the joys of work

[elgrande]

Well lets face it, work is something most of us have to do but I'm curious to find out how others are coping. For me, I'm at my most anxious when I'm at work. I have a stressful job in a large office corporate environment. Meetings are the worst for me. I sit and fidget and move about in my chair. When I'm asked a question my brain freezes but I somehow get by. As the day wears on the tension increases and the back of my neck and jaw become tight. Sometimes I get up from my desk and go for a wander which seems to help a bit. I really don't think humans are well suited to sitting in front of a computer all day. There is something very unnatural about it. I get well paid for what I do but I've often thought about packing it in and getting something less stressful and non office based. Its tough finding something which would allow me to continue living at my current standard though. Should have learned a trade when I left school!

Any thoughts on work and anxiety?

thanks

[punkgod94]

Hello elgrande,

Welcome to my world haha. My anxiety is TYPICALLY worst from the moment I wake up (because I dont want to wake up early), then the commute to work, then the actual 8 hours at work, the drive home, and then I come home and crash (nap for 3-5 hours) because my body and mind were so worked up all day...I literally just sleep the rest of the day away. You're not alone...with the economy being shitty and jobs expecting more of you than is humanly possible without breaking, it's very easy to have anxiety attacks at work. Jobs want more productivity from you, and they want to give you less compensation for it. This is the world we live in. If you have a good job with good pay and more importantly benefits, I highly recommend that you stick with it because then at least you'll have medical benefits to take care of your mental health needs. Trust me, that's the only thing that's stopped me from quitting many of times. I wish I could give you some advice on how to cope with it, but just know that you're not alone.

[elgrande]

Yeah its tough going. Basically I feel like my life is slowly slipping through my fingers as I sit "chained" to a computer all day. All this just to service my bills? It sucks.

[kaialian]

Great topic!

It is interesting to "see" how others deal with anxiety at work. For myself, I rarely have anxiety at work unless I have had an exceptionally bad night. I find that work gives me the mental stimulation needed to forget about anxiety and focus on what I do. However, I think it helps that I LOVE my job.

[punkgod94]

Just some words of advice. Get a GOOD night's sleep and stay away from caffeine and sugary stuff 4-6 hours before you lay down to bed. Baths a few hours before you go to bed can be soothing too. Only use the bed for sleep and sexual activities, or else you're going to cause problems for yourself later on (take it from me...it's not just a doctors suggestion, I screwed myself cause I'm always in my bed). If you feel chained to the computer, go take a walk outside on a nice day or a break. I don't know if you're paid hourly or salary, but if you're paid salary then work at the pace which is most comfortable for you. You may have to work 9 hours a day instead of 8, but if you can take that hour and just go outside, breathe in the air, or just do whatever you can to relax, even if it's just going in your car and listening to the radio. If your boss has a problem with it, talk to your human resources manager and explain that you're coping with anxiety problems that you have and you two can figure out a plan of action to make work more bearable.

[ensie]

Sorry to hear you're not coping too well!

I've had a bad day today. I started a new job working behind the bar in a night club last week. It was hell. It was packed with people (800) the loud music made me feel dazed and confused (was wierd!) and i have a slight OCD about being clean, i was sticky with alcohol all night! and i have to walk back to the car on my own early hours of the morning and being a 19 year old girl i get paniked that im going to be followed etc (always thinking of the worse case scenario)
I never seem to have any initiative at work, i worry too much about what people are going to think, if im doing the right thing, am i doing it right, should i even be doing this.. what if people think i'm stupid etc.
especially in a nightclub, i get scared i wont hear what people are saying and i'll have to ask them to repeat themselves and then them thinking im an idiot or getting annoyed with me!

I was meant to work for the second time tonight i've been worrying about it all day. i didn't go to my last lesson at college and i text my manager about half an hour ago and quit :o it was very irrational of me and now im worrying if i did the right thing! I sort of got fed up of worrying all day, went into 'flight or flight' and just rushed back from college in a panic and quit my job!

i've not yet been diagnosed with anxiety or anything so im not getting any help, plan to go to the doctors on weds to talk about everything after months of 'shall i? sharn't i?'

keep posting on here though, always helps to have a rant! :)
i'm sure there are lots of other people going through the same thing and have come out the other end with slightly more positive stories than the one i've just typed!

good luck with it all :)

[ken_sk_ca]

Work is the worst for me as well. For a while I was getting panic attacks every hour or so at work...it was hell. I don't know how I got any work done.

Now it is just anxiety. If it gets bad I go outside and walk around the block. Takes about 10min. I am lucky that I work somewhere that is so flexible that I can just get up and leave whenever.

My anxiety is a lot better than it was just a few weeks ago, but I still get home at the end of the day stiff all over and exhausted.

[elgrande]

I have quite a mentally taxing and slightly morbid job anyway so its quite draining at the best of times. This plus the anxiety and tension makes me feel keyed up all day. In the evening I usually escape into a movie and a couple of glasses of wine. Just about gets me through but it’s so hard to stay positive when I think I could have another 30 odd years of this. It seems a pretty futile existence at the moment. Maybe that’s why they call it the rat race.

