Did you feel apprehensive/strange when first started a job?

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I've finally got a job (horray!), it is cleaning at an old people's home, and the managers there seem very understanding of me, and already make me feel encouraged by praising me a lot on what I do, and also I am so damn pleased to finally come off of unemployment benefits after so long.

But being so it's my first week, I keep finding myself feeling very apprehensive, like kind of unsure whether I like it or not, and worried about being left on my own eventually, although another part of me is looking forward to being self-sufficiant. It's also quite a sudden change, the job came up quite quickly and I started sooner than I thought, so all it takes is a little getting used to, and I know that once I have settled in the routine of it, I will be fine and it'd become part of my life and my weekly routine.

Often when I first start new things, I absolutely hate it, then after about a week or so, I grow to love it. Like when I done a couple of courses when I was unemployed, starting in unfamiliar places with unfamiliar people, I really hated the first few days and I was on the verge or quitting. Then on my last day, I felt so upset of the course ending, and I got so attached to the people and I got used to the routine of it, and I still wish I was there to this day. So hopefully it will be the same with this job. Plus it is my first job so I haven't really had a proper set rota on something since I was at college, which was 5 years ago. I've done voluntary work inbetween then and now, but I wasn't being paid so I wasn't under any strict rota.

The best thing I can do is stick at it, because, after all, it is a job. Also I just have to tell myself that most people who I know work, and working is a good thing, so I'm doing a good thing, and it is 3 days a week so I think I will settle in just fine. I just wanted to know how anyone else here coped with the change of starting a new job and a new routine. I know it is quite normal in anyone to feel apprehensive on their first week, but I was just wondering how other Aspies cope with it.

That's why I've always stayed in the same job as long as I possibly can. New jobs cause me ALL kinds of anxiety. When I started my current job, I had to leave early on th first day because I was having a breakdown.

Good luck on the new job!

You might try doing some easy hobby type activity to recover from hard day at work.

For me, this might be throwing darts in the basement or playing Scrabble against the computer.

Congratulations on your job, I knew you would get something in the end. I am really pleased for you.

I always find the first few weeks quite difficult - I get exhausted dealing with all those new people and learning what I have to do and where everything is. For the first week or so of a new job I usually just come home and sleep. After a few weeks it starts to feel easier, although I am always a little bit anxious at work because that is the sort of person I am. Eventually I get into a routine and then I begin to feel much better because I love having a routine.

In a few weeks you will probably begin to feel less apprehensive and your new routine will start to feel like second nature.

Working is definitely a good thing, and I love cleaning because you are generally left alone to complete the job. I feel proud that despite my difficulties I work, when there are some people who are completely 'normal' and who just do not bother. You should feel really proud of yourself.

Good luck with it all

Thanks for all your helpful replies. I know I will settle in well. It was my third day today and already I'm starting to know my way around, and I get on fairly well with the others who work there. It was also my first day of being left on my own to clean the rooms, and I believe I did a good job, since nobody else working there said anything. It's nice to have an employer who actually managed to look past my disability and give me a chance in paid employment, rather than jumping to a ridiculous conclusion assuming that just because I've got a mild learning disability it means I won't be able to do the job right. Having loads of employers turning me down did make me lose all hope in myself, and it got me believing that maybe I will never be able to do anything right, and I started to label myself as ''unemployable''. I know the financial economy is bad in the UK because it's being ran by a bunch of idiots, and so jobs are very hard to come by for almost anybody these days, but I was on unemployment benefits for over 4 years running, also I was actively looking for work every week, and attended countless interviews, and done voluntary work, and I still wasn't given the chance, while others of my age (even the ones without experience) got something before I did. So I did start to take it personally. Plus there's a lot of foreign people from other countries coming over here, I'm not offending anyone, I bet the majority of them are great people and are as good as us British, but being so it's only a small island, it makes it even harder to find employment for both the British and all these millions of extra people living over here.