Anxiety at work, before work, about work, etc

[bey0ndanxious]

For years I've struggled to keep a job. My anxiety has got in the way in my previous two jobs which has led me to quit both after around a month.

I've recently started a new job and once again, my anxiety is taking hold and really making me dread the days I'm in. I work weekends as I'm at uni during the week, so I feel I have no time where my anxiety is at bay. I'm new, so when I do things wrong I feel so anxious and ashamed and embarrassed that it makes me not want to go in again. I'm not quitting this time, this I know. But I'm really really struggling to not let the anxiety take over. I have a four hour shift today and I feel like it'll never end. I don't know how to calm myself.

[lone*star]

^ One thing you could try is this:

Let's assume for one moment that your anxiety, for some strange reason, suddenly stopped completely - that most surprisingly, and perhaps for the first time in many years, you found yourself not experiencing any anxiety whatsoever about anything. In that scenario, what would still be left to worry about? Are there still aspects of your job, for example, that would provide cause for concern (bearing in mind, remember, that anxiety itself is no longer an issue)?

In other words, what you're trying to gauge here, is what percentage of your [previous] anxiety was caused by real life problems, and what percentage of it was caused by the fear of the anxiety itself. See if you can therefore calculate, as accurately as you can, the two percentages involved. That will then give you some idea of how much of your overall 'problem' is merely surrounding anxiety itself, rather than other things that are separate to it.

You may even find that simply looking at the situation more objectively like that, might itself even reduce overall anxiety levels for you.

[lone*star]

Originally Posted by jinny

That's interesting @ Lone*star. I've never tried to figure out how much of my own anxiety about work is about the actual tasks/work and how much is anxiety about anxiety, due to the fact that I have learned l am always anxious at work, a self fulfilling prophecy kind of

Yes Jinny, I'm thinking that, for many people at least, the anxiety itself has literally taken over their life - has become a 'mental monster' in its own right - such that the original worries/issues/concerns which may have caused it to appear in the first place, have become secondary in importance. But of course, that then clouds the overall issue, because the anxiety is then projected onto any external objects and situations in which the anxiety is likely to be triggered. So, as you say, it becomes a kind of self fulfilling prophecy.

[bey0ndanxious]

This has been helpful, gregarious_introvert! Particularly reassuring was your comments about dealing with colleagues as this is what my main issue is with having a job. I can deal with customers just fine, I just hate the small talk with colleagues, the trying to impress, get along with and just generally be around others who work there! I think this is because customers come and go quickly, whearas colleagues are there constantly, it's more social than with customers you know?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[bey0ndanxious]

Originally Posted by lone*star

Yes Jinny, I'm thinking that, for many people at least, the anxiety itself has literally taken over their life - has become a 'mental monster' in its own right - such that the original worries/issues/concerns which may have caused it to appear in the first place, have become secondary in importance. But of course, that then clouds the overall issue, because the anxiety is then projected onto any external objects and situations in which the anxiety is likely to be triggered. So, as you say, it becomes a kind of self fulfilling prophecy.

Lone*star this is so true! I worry in advance about worrying and it's such a vicious cycle. My anxiety has become so familiar that it occurs in any situation, just because I'm used to it - and somewhat comforted by it, if that makes sense?