Work makes me anxious - advice or similar experiences?

Post Reply New Topic

After a few months with no work, I've finally found a job. I survived the training period, barely - I say barely because my boss is a micromanager and I nearly lost it with her a few times - and am now allowed out on my own, so to speak.

In some ways the job is great for me. I do actually work on my own. There is customer service involved, but it isn't relentless, with plenty of downtime where nothing happens. I am allowed to do whatever I want during those quiet times, including reading, watching movies and studying. On the other hand, the job provokes a lot of anxiety in me.

I'm starting to detect a theme. This is my fourth major job during my lifetime. I have been in two of those jobs for years at a time. Not because I particularly liked them, but because I couldn't get anything better. All of them made me anxious in some way. For this latest job, the specific sources of anxiety are the boss, the customers and the fear of making a mistake. The job involves cash-handling and if we mess up, it comes out of our pay, which isn't very high to start with. When uni restarts in February, another source of anxiety will start. While I am allowed to study at work, how much I will be able to study will depend on the number of customers I have. I just know that the unpredictability will make me fretful. I will also struggle to cope with uni and work. When I have too much on my plate, I tend to quietly implode.

Generally, I have always struggled with the routine of having a job: having to travel there and be there by certain time, especially for the pleasure of forcing myself to do something that doesn't appeal to me, is exhausting. I find I resent having to put projects I do feel passionate about on hold to come into work. I have done my best to tough it out throughout my life, but as I get older, it gets more frustrating.

I will continue to look for something better, but I don't get jobs easily. Do other people have these problems? What do you do to cope? Did anyone manage to find a job they could feel passionate about?

It sounds like the unpredictability of your job is what stresses you out the most.

I have a job I love and I am really happy to have it. I use lots of computers/ maths/ data and get to write macros daily...my boss is like comic book guy on Simpson's too so we have funny conversations. A of march we Will be job sharing so he is not really my boss.

Downside to my job is that doctors are whiny b*****s when it comes to pay issues

I had a lot of the same problems in my many, many short-term jobs. You gotta just find something that fits in with what you really like to do, I think, otherwise you won't stick it out. It is very exhausting, as you mentioned, to force yourself to keep doing that which you do not want to do.

I choose a profession that is constantly changing, but, it's predictable change, if that makes any sense. Also, it's corporate, so everything has to be a certain way, everything has it's place, and there are strict rules which I happily follow. The only trouble I get into is when fellow employees don't follow rules, never show me the correct way or expect me to do things that are against the rules.

Find something you enjoy and see what types of jobs have that in their functions. Find something you enjoy in your current job and excel at it.

I worked in health care for 8 years before I realized I didn't have a future in it. They changed the nitpicky standards (like CPR) so many times that unless you were the one teaching it, you wouldn't remember the correct sequence of steps on the spot.

Then there was the constant interaction with strangers, trying to assess one of the many medical problems by talking to people, not even being able to relate to bad health because I experience mostly good health. I always bailed out of work the moment I was released, and I never volunteered to do more than I had to do.

My new field isn't easy because there's a lot of new information to process, but persistence pays off. In a span of 1-2 weeks, things that overwhelmed me are comprehensible enough to teach to others. I've also noticed less ego in my new field, people are more willing to admit they were wrong than argue.

Thanks for the responses. I'm still feeling very anxious about my job. Every morning I have to go in, I wake up with a tight ball of nerves in my stomach and I feel mildly anxious even on my days off. I am so tired of feeling like this.

Solvejg, I think you are right that I am struggling with the unpredictability. Apart from what I've already mentioned, I don't like it when people go off script - that is, bring me a problem I've never had before - which happens quite a lot in a new job. I stress over making mistakes, not only because I am worried that they'll take it out of my pay, but because I'm a perfectionist to the point of it being a pathological condition.

I really hope this settles down soon.