It’s the Thursday “ask the readers” question. A reader writes:

I am having a really hard time transitioning into the professional world and it’s at the point where I am worried I don’t have the ability to be a professional working person.

I graduated from college a little over a year ago and I got a full-time administrative position immediately. Right off the bat, it had the same problems as other entry-level jobs but I wasn’t fazed as I always knew that this job wasn’t going to be my dream-job/ entire career. I’m also aware that a job on its own is not usually a source of fulfillment for people so I never expected that, but the job seemed decent enough and I kind of enjoyed it a bit at first. A few weeks into the post-grad world, things started slipping through the cracks at work and I made mistakes I really should not have. I became constantly exhausted and unable to really engage with the world around me. I was lethargic, despite sleeping 10 hours a night, and unable to find time to do anything other than work/sleep. I figured that was a sign the company wasn’t a good fit for my mental health and left after six months.

Since then, I have accepted offers for a number of other positions but I ghosted most of the employers before my orientation. All of the possibility and excitement I felt during job hunting turned to dread the second an orientation date hit my calendar. My experience of the working world has been spending eight hours chained to a desk wearing horribly uncomfortable business clothes and the most exciting thing that might happen is someone accidentally orders flavored coffee for the break room. The thought of giving up any sense of my happiness in order to spend my time in an office where I am routinely underpaid and overworked (as is often the case with entry-level positions) fills me with so much anxiety I cannot make myself get out of bed once the orientation date rolls around.

I recently managed to make it to orientation for a part-time job (25 hours/week) and now I am back to feeling the same sense of exhaustion and hopelessness after only a few days of working. I come home in tears because I am so frustrated with myself for being unable to handle even a six-hour workday when everyone else in my office works full-time and does just fine.

When I don’t have a job, I have energy and interest. But once I get back in the groove of being employed, I feel too tired to do anything I know I would enjoy.

Obviously, not working is not an option since I need to make money in order to pay bills and all that fun stuff. How do I learn to accept my situation and learn to just adjust to the “real world”?

(About the jobs I’ve been accepting: I’ve been taking administrative/clerical type jobs at various small companies. The one I accepted most recently is a receptionist/ scheduler position for a local doctors office. They are mostly jobs so I can pay bills. I would rather get a job at the university, the local hospital, or a nonprofit, but so far I haven’t had a successful application at any of those places.)

I think therapy should probably be step one here. It sounds like you’re having a lot of trouble moving past that first work experience, and a therapist can help you with that and also help figure out what else might be going on. You don’t have to just white-knuckle your way through this alone.

But readers, beyond therapy, what advice do you have?