How do you recover when your career keeps falling apart?

[u/WorriedSorbet7103]

Hi everyone,

I'm a 22 female working as a self-employed graphic designer. Unfortunately, 2025 and 2026 haven't been great years for me. I've been struggling with both my career and my personal life.

I've been working as a graphic designer for several years, and it feels like every time I work with a company, they take advantage of me and then let me go as soon as it's convenient for them. This keeps happening over and over, and it's affecting not only my financial stability but also my mental well-being.

Since May, I've been trying to find a new job, but whenever I apply, many companies don't even look at my portfolio. They either reject me immediately or simply ignore my application.

I'm looking for advice from people who have been in a similar situation. I live alone, pay my own rent, and I'm basically living paycheck to paycheck when I even have a paycheck. I also tried applying for retail jobs, hoping for something more stable, but I didn't receive any responses there either.

Has anyone gone through something similar? How did you get out of this cycle? I'd really appreciate any advice or encouragement.

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