within my industry. I was making around six figures and felt like my future was finally coming together.
In 2024, I discovered crypto. Within my first week, I bought a memecoin that I sold very early because I had no understanding of how speculative those markets could become. A week later, I checked the coin again and realized my position would have been worth well into seven figures if I had simply held it. That experience affected me deeply and became the beginning of a very unhealthy mindset around money and opportunity.
After that, I became heavily involved in crypto trading and memecoins. At first, I experienced major success and made close to half a million dollars in profit. I genuinely believed I had a strong understanding of the market and convinced myself I could turn it into a long-term career. Eventually, I made the decision to leave my high-paying job and go all in on crypto.
That decision became the turning point.
Over the following months, almost every major decision I made financially went wrong. I would buy a coin and it would rug. I would sell a coin and it would explode afterward. It felt like every action I took produced the worst possible outcome. Over time, I lost essentially everything I had made.
More recently, I shifted into futures and prop firm trading, and the same pattern seemed to continue. I would enter trades, get liquidated by extremely small movements, and then watch the market immediately reverse in the direction I originally anticipated. I understand logically that this is tied to leverage, emotional trading, and risk management, but emotionally it has felt relentless and psychologically draining.
At the same time, I have struggled to regain stability professionally. Despite having two degrees, experience at a respected firm, and positive reviews from former managers, I have had difficulty finding work. Even entry-level positions or jobs outside my field have been difficult to secure, which has further damaged my confidence and outlook.
At this point, I feel mentally exhausted and trapped in a cycle where every decision seems to fail. I know that part of this is emotional burnout and the result of high-risk decision-making, but after experiencing repeated setbacks for so long, it has become difficult to stay optimistic about my future.
I am reaching out because I genuinely want guidance on how to rebuild my life in a healthier and more stable way. I know I need structure, discipline, and a more grounded approach moving forward, but mentally I feel very discouraged right now.
Any advice or perspective would truly mean a lot to me.