At what point in your treatment did you feel ready to face your fears?

[Wild_Westerner]

Hi all! I've been in CBT treatment for about a month and have started to feel better about my work related anxiety. I had to quit my full time job in marketing due to the anxiety and am now planning to work in retail until I feel ready to return. I don't want to go back to suddenly as I'm afraid I will be overwhelmed again and all my progress will be lost. 

At what point of treatment did you feel ready to confront your fears or go back to what you used to do? 

[Croix]

Dear Wild_Westerner~

It's good to hear back from you and I'm glad you have talked matters over with your psych, even if it sounds as if matters are not going to be resolved for a while yet.

Being on medication - once you settle on the right ones - can do a lot. I'm on a particular regimen that works for me and have been on it for a very long time, and expect to remain on it. It does give me a 'stable base' to live a pretty good life with the ability to approach things wiht confidence and gain satisfaction.

Do you mind if I ask what you plans are now, trying for a less stressful job now, or waiting a while? I found that when I did have a less stressful occupation ( it was not straight away and after one false start I was lucky to be with a very kind set of people) there were lots of positives with structure, identity, companionship and accomplished

If you'd like I would be interested to know how you go

Croix

[Wild_Westerner]

Hey Croix, at the moment I've been working at target doing pick packing for the past 2 weeks. It's been better than expected as the job is very easy. So anxiety has been limited to certain interactions with management like arranging shifts and asking about pay related matters.

It's not a career I see myself staying in though and I do want to go back to marketing but even with the new skills I've re-learnt in therapy I'm not sure I can return to marketing any time soon. I'm only doing fine at Target as there's pretty much 0 chance of failure or unexpected surprises.

Moving back to marketing and a corporate environment would be a big jump and of course I don't want to go backwards again. But so far I am getting better so hoping for the best and to keep working on my therapy.