Dealing with change - new job

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I got a new job, it's my first "grown up job". I'll be leaving my old retail job, where I've worked for 9 years. I'm glad because retail really isn't for aspies, but I will miss the people I worked with, and I will likely get stressed at the change. How do you cope with change?

I'm not writing from experience, but it may be helpful for you to familiarise yourself with your new situation (as much as possible) prior to starting. If you have been given information about your new job, reading through it and preparing yourself for what is to come may be beneficial. Also, try to keep other things in you life constant during the transition period (as much as practical) to minimise stress from other areas.

Whilst you're transitioning, make sure that you give yourself time to relax. This may mean stimming, or engaging in your hobbies, or whatever makes you feel good.
Good luck!

It's not a new job itself I find daunting, it's meeting new people. You can't choose your co-workers, and I'm so worried about working somewhere I am not liked, either by a mean boss or cliquey people. I know NTs can have this trouble too, but being an Aspie puts you more at risk of not fitting in socially. And I know that will make me miserable at work. Not fitting in takes me back to my high school days where I was rejected by peers, and I get depressed even thinking about social exclusion.

Right now in the job I'm currently in, I do fit in. People talk to me, and I don't generally feel excluded. But sooner or later I'll have to leave if I want to move to my boyfriend's place, which is too far to travel to and from my current job, plus I need a job that pays better money than I'm on now, as I want a car but can't afford one with the wage I'm on. And it's not easy for my boyfriend to just move closer, so things are a bit undecided at the moment job-wise, and I'm feeling anxious at deciding what to do for the best. I love anything to do with writing, so maybe I can look for a job that involves writing or typing. But right now I am just plodding on in my current job, not really happy but afraid to change.

I always find starting a new job exhausting. I tend to just chill out and do as little as possible when I get home. I also escape into my imagination a lot. I make up little stories in my head and repeat them over and over. That is my own way of coping, I notice it happens a lot more in times of stress like starting a new job.

My best advice is to just let your body do what it needs to do to relax when you finish work. If there is a kind of exercise you enjoy, do some of that to burn off the extra adrenaline and stress that will build up during the day, and then do something you enjoy to help you relax and sleep at bedtime.

And take it one day at a time.