Feel bad about work

Former Member

Recently ive been feeling really bad at work and this is due to my anxiety being bad at the moment. Thankfully the weekend supervisors are helping as much as possible to make sure I'm confortable at work so its helping.
​Anyway the problem is on Thursday I had an horrible experience at work and I went back to work on the Friday for my shift and still didn't feel great about myself. On Thursday I was doing a move with one of the supervisors at work and it was stressing me out because had so much to do and then she explained to me that I would be upstairs after my lunch and I didnt like that because I don't know what I'm dong upstairs because I'm hardly ever up there and then that set off my anixwrt. anyway afyer my lunch I went upstairs like I was told but I was really upset(I was crying) so in the end they sent me home.
Ive been off this weekend and I'm nervous about going back to work tomorrow.
​I also need to change my contracted hours at work for a few weeks because of stuff I'm going through which is making it hard to commit to the hours I currently have but I don't have the confidence to talk to someone about it and also don't want work to know whats going on because I don't want the sympathy!
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Former Member

Hey Laura,
That does sound quite annoying because anxiety often gets in the way of things that you actively want to do and it cant even be explained! These things are common however! One thing with anxiety is that we often assume if we got anxious is one setting, we will get anxious again in the same setting! This is typically known as generalisation. It's probably quite good for you to know this because although something unknown may have triggered your anxiety at work, it doesn't mean it will happen all the time at work, yet we often tend to assume it will, which leads to the anxious episodes!

It's really good that you've identified that you can't work as often as you do now and need to change the hours! It can be sometimes uncomfortable to talk about changing hours but you have every right to ask since you are an employee there. If it makes you feel more comfortable you could always e-mail your work to ask about changing hours so you don't have to face the person you're talking to directly?

It's always good to talk to people you work with about your anxiety because often when they know, you can feel more comfortable since they're aware! Anxiety can be really tough but well done for writing about it on here as this is the first step to helping your anxiety get better!

Speak soon,
Drea

Former Member

Hi Drea
​Yeh on Thursday I was in an awkward situation and I know that it made my anxiety get worse. I'm not generalising my anxiety to get bad when at work because recently I've been moved off tills during the weekend as that what caused my anxiety to get bad and it makes me feel so much better about work.
​IT will be the same amount of hours if I can change my contracted hours but I just need an earlier shift due to things that are going on at the moment which makes it hard to commit to the hours I got given at the start. I have written a letter about it and my friend who also works at the place I do says she is going to pick it up from me in the morning and hand it to the manager for me and then hopefully by time I get to work they would have had a chance to look at it and then they will be able to speak to me about the outcome of what I've put.
​I've told 2 of my supervisors about my anxiety and that's why I've been taken off tills and one in particular said she always there if I need to talk to her about anything because she understands how I feel. I had to speak to 2 other supervisors about my anxiety on Thursday when things were getting to me and that's what caused them to send me home because I was really emotional and lots of things were getting to me
Thanks for the reply/
​how am I meant to make my anxiety not effect me like this?!

Former Member

That's really good! You're taking all the right steps! It may be good to get in touch with the NHS and possibly ask about CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) which is basically a form of therapy that tries to help you come to terms with your anxiety and what is causing it by letting you understand for yourself ways of relaxation etc.. We will show you some links which are good to check out to help! Another temporary treatment for anxiety which has definitely helped me is to find something in the room (anything) and try to describe it in as much detail as possible. This helps you get your mind off the anxiety because you're focusing on describing something else. If you make it your mission to try to describe an object as much as you possibly can, even down to the smallest of details, often the anxiety can calm down a bit. For example, if you look at this screen, you can describe how it is a white rectangle on top of another very big rectangle, and this is where all the replies are posted. Then at the top of your screen for example, you have the refresh button and tabs which are open, and where the name of the website goes etc... That way it occupies your mind, rather than the anxiety! It would be good to give it a try as a temporary solution, but in the meantime also look at the links and consider going to your GP to discuss it!

Speak soon,
Drea

Links:
https://www.anxietyuk.org.uk/our-services/get-help/ - This is particularly helpful and you can contact them by phone or SMS
http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Anxiety/Pages/Introduction.aspx - I'm not sure if you're over 18 but this could also help!
http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/anxiety-children/Pages/Introduction.aspx - This is anxiety information for under 18s (it says children, but applies for teens too!)