Hello Lostcatlady,

You have laid out your current situation very well here. I can appreciate it is scary having to find another job and worry about skills-job adverts can be particularly intimidating by fhe way they are written. I also understood from your post that you are not sure what your current passion is so you are not sure what job you would like to do in the future.

I have been in a similar situation in terms of not feeling a “passion” driving me one way or another and every road at that point seems unclear/pointless and you feel under pressure to “do something quickly!!”.

I dont have a proper answer to that from my own experience, maybe others here will have rhough. In my own life I didnt look for “passion” as that seemed like a too big thing eg how did i know if i felt “passionate” enough about something or if it was just fleeting?! I looked for little things that made me feel marginally happier or slightly more okay. At first these were very small things that I did for myself eg listening to a podcast I found myself enjoying, making a new recipe for tea .. small things that gave bits of joy. Then over time of repeatedly asking yourself “what would I like next?”, little thoughts come out of blue like “I wonder what it would be like if I… ” etc. This lead me to try new hobbies such as pottery, yoga and watersports. This does not mean all those hobbies stuck but by getting yourself to try 3-= (or more) you could find one hobby you can commit to over time. From your post it sounded like you had found some of your hobbies i in the past- Why did you stop watching anime? It sounded like you enjoyed it.

It sounds like cats are a big part of your life/heart suggesting you enjoy caring for other beings, maybe you could extend that to say a day try out at an animal shelter (just so you can tick it off your list as either you defo dont want to volunteer there or you liked it more than you thought), volunteer in a care home or with children perhaps?

I appreciate it is hard to know what to do when you dont feel motivated and low in energy. It sounds like you are doing the best you can to take care of yourself e.g exercise.

Your skills are most likely transferable so maybe finding a new job with the security and friendly boss that you have currently- could you work for another company doing the same thing as you do now? Or find a small family run firm that you could work for locally to you as they tend to be more relaxed than big corporates?