New job

[cyncyn]

Hi, I'm so nervous I start a new job tomorrow. I have orientation for 3 hours, I know it's not that long. I keep playing out scary "what if..." scenarios in my mind. I've been out of work for 5 months and I'm totally switching careers, it's not far from home although I might have some training at other locations. I just need to get through tomorrow. I'm afraid I'll panic and blow it and this job was hard enough to get. Anticipatory anxiety has always been the biggest problem for me. Any suggestions? I don't want to tell them unless absolutely necessary about my panic attacks.

[abartlett331]

I've also been nervous for new jobs, especially after not having worked for some time. I've had tons of jobs throughout my life, and one thing I realized, is that no matter how I felt or how nervous I got, I was still going to have to go through the day at work. I would take a deep breath and think to my self things like, "what's the worst thing that can happen?" Well for one, I could get so nervous to the point that I would completely freeze up and blow the entire job (not that likely).

On the other hand, I could walk in nervous yet confident in knowing that I'm going to perform to the best of my abilities and forget about the outcome. You see, when you stop thinking about whether or not the outcome will be negative and just focus on what you know and how great you're going to do, the pressure eases up a bit. If you tried you're best and still blow it at your new job, then "oh well." You're pretty much in the same situation as you were before you got hired. I know this type of thinking can be difficult, especially after having worked so hard to obtain the position in the first place, but it really helps relieve the pressure and allows you to focus on accomplishing your tasks, as opposed to being nervous about doing them. Things are always easier to accomplish when there is less pressure.

The only way to increase your odds of excelling on your first day and in general, is to be educated in your field and to be extremely confident in yourself. A lot of employers can sense whether you're confident or not. Just know that what you're going through is perfectly normal and that you're not the only one. Plenty of people including myself have gone through this. Just make sure to relax, take a deep breath, and just be yourself. In reality, the chances of something bad happening are minimal. Hope this helps and good luck.

[cyncyn]

Thank you for helping I woke up with my husband this morning, who am I kidding I was up most of the night. I don't have to be there until 1pm and already I have a churning stomach. I started crying because I'm so nervous & asked him to stay home so he's home while I'm gone. I feel safer that way. He won't which I don't blame him even though he's sick with a cold. I'm so afraid of blowing this, we've struggled so much while I was out of work. I'm so afraid of panicking that I embarrass myself, cry or ask to leave and in one scenario I'm afraid I leave by ambulance it's been 16 years since I've worked any where that I didn't know someone there already going in. I was bullied out of my last job (see my other post from last October) so I know I still carry issues because of that. One positive is this job is 1 mile from my home, just one traffic light on the way, which causes lots of anxiety itself. I'm hoping this is just really bad anticipatory which will go away once I get there.