Needing help feeling flat

[Nervybella]

Hi guys,

Just struggling with feeling really flat. A bit of background...

Got a new job at the start of this year, it was awful and I resigned after like 2 weeks.

Was unemployed for around a month before landing another job. I really like this job and have been here for a month now, everything is going well but the last few days I have been feeling really really flat.

nothing can cheer me up and I'm just on the verge of tears. I have a terrible headache and all I want is to be at home.

can anyone help with some techniques or even just some reassurance? Feeling lost at the moment 😞

Bella

[james1]

Hey Bella,

Are you at work at the moment? I'm having a really flat day myself and have to drag myself to an after work drinks with our manager's manager 😞 That won't be fun.

Congratulations on the job by the way. I have seen your posts before but perhaps if you wanted to share if anything's been going wrong recently? I find some days are just worse than others and, like you said, I just want to go home. It's quite horrible really. 😞

If this is a job you like, then perhaps it might be good to see how you can cope while at work, if you have a bad day. Are you able to get up and do something like go walk outside for 15 minutes? Or even just to find a dark room and sit there for a while and listen to music?

I think you're doing an amazing job by even motivating yourself enough to get the job. That's really awesome.

James

[Nervybella]

Hi James,

thanks for your reply 🙂

I wrote this on my lunch break and am now on the train heading home. Today, well what a day! Apart from feeling shitty all day, I got stuck on a call and ended up working over half and hour late...all I wanted to do was go home! Wah 😞

Nothing has really been going wrong recently, I think it's just because I am settling into a monotonous 9-5 routine and feel like I don't have much of a life outside of work. But I find it hard when I'm so exhausted after work, plus it takes me an hour to get to/from work so that eats away at any time to do other activities during the week.

unfortunately, the sort of job I have I cant really just get up and go for a walk or leave my desk like you suggested. Wish I could, I think that sort of thing would help.

I hope your work drinks go ok, and hope you have a happy rest of the week.

Bella 🙂

[talklp]

Hey Bella!
It sucks that you're feeling down
I relate a bit on what you are saying with the whole routine, and work effecting your mood and everything outside of work too. I work night shifts a bit, from 9:00pm/11pm - 4:30am, getting to sleep at 5:00am. Of course, it throws out my sleeping and makes me lethargic throughout the following days.
One thing that I have found helpful, which you may as well, is improving what I eat. Less sugar, more veggies, more water. It helped me get a bit of balance back, and may work for you too?

You have done the first step though by posting here about it all - keep it up 🙂

[Nervybella]

Hi talklp,

Thanks for your response. I can't imagine how hard shift work like that must be! How do you juggle seeing family, friends and having some "me time"? I feel so tired after work and find it hard to have a life outside of work.

Thabks for the tip- I will definitely start trying to eat better 🙂 hopefully that helps!

On another note, the past 2 nights I have got stuck at work and ended up working an extra 20-25 minutes overtime, resulting me in missing my train and then being over an hour late home! It's really frustrating me and getting me all worked up.

My family think I should ask to change my hours so I don't keep missing my train (I'm on a regional train line with pretty irregular departures from the CBD). But I feel like I can't really say that?!

has anyone got any advice/experience with this too?

Thanks in advance,

Bella 🙂

[james1]

Hey bella,

Ah that's no good! Being late sucks because you miss the time to really wind down at home.

I'm not sure what kind of job you work in, but I work in an office and it's fairly flexible for me. I can come in early and leave early, or come in late and leave late. So at the moment, I get in about 30 mins late each day and just stay back an extra 30mins.

Workplaces are generally more flexible about this kind of thing now. I think it's a very reasonable request and probably best to be upfront about it - just let them know you'd like to change the hours a bit but you'll still be working the same hours; it'll just mean that if, for whatever reason, you do need to work overtime, you can still be home at a reasonable time.

James

[Nervybella]

Hi again James,

How were your work drinks?

Unfortunately my job (also in an office) doesn't have the flexibility to come in early or stay late. The only way for me to finish early would be to drop my hours, which I don't want to do at this stage.

How do you cope with feeling flat and that niggling sense of anxiety? I'm especially feeling it tonight, on a Sunday night. I always worry about not getting enough sleep and being exhausted at work.

I guess that this is just what life with anxiety is but sometimes I have a hard time accepting that this is my life 😕

Bella

[Slipstream_SS]

Hi Bella

I know exactly what you mean by falling into a routine. My life consists of work, gym, home life. Yeah ive got mates that i go see and they see me, but apart from that i dont do bugger all. Some is just me needing to step out of my comfort zone, but like you my job is tuff. I work in transport and start work at 2.am everyday, so by Saturday after working 6 days im usually stuffed.

My routine is exactly the same, week in and week out, in fact come Sunday, im actually looking forward to Monday. So yeah i know how depressing it can be. I here the guys talk about how good there weekend was, and i feel so upset cos i feel ive just wasted time. Plus turned 40 and kinda think im wasting my life.

This year though ive made a concious decision to get out more, its not that im scared its just getting out of my Home Body mode. Good luck Bella i know exactly what your going through..

Slipstream ss

[james1]

Hey Bella,

My work drinks were okay. I was mostly listening rather than talking, so that made things easier.

Ah the Sunday arvo/night anxiety about the working week is not nice. The thoughts of the week's things we need to do and what will happen if we don't do them properly...it's very hard to deal with.

For me, I just make sure I have time to do something distracting and which I enjoy. Most Sundays will be spent with a friend watching footy or a movie. I find having routine helps as well so you know what will happen and you're not left with spare time to think and worry.

For mornings, it probably differs from person to person but I generally try to give myself extra time to just mentally get ready. But I make sure I schedule in something to do as well - whether it's just going for a walk/run or listening to music or playing with my bird, it's good to have a bit of time to just not be worried about stuff.

So I'd say for me, it's really just about scheduling in down time, but making sure you have something to do in that down time.

I hope your day is going okay.

James

[Nervybella]

Hi Slipstream and James,

I think you are both correct in saying you just need to make time for yourself. I'm going to try and start consciously creating time for myself to do things I enjoy. Thank you

Bella 🙂