Anxiety before work

[moxietoxic]

Hi so, I just joined this forum and I have a specific problem I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced and could maybe help me with.

I'm a 29 year old woman and I work a part time retail job in a big city. Its a pretty big store. And even though I like my job well enough (I cant say I'm really passionate about it but it's a good thing for me now) and I really like the people I work with, I get *extremely* high anxiety everytime before I go in. Like, panic attacks before work are a pretty regular occurance.

And I've tried to think through it and i know that i can handle what work has to throw at me. And nothing at this workplace is really causing the anxiety. It's just completely irrational anxiety.

I've tried a LOT of techniques to try to get through these periods of anxiety and panic attacks and the normal breathing, trying to calm down stuff just seems to make me more upset. The only thing I've found to stop them (besides medication and that's not working. I'm working with a psychiatrist to try and change that but it's a slow process) is completely distracting myself from the anxiety. But I can only do that for so long before i have to go to work.

I'm really at a loss.

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[Cuchculan]

First we have to try and understand the anxiety. It is not work related. But is always there before you go to work. So if you had a day off work, there would be no anxiety at all? Just trying to rule out the likes of morning anxiety. Which some people do get. They wake up and they are anxious. They have no real idea why they are anxious. The reverse can happen for other people. Night time anxiety. This is one guess. But if this was the case you would be anxious on days you had no work as well. Hence I asked that question. So we can rule it out or in.

We could also look at the thought of facing the whole day. As in ' here we go again '. Some people do get that way. But once they get going their anxiety seems to vanish. More anticipation of a full day. Again another guess. Just fishing for causes. Any answers you give might help the next person in to work things out. So how do you feel about each new work day? I am talking when you get out of bed. That first sort of thought that enters your head.

I am sure we will get there in the end. If not me then somebody else. Others might ask questions too. More just trying to understand your thinking before you go to work. Something has to be causing your anxiety. My two guesses are all I can offer up for now. The more we learn the bigger the picture becomes.

 

[moxietoxic]

Thanks for your reply!

To answer your questions, when I have a day off work I have much less anxiety. I won't say none, theres definitely a lot of anxiety even on days off work. It definitely comes from work but nothing in particular about work when I think of it logically.

It might be the thought of a whole day at once. I've always had problems breaking big tasks into manageable chunks. I dont really know what to do about it though.

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[ManaClash]

I haven't worked in over a year because of this very problem. I use to worry and panic and pretty much make myself sick every day before I went in. I lost 20 lbs in like 3 weeks. It got so bad that I had to quit. It wasn't really a hard job and I did and do want to work but I just couldn't take the stress of it all. The strange thing was once I was there I had zero anxiety it was all just thinking about it that caused.

I wish I could be of more help and give you some tips or answers but cannot. Just know your not alone and a lot of people dread work because of this very fact. Do you feel ok at work or still panicking ?

 

[Cuchculan]

Could you maybe try and set yourself small goals and see it that helps any. Like break the day down into hours. First target could be 11am. Once you reach that be sure to give yourself some credit. That is goal number one reached. Next one could be lunch time. Carry on breaking the work day down into certain hours. No idea if this method would work well with work. Just something I do a lot. Reach this and time. Take it by the hour. Those sort of things. Maybe have something you like to eat. Sweets wise. You reach the hour you reward yourself with a sweet. Little else you can reward yourself with in work. Might get away with nibbling on sweets all day. Plus try and keep something in your pocket. Be it a coin or anything similar. Only you know it is there. Let that be your distraction when you feel any anxiety kicking in. The weight of it. The shape of it. Just have it there to hold when needed. Nobody else has to know about it at all.

 

[moxietoxic]

I haven't worked in over a year because of this very problem. I use to worry and panic and pretty much make myself sick every day before I went in. I lost 20 lbs in like 3 weeks. It got so bad that I had to quit. It wasn't really a hard job and I did and do want to work but I just couldn't take the stress of it all. The strange thing was once I was there I had zero anxiety it was all just thinking about it that caused.

I wish I could be of more help and give you some tips or answers but cannot. Just know your not alone and a lot of people dread work because of this very fact. Do you feel ok at work or still panicking ?

Thank you. And I'm sorry to hear that it's been so bad for you too.

I really do wanna work too and my job really isnt that hard. I just feel like I *should* be able to handle it.

Once I'm at work sometimes I'm okay and sometimes I'm not. I'd say more often than not I'll be okay. But there have been times I've been curled up sobbing on the bathroom floor at work.

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[moxietoxic]

Could you maybe try and set yourself small goals and see it that helps any. Like break the day down into hours. First target could be 11am. Once you reach that be sure to give yourself some credit. That is goal number one reached. Next one could be lunch time. Carry on breaking the work day down into certain hours. No idea if this method would work well with work. Just something I do a lot. Reach this and time. Take it by the hour. Those sort of things. Maybe have something you like to eat. Sweets wise. You reach the hour you reward yourself with a sweet. Little else you can reward yourself with in work. Might get away with nibbling on sweets all day. Plus try and keep something in your pocket. Be it a coin or anything similar. Only you know it is there. Let that be your distraction when you feel any anxiety kicking in. The weight of it. The shape of it. Just have it there to hold when needed. Nobody else has to know about it at all.

That's a good idea. I'll try to find something small I can carry around.

I do kind of do that with thinking "okay just 2 more hours until break" or whatever but having some kind of reward system might help too.

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