When is it too much?

[Star84]

I am currently experiencing anxiety, possibly some depression as well. I am confused as to when one decides they need time off work, or is it better to keep working and stay busy to keep the mind active and distracted?

The cause of my recent spike in anxiety is I’m planning to move house, change kids school and find a new job a couple hundred kms away, we’ve been settled where we are now for many years. The change has been put off all year due to COVID and my ex (childs father) doesn’t want this. About to go through mediation and not coping.

[Sophie_M]

Hey Star84, welcome back to the Beyond Blue forums. It's great to have you join us here again. We're sorry to hear things have been so stressful for you this year. We can imagine the COVID restrictions have had a huge impact on your ability to prepare for and follow through with moving.

If you feel up to it, we'd recommend reaching out to our Coronavirus Mental Wellbeing Support Service. The website will be regularly updated with information, advice and strategies to help you manage your wellbeing and mental health during this time. You can also call our dedicated support line, staffed by mental health professionals, which is available 24/7 on 1800 512 348. Please know that you've come to a safe, non-judgemental space to talk about your thoughts and feelings, and our wonderful community is here to provide you with as much support, advice and conversation as you need. We hope that you keep checking in to let us know how you're going, whenever you feel up to it.

[smallwolf]

Hi.

Your question has me stumped - the only time I had time off work was when I went onto ADs after strong suicidal thoughts. There has also been times when I not appeared at meetings because I was not in the right headspace - and when I mentioned this to both my psychiatrist and psychologist, their suggestion was that it was better to go to those event as they can act as a distraction

The changes you will be going through would be anxiety raising in any time - it sounds like you have many thoughts about what might happen. You would not be alone.

With the thoughts - my own experience has been that the many thoughts I have had in my mind were variations of 2 or 3 things and writing it all down on paper has been a way of coping (for me). There are ways of managing the thoughts...apps you can run on your phone, talking to someone, or even looking at the threads on the forum on grounding and mindfulness. Perhaps writing here will help you find a way forward.

Listening to you,

Tim

[Guest_1643]

Hi Star,

Like Tim I agree this is a tricky one, as there are different factors.
I would only like to add that if you take time off to do something which will help your mental health - eg go on a break, holiday, (obviously neither are available options now in lockdown), stay in a hospital or recovery centre, go to a yoga retreat etc - than I would say absolutely take time off work. Also if you think it could help with sleep, appetite, or anything like that, I would say do it. Again there are no easy answers for this and I guess you need to see how you feel about having time off work, but in general I could see how a little break might be helpful in some cases.