I can't say that this is something I've ever suffered from, but my two pennorth's worth would be to try and put sex work into context by not letting it be your whole life. It might be safer/better if, for example, it wasn't the sole source of your income, even if you just 1–2 days a week in a shop or office or something. That would put everything in perspective, keep you tethered to reality, expand your social circle, give you a change of scene etc.

The longer you spend only doing SW, the feelings that you're likely to fail at anything else will likely get worse, so it's either a case of a). sit down, plan, and work out how to achieve your other goals, with some timelines/targets etc., or b). give up, focus on doing SW as well as you can for as long as you can, and manage your money sensibly so that you can retire early and enjoy other pursuits. Or there's possibly a hybrid plan, e.g. doing SW 1–2 days a week only.

In summary, try to make sure SW doesn't define you.

I completely agree with Kay, keep SW in perspective and don't make it your sole focus. Make sure you treat yourself too, use some of your income to remind yourself of the plus sides, whether it's a meal at your favourite restaurant, a professional massage or even subscribing to a yoga course. See friends, go to the cinema and talk walks, and keep a sense of balance.

I’ve come to realise that some girls will go out and shag 3 guys unprotected on a weekend and they’re the same girls that look down on sex workers and call them disgusting. I’ve found some men will have had 100 casual partners in a 2 year time frame but it’s an issue to them if you were a sex worker in the past. Therefore I do not care what anyone thinks about sex work anymore as a lot of these people casting stones do the exact same things. They just don’t do it for money and a lot of times I have found people who get around a lot who aren’t sex workers usually disregard or don’t care much about sexual health. From my experience anyway.

I’m not saying we should judge those people at all. But what people fail to realise is it’s not just sex workers who have many sexual partners. Lots of people do. And there’s nothing wrong with that and there’s nothing wrong with you. But unfortunately society only looks down on sex workers for engaging in sex a lot. Labelling them disgusting and horrible. Because they’ve built this idea in their head that sex is something sacred and not transactional. Sex is nothing. There isn’t anything sacred about it. Do you think there’s anything sacred about two dogs shagging the living day lights out of each other on the street. No there isn’t. Sex is just procreation at the end of the day. It’s all it was intended for. It’s enjoyable though and men will pay to engage in it so therefore it can be transactional and monetised.

That’s how I like to look at it anyway.

I can't say I've ever really thought about it, but then I've never really noticed what other people think about anything because I've never been interested. I have my views and experiences and others have theirs, and we all have as much right to them as each other; sex work isn't the only occupation that gets stereotyped, either.

I'd definitely agree that you need other things to do and think about though, even if they're not work - the reason sex work is my only source of income is precisely because it affords me the time to do lots of other things

Thank you everyone for your responses!
I will check out that article, it is sad when ex SWs cope by attacking the industry.
The comment about mixing with open-minded people is brilliant advice. I have definitely found my friendships are stronger with my accepting, non judgmental civvy friends. Thank you for the offer to DM also honey bear, you too!
Amy, that’s a brilliant attitude. I defo need to work on adopting that stance.
Kiss, I feel the same. I would never regret it for myself, but I do overthink about other peoples judgements.
Hahah Sophine, it often is the one night standard crowd! Interesting isn’t it.
Milky moo, retiring early is a brilliant plan! I have those same worries too, but I guess the right person for us wouldn’t judge us based on our circumstances.
Thank you Kay, I agree including sex work around multiple goals definitely helps!

That’s how I like to look at it anyway.

I quite agree with you Sophine about that double standards and confused attitudes people have towards promiscuity and particularly women who have an active sex life.

Further to that, I think that also being around a sex worker, (rather than just a promiscuous person), makes people self-reflect about the nature of their own sexual or romantic relationships, (or lack thereof), and that can make some people very insecure. Personally I think all sex is a transaction. It is not always money being traded, sometimes it is affection, security, physical pleasure, loyalty, influence, protection, status, all sorts of things. Our presence forces people to acknowledge this and sometimes they don't like it.

To the OP, I have recently started reading a book called Thriving in Sex Work by Lola Davina. I haven't got very far yet so I can't give a full recommendation but it seems to address a lot of the doubts that you (and man others) face about working in the sex industry. Maybe worth a look 

I have felt much less sleazy and much more honest being in sex work, compared to MLM. I also feel my clients "see me" as a human (not all of them!) compared to being in a civvy role where I was "a resource".

I decided about 10yrs ago that I didn't give a flying fuck what anyone else thought about me, and that's served me well.