As-salamu alaykum - Feeling stuck and not sure how to move forward
As-salamualaykum, I'm a 20-year-old guy and lately I feel like I'm in a rut. I'm set to start culinary school next year, but until then my days feel empty and directionless. I was seeing a girl for about a month and things were going well, but it just ended suddenly and I don't know why. I miss her and I miss having someone around. My friends have told me to keep my distance and move on, but she still pops into my head a lot. At the moment I work part-time as a cashier at an Asian takeaway with a friend, and apart from that I don't have much going on. I want to use my free time for personal projects - learning guitar, studying music, or working on a video project - but work takes up a lot of my hours and when I do get time off I mostly just want to rest and play games. My routine feels repetitive: wake up, shower, go to work, come home, cook dinner, play games, sleep, repeat. Sometimes I get a day off or hang out with friends at the weekend, but not much else. Last year, when I was living with my mother and still in high school, I was in a bad place. Moving to my father's place helped me grow a lot and I'm proud of that progress. Still, lately things feel stuck again and I don't know what steps to take. Any advice on how to break out of this stagnation, balance work and personal goals, and move forward in a halal, healthy way would be really appreciated. Jazakallah khair.