I finished my PhD about a year ago (graduating in a month finally). First and foremost, graduating won't stop you from doing a PhD later. I initially took an in

I finished my PhD about a year ago (graduating in a month finally). First and foremost, graduating won't stop you from doing a PhD later. I initially took an industry job for a year and then chose to go back to academia. I initially went back to academia with the perspective of either staying in academia or going into research, but after those four years I basically lost the will to stick in these fields. Honestly if you don't have a particular subject or project you want to do for your PhD it's not worth going through it. I initially felt like you, that if I didn't do it I'd regret it, but now sometimes I wonder if the time I spent doing it was worth it ( and I actually wanted to do a specific thing). It's way more important to just find a job that fits what you currently find interesting than it is to remain in academia hoping that a PhD is anywhere near what you hope it is.