So I’m in a bit of a pickle.

I need a job. I’ve worked before, but this time around I want to actually get my foot in the door for a career path that I feel best suited for. I’m sick of working retail, and feel I’d be a better fit elsewhere.

I just don’t know where.

Growing up, it felt like anything I thought of would get immediately beat down by my parents. There were a few ideas, but of them, I can only remember journalism, with my father specifically telling me “anybody can be a journalist these days” in a dismissive tone, and that he expected me to come up with something better.

Data entry is something that’s also been on my mind for a while now. It sounds like something I’d be down to try out, but I have no clue how to get my foot in the door for something like that, and if there’s even any entry-level positions for that.

Another worry is that I don’t have any experience with these positions, and that that fact combined with no post-secondary would essentially be walking into a brick wall.

I’m not even completely sure about pursuing these options, like the worst case scenario for me would be getting accepted for something new only to immediately discover I’m a terrible fit and back at step one in finding new work while stuck at a job that quite literally drains my will to live like previous positions of mine did.

How can I at least get some semblance of an idea as to whether or not something will be a good fit for me? I’m fine working a job, I’ve done so without issue before, I just don’t want to find myself in a work position that kills my mental well-being again.