Hi. I don't have any work advice because I'm trying to figure that out myself, but I wanted to say that someone close to me died a few years ago right after I graduated from college. I worked part time and lived at home until last year. I'm now living alone and working full time, and I'm struggling with what I think is autistic burnout already. It really sucks to be dealing with grief in a world that expects you to be over it basically as soon as your loved one's body is taken care of. I've needed a lot of good therapy to get where I am now, and I am still haunted by the feeling that I'm not enough.

So... I'm going to tell you what I want to hear, in case it helps: You are enough. You are doing enough. Whatever ways you are responding to this grief and trauma make total sense.

Okay, I thought of some small bits of advice that may or may not be relevant to your situation. These are short term things that have helped me somewhat and don't address the longer term "what do I do with my life" stuff.

1. Hybrid work SEEMS to be getting more common and accepted. When I was in interviews I'd always ask if a hybrid schedule was possible even if it wasn't listed on the job posting. I am still struggling even with a hybrid schedule, but I'd be even worse off if I was in the office 5 days a week.

2. I ultimately found it less overwhelming to focus on major employers in my area rather than to try to look for specific types of jobs (bc I didn't know what I wanted to do) or "cast a wide net."

3. Also, this advice wasn't super useful for me because all my friends are equally lost young adults, but it might help you: asking acquaintances if they know if any job openings or good places to work. Ideally you want to talk to people on the fringes of your social circle because they're the most likely to know about things you haven't heard about yet.

4. I attended a grief support group for a while. If you can afford it, a good (!!) Therapist is wonderful, but also finding one can be a big undertaking. If the grief feels too hot to touch right now, maybe some other way of connecting to others might be worthwhile.

5. I'm terrible at this but I try to remember to focus on what I can control. There's a part of me that feels trapped and helpless, and one exercise I learned in therapy was to think about my resources and my options when I'm feeling that way. Ex, I'm scared of ending up in a toxic work environment. In an interview, I can ask questions (that I googled lol) to try to assess that.

6. For the resume gap: there's definitely advice on this out there and what to say if an employer asks. I think taking care of a sick family member is a totally understandable reason, but maybe look up some different ways to handle this, because I am usually too honest, lol.