OCD Flare ups & Relapse

I've been struggling with my mental health. I graduated back in june and i have been struggling to find work. With the struggles of finding employment, financially im not doing so great. I've tried everything like tailoring my resume, refining my portfolio, mentorship, stepping out of my comfort zone and attending networking events, and nothing seems to be working. I stay home most of the time and days go by where im starting to feel like time isnt real. For the past two weeks, my ocd has been flaring up really bad. Sometimes when im not occupied and stressed, my ocd creeps up and im scared. I feel like a burden and a failure. While I was in school, I was able to be in control with my ocd and i thought I was "cured." I want to ask why does these flare ups happen? i've dealtwith these intrusive thoughts before but whenever I have flare ups, it still triggers me.

A Foolish Sa...

Date posted: Yesterday

Hi MandyM! I’m sorry to hear that you’re having trouble finding employment and experiencing an OCD flare up. When I graduated from college almost two years ago I also experienced a lot of frustration when it came to finding a job. Unfortunately I didn’t graduate with a degree that really opened many doors career wise so I decided to try and find something that could tide me over until I figured out what I wanted to do. Of course it didn’t help that after graduating my OCD got so bad it was severely debilitating and paralyzing to the point where I just wanted to cry. But, eventually about a year and a half ago I was officially diagnosed with OCD, prescribed medication for it, and found an OCD therapist. I have improved quite a bit since then and I’m sure you can too, what did you get your degree in?

MandyM

Date posted: Yesterday

I studied advertising and graphic design

A Foolish Sa...

Date posted: Yesterday

@MandyM That’s really cool! Are you considering going to grad school?

MandyM

Date posted: Yesterday

@A Foolish Samurai Warrior No, im finished with school but I miss it.

A Foolish Sa...

Date posted: Yesterday

@MandyM Yeah, I get that. I have a co-worker at work who feels the exact same way. I’m doing virtual grad school right now and so far so good. Anyway, do you have any idea what you want to do career wise?

MandyM

Date posted: Yesterday

@A Foolish Samurai Warrior I want to pursue graphic design and art direction. So either work at an advertising agency, in-house or design studio. Its been really hard cuz where I live, its competitive

A Foolish Sa...

Date posted: Yesterday

@MandyM Those actually sound like pretty cool jobs, are you working somewhere right now just in the meantime?

MandyM

Date posted: 22h

@A Foolish Samurai Warrior I was working at one point and then 3 weeks later they fired me

A Foolish Sa...

Date posted: 22h

@MandyM Well that sucks… was it a part time job or something? Like I said before I’m in grad school so I kinda have to work in order to pay tuition 😑

MandyM

Date posted: 22h

@A Foolish Samurai Warrior It was part time. Retail

A Foolish Sa...

Date posted: 22h

@MandyM Yeah, when I was looking for a part time job after I graduated it was pretty tough, and from what I hear it is still pretty tough. My friend was in a similar position as you and it took my personal recommendation to get him a job at my work, do you know anyone who could do that for you?

Drosera

Date posted: Yesterday

I am coming down out of a massive flare up because I found an application for my dream job, but the flare up was because I needed to write a 15 page research proposal in 10 days to apply! I'm heading in your direction, I graduate in May and I'm pretty stressed about finding a job, since most jobs want skills I don't (and don't want to) have. Stress makes it hard to manage OCD and I don't think there's any such thing as cured with this condition, just remission, but it's not a personal failure when it flares up! I managed it mostly by increasing the numbers of ERPs I did by myself. So I'd tell myself, I'm giving myself 15 minutes to face this fear, then I'm going back to work. It helped me keep a lid on it. I hope you find an awesome job soon, but regardless you got this!

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