How do you (or did you) survive after college?

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I just graduated college a few months ago (with a BS in Psychology). I had a temporary summer job, and now I'm starting a job at a group home for people with developmental disabilities. My current job is on the lines of what I want to do (I'm really interested in ASDs and helping others). I find myself really lucky to have a job this soon after graduation considering the current state of the economy in the US. However, I've been struggling in some ways. I live in the group home that I work at and, even though it's fairly close to family, I've been struggling at finding things to do; with establishing routines (which has always been a struggle for me, which may be a bit strange for an aspie); and with adjusting to not going to school anymore. I'm a bit close to my university, which is nice because I loved college (tons of learning, things to do, involvement with the cross country and track teams, involvement in the band program, among other things). It feels weird not to have my XC team for support anymore, and now I'm trying to find other sources of support (e.g. friends, coworkers that are nearby). It feels like I'm starting all over again, with no friends and not much to look forward to (besides work). Maybe I just need time to adjust? Maybe it was because of my incredibly stressful summer (as my boss/head cook was a sadistic, perfectionistic guy who enjoyed putting people down and lecturing them on as much stuff for as long as he could and then yelling at us for messing something up, which was all day everyday for three months; it's a bit of a long story)? I brought some of my old textbooks from home, as I love learning, and academia in general. It just feels weird to be done, I'm afraid that I'm depressed again, afraid that my friends don't care about me anymore, and I feel like I don't have a lot to do or goals to achieve (which drives me off the wall). I've been trying to set my mind on things so that I could work at what is ahead (e.g. saving up to go to Russia to see my friend, an upcoming race), although it still feels weird. Any thoughts or advice? Has anyone gone through this before?

my gosh, your soo lucky you found a job right up your ally right after college because sooo many of us werent able to

Well anyways, Im in the simiar situation. Graduated, away from all my close friends(2000 miles), mom driving nuts at times. I do have friend here but there not as close. I miss my close friend so much because its so hard for me to bond with people. Right now I work at Safeway, which is just a job because I have limited work experience. And I need to build up on the lower end job experience before I can get into a job in my field. In this year, my goal is to hold a couple lower level jobs(also looking at a campus job at the local community college), do volunteer work in my field(and/or hold an internship). After a 1-2 years of that, I hope to land a real job in my field. See most aspies need to take more steps to get to their established goal.

I see what your saying and it is lonely but I figured right now, Im gonna focus on career more. Hopefully friendships will come along with my jobs. Right now, no potential friendships are coming outta Safeway, just some acquaintances. I hope to make friends with people working in the lab because there's more common interests to bond on. I still keep in contact with some friends online. I got some online friends as well.

I dont really have much advice, perhaps you can find community clubs or activities of common interests. Try bond with co-workers. Your very fortunate jobwise

Thanks for the advice. I'm hoping to plug myself into a couple community activities or make a few friends along the way, although I think the initial steps can be a bit hard (at least from what I've heard from other people). I've been trying to bond with people and meet with old friends, although that's been proving hard (especially with the fact that I have AS, which could make it a bit more of a struggle). My coworkers are quite nice for the most part, although we're just getting to know each other, and it could be hard to find your place in a social circle of there are people at work who already have an established social circle. Hopefully I'll have at least a few people I could trust and be friends with. I hope that you eventually get the job that you'd like in the end; I think part of it is being in the right place at the right time (which was probably the case with me), plus it depends on how in-demand the job is (in my case, they needed caregivers, which is what I'm here to do). I could kind of understand how hard that could be with not doing what you really want (or even close to it) after college or even years of working lower-end jobs. I hope things work out for you in the end.