How I Managed the Job Search While Coping with Depression

The application and interview process is draining and can bring up anxiety, fear, and stress. With time, I found ways to reduce my negative thoughts and techniques to empower me as I made an important and necessary life change.

I hate the job search process. Filling out mind-numbing application forms, hyping myself up for interview after interview, and feeling disappointed when the rejections start rolling in takes a lot of energy. Not to mention, there’s the potential change hanging in the air like a spider web that you can’t quite see but that keeps wrapping itself around you. 

But for my mental health, I had to bite the bullet and go through the stressful job search process. My work as a writer had become draining and unsustainable. The comfort of spending the day alone in my office had slowly but surely been replaced by dread and loneliness.

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Deciding to change careers for my mental health

I was no longer passionate about my writing career, and that took a toll on my mental health — and my bank account. Instead of sticking with something that wasn’t working and actively making my depression worse, I decided to make a complete career change by pursuing a different interest: arts and child care.

During April of this year, I spent my days filling out applications, nervously attending job interviews, and biting my nails, all while waiting for someone to hire me. After five interviews, I landed a job that works for me and my schedule, and most importantly, it gives me hope for the future, which I lacked in my writing career.

While shifting my career was the right choice for my mental health, the job search process brought its own set of mental health challenges for me to navigate. It brought up a lot of anxiety about not only finding a job but committing to a new path in my life.

I found ways to prevent depression and anxiety from taking control during the process, no matter how loud they screamed at me to give in.

How the job search affected my mental health

Searching for a new job took a toll on my mental health. As I spent my days on job board after job board, I noticed anxiety creeping into every free moment I gave myself to breathe.

I struggled to eat because I lost my appetite, and I couldn’t stop my mind racing with what ifs and distressing scenarios. Job searching also made me feel hopeless at times. The process feels very robotic, especially when some companies don’t have the decency to even send a rejection email and you’re left wondering what happened.

I also experienced a lot of anxiety about changing my life. Even though writing no longer brought me joy, I questioned whether a change would benefit my mental health or make it even worse.

Questions like, “What if I hate it?” “What if I’m making the wrong decision?” and most scary, “What if I can’t handle my new job?” flooded my brain at every moment during the search process.

Instead of letting those harmful thoughts take over, I spent a lot of time reflecting and taking care of my mental health to help the job search go smoother.

How I managed to reduce my distress

Not only did I spend a lot of energy on the job search itself, but I also made sure to pay attention to my mental health and do my best to alleviate some of the mental suffering during the process. Here are some of the ways I managed my distress while searching for a new job.

Mindfulness

One of my biggest struggles during my job search was the onslaught of negative thoughts that overwhelmed my mind. Whenever I would sit down to take a break, watch TV, or eat a meal, my mind would begin to roil about all the things I needed to get done and all the scary aspects of changing my life.

This rumination only increased my stress in moments when I wanted to take a load off and relax.

To calm my noisy mind, I did my best to practice mindfulness during these moments intentionally. I would take a deep breath and remind myself that this wasn’t the time to think, but instead to take a break. This reminder helped me realize that I would be fine if I stopped for a few moments to breathe and helped the urgency of the job search subside until I had to get back to it.

I also made time to take walks in nature and look at the beautiful blooming spring trees as a reminder that change is natural and necessary for everyone.

Journaling about change

As a writer, I gain a great deal by expressing my thoughts and emotions on paper. Journaling about what I’m going through can help me process my thoughts and realize that some of my worries have no basis in reality.

While searching for a job, I often found myself ruminating about change and the fears that come with it. Instead of letting them gain power in my mind, I began to write them down and challenge them.

This exercise helped me ground myself in reality. I often thought, “What if I’m making a bad choice?” But when journaling about it, I realized that staying with my current job was also a choice.

I had two choices. Stick to something I knew I didn’t like or try something new that I didn’t know whether I’d enjoy or not. The possibility felt much better to me than the hopelessness of clinging to something that wasn’t working for me.

Even if this job doesn’t work out, it will help me figure out what does work. Acting is better than sitting around waiting for life to get better.

Talking it out

Talking with my friends, parents, and therapist about the change also helped reduce my anxiety about the job search process. Bringing my fears out of my head and into the conversation, like with journaling, helped them feel much less overwhelmed.

Plus, talking with others helped validate my feelings that the job search process was stressful and that I could get through it. In turn, those I opened up to shared their stories of stressful job searches in their lives and how it all played out, which reminded me that I wasn’t alone. Even just that was very comforting.

Finding a new job is hard, but everyone has done it. Despite my anxieties, going through the process made me feel more capable and more hopeful about my future.

Bottom line

Searching for a new job is stressful, especially when you struggle with depression and other mental health issues. The anxieties of the process itself, coupled with the long-term fears of change, took a toll on my mental health.

However, by journaling, talking with friends, and staying mindful, I managed to get through the hiring process with a new job I’m hopeful about.