Massive work anxiety

[Ocdiff]

Hey guys hope you're all well!

First post here, i have had ocd amd pretty sever anxiety since i was 13 no 32 and i have been at my job for about 9months now. And pretty well the whole time wanted to leave. I always feel i'm not "getting it" or always im making mistakes. Im a 32 yr old male and this is my first "trade"like job.

I have been off for a week and a half with a hand injury and i am super anxious about returning, as i know i am going to cop some slack (already am) for they guys for having so much time off for a sliced hand.

The high anxiety with this job has been since day one. (Little panic attacks, nausea, horrible feeling in stomach every sunday and weekday morning.

What im wondering is... when do you know its time to leave a job if the anxiety is becoming too much. I feel its affecting me away from work too. I spend my weekend anxious about monday.

Sorry for the rant, appreciate all feedback

Thank you!!

[zguenzl]

Hi Ocdiff,

I hope your hand is okay!

When I had high anxiety due to work, I started making a list of what was making me anxious. I did one column for a thought I had e.g. everyone is going to be annoyed at me for missing work, and another column for what was more likely to be the case e.g. everyone will be glad to see me back working again.

Maybe you could give this a try?

Hope this helps a little.

All the best,

Zoe

[Ocdiff]

Hey, thanks Zoe, sounds like a good way to try and see positives. Did you stay at that particular job that was triggering you your anxiety?

[zguenzl]

No worries 🙂

I stuck it out for a year but ended up leaving last month. Was very anxious to tell them I was going, but once I was out of there I felt a lot better.

The only thing that kept me there was the fact that I wasn't sure if it was the job making me anxious or me. I didn't want to have the situation where I changed jobs and the anxiety followed me. The longer I was there the more I recognised the values of the workplace didn't align with mine, and that's why I finally decided to move.

I think giving it a bit of time is a good thing to do though. Helped me make sure I was doing the right thing.

All the best,

Zoe