My background is in print media design. It's way too sedentary and repetitive for my anxiety. Also, the pay is low (less than 45K per year), the benefits don't cover anything and the PTO is so so. I'm pretty sure my job is exacerbating my depression.
-What resources do people use to find jobs?
-Has anyone ever been in this rut, and how did you get out?
-Did you have to go back to school? For how long?
-Did your pay/benefits/PTO improve?
I’ve changed careers a couple times but it has been a few years. You should start exploring different fields and imagine yourself doing them…yes fantasize your future self. There are assessments online to help generate ideas. Try O’NET. There are resources there for helping you find a career. It is department of labor’s website. My county and state has fantastic workforce offices. You can go in and it is like a library but the “librarians” are career counselors. Speaking of librarians can help too. Heck…most libraries have free online training resources like LinkedIn.
When you have done that you can start to explore how to get from your job to a new job. I did get some certification but that isn’t always necessary. I heard a story of an accountant turned actor who just started applying for stuff on Craigslist. You just never know until you start looking.
Thank you for the tips! Getting inspired has been tricky. I'll definitely try O'Net and my county/state offices since I've never used those before.
i had a graphic design firm for years and evolved from print to digital. The whole industry has really changed and unfortunately print media is declining as you know and doesn't pay like it use to. I got burnt out at one time and got into fine art crafts which I really enjoyed and then later started back working on the computer and liked it again. You might consider finding a hobby or doing something on the side for awhile to see if your frustration is temporary. it may even be something you could turn into a business endeavor. I use to have a kind of all or nothing approach which wasn't healthy and was limiting.
Another suggestion is to look at the industry you are in and see if you can leverage the knowledge and skills you already have into something related like management or marketing or even some kind of web design or content design. When we moved to where I live now, I didn't know anyone so I did not open my own design firm here but went to work as the creative/marketing director of a manufacturing company. It paid way more and it used all of my skills and more.
If you don't have a lot of financial resources I would suggest keeping your existing job and using your free time to research and develop a plan for change and don't do anything abruptly that would cause you more stress and anxiety.
Another thing is to try to be honest with yourself, is it really about the money or do you want a more rewarding career, what is really going on for you so you can be more targeted in how you proceed. Maybe ask yourself is there some other career you have always wanted to try but didn't.
I think there are career counselors you could also consult with, you might look on youtube for info about them.
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