Dear Jon
Hello and welcome to Beyond Blue. Thank you for telling us your story. You have a lot on your plate at the moment. It sounds a bit like the chicken and the egg. If you were not anxious you could go to work OK and if you felt OK at work you would not be anxious. Does that make sense?
May I ask what made you leave your first job, apart from being anxious? I am asking because there may be two different scenarios here. If it was only because you have become anxious then I suspect no matter what job you do you will continue to be anxious and probably need some help to manage this. And following on from this any job you have will also trigger your anxiety.
If you left because of circumstances at that workplace then moving elsewhere may well be the best thing to do. Once you have settled down in your new role, in theory the anxiety should go away. However it seems you gave up your first job because of anxiety and this needs to be managed before you resign from your current job.
The people on BB cannot offer you any financial advice as we are not qualified in that area. I can however offer you some suggestions about your anxiety. Repaying a large loan can be very worrying I know from my own experience. The thought of losing our home is very upsetting. I am writing on the basis that you are anxious in general as that seems the most likely story. If it is not then please write in again and explain more fully.
I suggest you make an appointment with your GP. Those people who trying to function under a load of anxiety are doing it tough. Your GP can assess you to find out where you are on the anxiety continuum. He/she may offer you medication to reduce the stress and/or suggest you get some counselling. Neither scenario is a given. This is where you need a skilled medical professional person to help you.
I used to have horrible panic attacks so I do know how it feels. It's not a good place to be. Switchoff writes above that distracting yourself can be helpful. However when we are very distressed it's not easy to switch to distraction mode. These are the kinds of exercises that need to be practised before they become an automatic process.
Your first step is to see your GP to get a diagnosis. Sorry I have not been very helpful. I hesitate to offer lots of advice until you can find out where the problem lies. Please continue to write in.
Mary
