Trying to find a job that is neither highly stressful nor extremely boring
After trying to run a creative business for a long time and realising it's not going to work, I'm back looking for a job. At this point I'd really like a job because I don't think I'm suited to self employment. This is because it requires constant internal motivation which I lost after bereavement, a willingness to market yourself continuously, an ability to work long hours to get it off the ground and keep it running, and it was also extremely isolating.
However there are many issues with being neurodivergent in the workplace, which is why I tried self employment in the first place. I know the many issues have been covered before but one thing I really struggle with is the balance between boredom and stress. In the past, the following has happened to me several times:
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I tried several low level, low stress jobs but they were so soul destroying and mind numbingly boring that my mental health declined each time and developed severe clinical depression which required a lot of therapy to recover from.
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I challenged myself and got a much more interesting, varied and professional job but had a breakdown due to the extremely long hours and massive workload which made me very ill with stress, resulting in another major depressive episode and burnout that took lots more therapy and years to recover from.
If you identify as disabled, a lot of people try to pigeon hole you into low level jobs, it's as if they don't realise that you can be neurodivergent/disabled but also have high intelligence and have a really good education.
Can anyone else relate? Did you manage to find a job and a workplace/employer who understood that you're intelligent and capable but you just need some support and accommodations?
Posted Mar 14, 2026, 12:18 AM UTC