Work related anxiety

[ellie22]

Hey everyone :)
I recently started a part time job at a supermarket to get some extra money while I go to high school.
It's a rather small place, I'm the only cashier most of the time while my colleagues work in the back, so I rarely see them.
The thing is, I get incredibly nervous while I'm working, my voice gets really shaky and I sometimes find my hands shaking as well. While at work I'm constantly thinking about the things that could go wrong, e.g. an angry customer or a robbery. Though nothing severe has happened yet, it makes me extra anxious that I would probably be alone if someone were to rob the place.
Even small things, like a customer asking me to hurry up because they are busy or telling me something is wrong makes me want to cry and get away from them. Ideally I would like to be able to take breaks where I have time to breathe slowly and things like that so I can relax, but it's not possible because the store is too busy.
I can't just quit either, because I'm saving money for a trip to Italy with my school and my parents can't pay all the expenses for me..
I can't sleep the night before I go to work and when I return home from working, a rarely get much sleep either.
So my question how I can possibly deal with my anxiety while still hopefully being able to keep my job.
I can feel it slowly starting to affect my school and personal life as well and I don't think I can continue working there much longer if things don't change :/
Sorry if this was rather long and messy lol

[lolfeg123]

Lack of sleep definately amplifies one's anxiety, which in turn is probably adding on to your negative thinking unnecessarily. If I was you I'd cease worrying about the store getting robbed because that would be such a rarity, especially given that "the store is too busy". I would also encourage you to breathe deeply even though there are people around you - I don't think that they will notice 'belly breathing'. Good luck

[gypsylee]

Hi Ellie and welcome :)

You poor thing.. My anxiety is social and when it's bad I find it hard to even be the person on the other side of the check-out. Good on you for trying to make some money to go on the trip to Italy though.

Perhaps it would help to remember that there are some customers like me who are just as anxious as you are and terrified you'll notice. Also, someone posted here a few months ago who had just started working in an office and he was having a really hard time because every time he had to speak to his boss he would get so anxious his neck and shoulders would tense right up, which made him shake and find it very hard to hold a conversation (looking the boss in the eyes etc). This is what happens to me when my social anxiety is bad and even though people probably don't notice, it makes me feel like a freak and just a simple transaction with another person is traumatic and embarrassing.

I don't get it so much now I'm older but one thing I suggested to this guy that I did was to wear a necklace/chain of some sort which I could fiddle with while talking to people. It gives you a subtle thing to do with your hands, which somehow stopped the neck shaking for me. I also have a friend who gets social anxiety and her little trick is to wear a rubber band or hair tie around her wrist which she flicks to distract herself from the anxiety while talking to people (she's a bit of a masochist so the pain relaxes her lol).

Anyway, those are just some little practical things you could try, and just remember that there are lots of other people feeling the same way. It helps me to remind myself everyone is so busy worrying about their own problems that noone takes much notice of me at all, let alone whether I'm anxious or not.

Bye for now,
Gypsy x

[Sansick03]

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[thanhha89]

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