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Going to work

13 years ago 0 +0 / -0 1665

Hi Hillary: Welcome Hillary. Sorry you are going through this right now. I'm sure you are competent at your job, your selected career choice. I've had anxiety going to work too. I focused on my job, and only my job. I figured one thing at a time so as not to get overwhelmed with all the other employees or even the boss. Not saying I didn't enjoy a coffee break, but even lunch time was a stress then. I couldn't wait to get home again.
How did I overcome this? I would do a relaxation before leaving the house, would visualize at bedtime a successful day at work. And finally, got lots of sleep. I found that when anxious I would stay up very late (avoidance), hating to face the fact that I had to get up for work the next day. Instead, I faced the fact that I loved my job (not the stress) and acted accordingly. If I was anxious at work, I would go to the ladies' room and take a breather - take my time washing my hands, sipping a glass of water, taking deep breaths, and using positive self talk. Some days were harder than others, but I knew it didn't mean that all days would be like that. One day at a time, was my motto for awhile.

When you get home again, give yourself a small reward, a good pat on the back, you did it. Hopefully it will get easier. As to why you get anxious about work, try the 10 questions. It helped me get a better perspective on things.

Keep posting and let us know how it is going.

Cheering for you,

Your friend, Sunny

13 years ago 0 +0 / -0 653

Welcome, Hillary,

Thank you for sharing your story with us. There are many people within this support group that share the same questions and concerns as you. We are all a group of individuals who support each other.

This program is 12-weeks and involves the tools mentioned below. Each session is based on the previous session, so we strongly advise that you work slowly through the program and not jump ahead.

If you look to the left of the screen under "TOOLS" you will find many supportive tests. These tests are not diagnostic tools and are not a replacement or substitute for a physician's advice. The purpose of these tests is to prepare you with information that you can present to your physician. When you're finished the test, you can either print your Final Report or email it directly to your doctor. These tests may or may not be for you but they are "free".

Please continue to strive forward and lean on us for support.

Tiana, Health Educator

13 years ago 0 +0 / -0 6252

Hi Hillary

Welcome to the site.

Very interesting. This is just my take, but I would say you have a core belief around your specific field to do with excelling at it. It could have been built by you or some one you wanted to impress or just by pressure from some one else, a peer maybe.

So when you are doing what you are trained to do you worry and try too hard, which you don't have to do in any other job. This is performance anxiety.

You are good at what you do aren't you? You do realize being a perfectionist is destructive, being the best you can is constructive. No one is expected to be 100% even part of the time.

A couple of things to consider that are destructive. Are you competing with males? Are you competing with older people? Any other hidden things? Is this a high profile job where you have to look your best all the time?

I suffered performance anxiety when I developed Arthritis because I was very good in my field but it was physical and I could no longer be better than anyone else. Subconsciously it was destroying me. Panic attacks at work, attacks at night, attacks on the way to work.

When I look back at it, I was still better than my peers, just slower and that was what was killing me.

Here for you,

Davit

13 years ago 0 +0 / -0 1

Hello, I am a 24 year old female. I have been having panic attacks for the last 3 years or so. I have also been taking Lexapro daily for the past 2 years, and Xanax when needed. What usually triggers it lately is going to work. I just started a new job and every time I think about going there I have a very scary panic attack. There is nothing bad about the place and I can't think of any reason why I get so panicky when I think about it. The worst part is, is that I will get panic attacks while I'm there also. It making me physically sick. This has happened every time I have started a new job in this particular field for the past 2 years. "Every time" meaning that I have been unable to keep these jobs because of my attacks. When I started work in a different field with different hours, I didn't get panicky but I wasn't making enough money and it wasn't what I attended school for, so I felt like I should try to go back to my previous field of work. So, that's what I did. It's not working well at all. My panic attacks have started again and it's really incapacitating me to do anything, especially going to work. I'm going to start seeing a therapist as soon as I can get an appt and I am starting the program on this site. I just don't know what to do until I feel better. All I wanna do is lay in bed and sleep when this happens. I have already called in sick to work once and it sets off an attack anytime I think about having to go back tomorrow. I just don't know how to handle this. Thanks for reading.

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