I'm glad that you found a T who you can open up to and feel comfortable with. That is a very important part of being able to address issues and make progress toward solving problems.

In terms of feeling stuck - I'm right there with you. I never even worked in the field that I studied for, and over the years, I've just meandered from job to job, eventually getting into the IT field. It happened through the progression of jobs, not because it was what I believed I ultimately wanted to be when I grew up. But, now, I'm in the later years of my career life, and I am totally unhappy with the type of work I'm qualified to do. I started feeling this way a few years ago, but when I sat back and tried to figure out what I'd rather be doing, I couldn't think of anything. I even went to a career coach for a few sessions (it was pricey). I wish very much that I didn't have to work at all - but, gotta pay the bills.

I've been in therapy with my current T for about a year and half, and we've only recently started talking about this type of thing. I have been suffering with depression (hopelessness as you mentioned in your post) for a long while. One of the directions we started going in was taking a look at my values and where I am job-wise comparatively. As it turns out, my current career doesn't align with my values, which in theory, is likely one of the possible causes for my feelings of dissatisfaction - hence depression.

My T and I haven't been working on this area long, so I don't have an ending to share. But, I feel like it's probably the direction I need to go in at this point. I am also seeing an Art Therapist now to help me unblock some of the creativity that I can't seem to get back in touch with on my own. My hope is that between my T, the Art Therapist, and myself, we can figure out what types of jobs might help me get closer to my values. My concern (probably the depression talking) is that I'll figure out that I want to do something I'm not trained or qualified for. I have no interest in going back to school at this point.

I feel like you're on the right track digging into what you may actually want to do job- wise - trying to figure out what might interest you. If you are interested in the values aspect, you can take a free survey on viacharacter dot org. (I wrote it out phonetically in case the link isn't allowed). I'm hoping to get unstuck soon (in therapy terms, that could be a couple of months), and if nothing else, I can find some level of satisfaction in activities/hobbies. I will say that it's difficult to work on trying to figure out what you want to do while you're depressed, but if that's part or all of where the depression is coming from, it's worth digging deep for the motivation.

Good luck to you, and hope you can "get your groove back" soon!