[punkgod94]

Yea, it really blows knowing that you have soooo many more years left of your life to work. My suggestion is to make sure you save a healthy amount for retirement. 10% of your retirement in a 401k will ensure that you CAN retire, 15% of your salary put aside in a 401k will allow you to retire comfortably, and saving 20% of each paycheck for your retirement account will allow you to retire with some money to spare and enjoy. Also, when work gets to you that badly, do something fun for yourself. If you're having a very bad week, then plan a weekend adventure that would be fun for you...something you haven't done before but always wanted to do. Go to an art show, swim with dolphins, bungee jump, just do something out of the ordinary that you wouldn't always do as a type of reward!

[Robbed]

Also, while walking from your job would be a bad idea, you might want to consider another line of work. If your job is TRULY causing you as much misery as you say, then maybe it is just not for you (regardless of how capable you might be of doing the actual work). A career change could be in order for you. Sitting behind a computer all day in a corporate setting is not for everyone. Maybe the same sort of work in a less corporate environment (ie a small business or startup) would be better for you. Maybe you would be happier doing something a little more 'hands on'. Maybe you would be happier working outdoors. Consider all the possibilities, as there is no reason why you MUST work for the rest of your working years where you are.

On the other hand, how are your relations with the people you work with? Is it antagonistic? Do you just keep to yourself? If so, maybe you might try to make more of an effort to get to know the people you work with. Or, if the people you work with are just plain unpleasant, then maybe your work is not really the problem. Maybe a simple change in jobs (vs a career change) is the answer.

[elgrande]

Some good advice there. I have been thinking about a change of career recently. Now would be the time to do it before I think about settling down. I would consider most things if can find something on similar money to what I'm on at the moment. I've spent hours trawling through recruitment websites in the last few days. Basically I need something which is less corporate and means I'm not sat in front of a computer all day. Must be something out there :roll:

P.S Suggestions are very welcome! Current salary is about £25,000 ($50,000)

[Reis]

My advice:

DO NOT let your anxiety dictate your actions and make you change jobs, thats teh last thing you need to do and will in fact only perpetuate the "i have anxiety and live my life around it" mentality. You need to challenge yourself instead of yeilding to its demands. I couldnt work for the longest time when I had anxiety and often had to LEAVE work because of panic attacks. After a certain point I just couldnt bring myself to go to work. What you have to keep in mind is that no situation, person, place, or event is causing your anxious feelings and allocating blame to anything outside of you will only feed the anxious behavioral response in the brain. You need to rewire that responce by challenging it.

One thing that helped me emmensely was doing Qi Kung for an hour every morning. This made me feel rock solid and very steady in my mind and body and I started going back to work. I did hard labor and doing Qi Kung every morning really helped me stay very poised and centered.

I imagine that while youre at work you simply start t feel trapped even though no one thing is "causing" you to feel that way. It just creeps up for no reason. When this happens the brain is so highly sensative that the mind starts to interpret things as threats which are in reality not threatening at all, for example being in a meeting and getting froze up inside when someone asks you a question. An important thing to remember is that most likely noone notices this much or thinks you are "weird" or is staring at you. Often anxiety makes us think we are being looked at, thought about negatively, and even talked about when we are in public, at work or wherever. Here is the thing, even if they ARE talking about you or thinking negative thoughts about you it still shouldnt matter. The anxiety is what needs to be removed, not YOU being removed from your job and your daily life. Accomodating you anxiety and living around it only perpetuates it. DO NOT leave your job because of anxiety, that is a bad idea. If there are other issues which lead you to believe leaving your job would be a good idea that is another story, but make sure that those reasons are not imaginary or based in your anxious thoughts.

There are a lot of things to help with an anxious day at work. Qi Kung, like I said, works wonders. Another thing is to listen to your favorite music on the way to work and REALLY get into it. I mean really really get into and even start singing with it in the car or dancing before you leave the house. The confuses and breaks up the determined anxious thoughts so that it doesnt have anything to latch onto. You need to shake them up and get them scattered and not so concentrated. Another thing to do if you are at work and anxiety starts to boil up in your system is to go to the bathroom, make sure noone is around or go into a stall or something, and start dancing around slapping yoyr cheeks and whistling or humming. Again this will automatically break up the anxious thoughts and take away their foothold on the mind. Its amazing how quickly this alone can dissolve anxious thoughts and sensations. Also, you can create whats called the dive reflex which will slow down your heart and your anxious thoughts. To do this bite into a cold apple which you have brought to work with you or go to the bathroom and splash your face with water. This tells the brain that you may be under water or in extreme cold weather and the brain automatically slows everything down and regulates your breathing. So, a neat trick to stopping an anxiety attack is to jump into relatively cold water and make yourself splash around and swim and have fun. Mind you this is not to be taken as "fake fun" or "fake smiles". You have to literally put yourself into a good state of mind by consciously changing your behavior from anxiety on to anxiety off. Sitting around and focusing on the thoughts and sensations ONLY perpetuates the condition.