I've worked a variety of jobs. I never finished college because of my anxiety/bipolar disorder.

The longest I held one position was 4 years. Actually there were 2 of them that lasted abou that long, but I was in a really stable place and the jobs were on the easy side. I was admin assisstant and then a receptionist. As a receptionist I was given duties I wasn't qualified or trained to do and that strated my stress levels going off the rails, I eventually quit and moved out of state to be with my boyfriend (long distance relationship).

What I've found is that the office jobs, even the short term temp ones, require some kind of accounting or payroll work and I'm not good at it and it stresses me out. I had a temp job I was "fired" from because I couldn't catch on to whatI needed to do. The first day I was there I realized I was in over my head and I should have walked away but I didn't want to seem "ungrateful" to the temp agency. The next assignment I got required a level of detail oriented work that sent me into a panic. I quit that one.

Then I didn't work for nearly a year.

Now I'm working in retail. I've gone from feeling I'd only be comfortable on the register to being on the salesfloor. Several leadership or admin positions (well 1 position has opened up multiple times) have opened up but I haven't applied even though I was approached about them. I know my limits right now and dealing with accounting or being in a leadership spot is not something I'm comfortable with.

It's kind of hard to say all that becuase I'm 41 and I don't feel like I have much to show for my life in terms of career goals. But I have ajob that pays my bills and I have health insurane, I get good reviews and they are accomodating about my mental health issues. Not everyone knows, but the day I have therapy is a day I take off the full day. I'm never on the schedule and they know not to call to see if I can cover for people.

The key to finding something that won't set off your anxiety is figuring out what your anxiety triggers are. I've discovered working with money and handling other people's schedules/cat herding large groups makes me anxious and stressed. The jobs in office I keep finding require those skills so it's retail.

Right now with the holidays it's hard becuase there are so many people and my store is understaffed so I get home drained and just try to make it to my days off. But I know this will pass and Jan will roll around and things will calm down.

I like making random chit chat with poeple, I like helping people and I like working to help solve problems and in my current job I get to do that but in a rather low stress enviornment.

I'm a tiny cog in a really large system but I'm content to be a cog.