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Jobless for 2 Years, Fearful of Interviews, and Drained: What Can I Do?

Archana Deshpande |103 Answers |Ask -Follow

Image Coach, Soft Skills Trainer - Answered on Feb 03, 2025

Archana Deshpande, the founder of TransformMe Life Skills Coaching, is an image consultant, soft skills trainer and life coach.
She has been working with individuals and corporate organisations for more than 10 years during which she has helped professionals and students improve their soft skills, build confidence and enhance self-esteem.
An engineer from the PDA College of Engineering, Gulbarga, Archana had a successful career at Reliance Communications. But she has always been interested in teaching and training people. So she pursued a postgraduate diploma in teacher’s training at Pune’s Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies followed by teaching assignments in schools at Visakhapatnam and Mumbai.
Archana also holds an international certificate in image consulting and soft skills training from the Image Consulting Business Institute, Mumbai.... more

Asked by Anonymous - Jan 07, 2025Hindi

I have been jobless since 2 years. During COVID, I was undergoing tremendous amount of stress due to the lockdowns & WFH. It had telling effect on me & I realized am going through depression when I joined a job which required me to work from office. I quit job a month after I joined the company where the toxic work culture had a big toll on me to the extent of instilling a fear of formal office environs in me, which continues to this day. I have become a recluse. Now I feel I should have sought professional intervention much earlier, rather than just 6 months back. I lost all confidence of turning up for interviews, leave alone joining some job. I fear & hate admitting that infront of my wife who is very temperamental & nags me consistently about job search, as much as she tries to figure out things in my life. Every day I apply to jobs but every time I fail an interview I console myself thinking that I am saved of botheration of the rigors of a job which I can't face. I don't admit to my wife so as not to infuriate her & don't trust her that she will empathise with my situation in life. Hence try to keep up with good facade. But the results never improve- I failed every interview (calls though are hard to come by) which I fully know that its because I could not give my 100 % energy. Now the reluctance is due to many factors- IT is very fast changing field; I have reached a senior level where there are many expectations on that role which I never got to nurture/grow on myself. So every interview gives me shivers: 1) About my performance 2) (provided am selected somehow) About whether I would be able to fulfill my role to my satisfaction (previous professional experience haunts me to this date). As a result of all this I very often mentally exhaust myself (worrying/ wishful)thinking of things rather than bringing myself to earn money for the family. I feel I am just doing things to fill up my day, languishing by doing things that do not bring any value- rather than positively, pro-actively doing something of my career. Due to the gap of 2 years I do not get favorable response from companies I apply to. That is a very big gap to fill & I can't talk my way into saying things like I was in depression or that I did nothing for those 2 years. That further increases my anxiety, I have grown aversion to this entire goings on. I feel direction-less & drained out all the time. Please help.

Ans: Hello!!

Let's only look at the forward path here pls.

Forget about all the failings so far... Be kind to yourself, whatever happened to you, whatever is happening now, the period of COVID did it to many.

The only way to get out of this is -
1. your willingness to see a beautiful future ahead of you
2. you have already taken the first step by seeking counselling
3. leave the habit of revisiting the past again, like you just said that I should have gone to the counselor earlier, don't do this, be happy you are seeing him/her now
4. you have come so far in life, give yourself some credit, you have not reached the senior position just like that, right? You have reached here with your efforts, you have done it before, you'll do it again, have faith in yourself
5. your wife is your life partner, sit across and talk to her, take her to the counselor make her understand that this a phase where you need her on your side. A facade with your wife is a NO NO, it will come out some day, it is extra strain on you and your relationship, come clean , be truthful and honest with her.
6. make self care a priority ..get your routine in order, it's your life, just don't fill your day with mindless activities, like I said one step in the future, start taking actions now.....get up early, expose yourself to the sun and nature( they are great healers), exercise, have good meals throughout the day, learn something new , join a course which will be job oriented, how about adding an MBA or any other course which will help you in your career or job search?
7. make being joyful a habit... spend time volunteering, go teach underprivileged children or where ever you feel like lending a helping hand
8. value yourself....you were not put here to suffer, take action now.

Forget the past, jo beet gayi so baat gayi( meaningless to talk about the past)... stop blaming, complaining....look into the future with energy and enthusiasm, it's your life man , take one step towards it every day.

Bless you to life your life well..