Hello! I was laid off over a year ago after 20 years at one company - one of the most difficult events of my life. I was very depressed for about 6 months. Now my mood has lifted somewhat, or at least it is more varied. Sometimes I still feel abandoned and hopeless, and sometimes I feel excited about new possibilities, but I often have a hard time feeling focused on the job search. There are very few good jobs in the area of West Virginia where I live, so I want to work remotely as a freelancer, but that is a new ballgame with a steep learning curve, it seems. There are so many online options, but hard to know which ones are good. I am using freelancing services like Upwork and Guru and Freelancing.com, but still trying to get my portfolios in place to start applying for work.

I guess my point is that it's hard to start your life over again when your situation just makes you moody and depressed and you keep losing your hope and focus. That's why I'm here, I guess.

Anyone else going through something similar? Navigating the crazy world of freelancing or just looking for a plain old brick and morter job, so hard to find with good pay these days!

Thanks for listening!