Yeah totally normal, took me a year or so before I fully settled into the workplace. The realisation that this is life hits you like a pile of bricks and you think to yourself "is this it? is this what life is just going to be" for a while. It's worse when the job isn't what you expect it to be, or you just don't care as much. If you're a graduate, the transition from student to employee and mourning the old uni life is tough too.

All that on top of dealing with office politics, learning the ropes at work, making mistakes, interacting with new people, learning work etiquette, email etiquette etcetera. It can be a lot.

My first job was in the middle of the pandemic so it was hell, fully remote while new to the corporate world, it was tough! I felt alone, unsupported at times, I kept making mistakes too which led to terrible imposter syndrome and I had about 3 different line managers in a year due to the lockdown and other factors. It got better for me once we were brought back to the office. I ended up befriending a lot of my colleagues as we were similar age and as a result I was quite social in my first job. My company hosted a lot of events throughout the year and often spent time after work with my colleagues turned friends at pubs, restaurants or other social settings. The workload was a lot at times, but the worklife balance was perfect, it really was a lovely place to work.

Best way I got out of the depressing feeling is realising that work is just work. Yes we all would love to have our dream jobs but sadly this isn't the reality of 99% of people. We work for money so we are able to do the things we want in our free time. You really understand that once you've gone through periods of unemployment as well. Despite life getting more and more pricey, nothing beats the feeling of getting paid.