Work Anxiety Thread

[Ensay]

Thought I'd revive this thread. Started a new job before Christmas, usual nerves but fine. But since half way through Christmas break anxiety has built and built. I've gone back to a company I worked for for over a decade, and when I left before I was close to burnout. And I think coming back was a big mistake. I'm anxious all the time, not sleeping, teary, losing my confidence and so on. Seeing doctor this week.

I've always had moments of anxiety or being down. But always manageable, but this just feels like it's overwhelmed me.

Makes it worse as I've always prided myself on being a good employee, so looking at leaving not much more than a month from starting, just makes me feel more anxious.

Also wondering what I will do career wise, maybe I'm burnt out from office jobs

Obviously I don't know your situation, but is your current anxiety caused by how your job currently is, or more by you thinking about how it was when you used to work there?

I just wondered why you felt OK before Christmas (other than the usual nerves) but then your anxiety built when you were on annual leave and not at work? So perhaps returning to work there brought back memories of your previous job and the anxiety has come with that, rather than feeling stressed by your current role.

It's only a thought, because you know the situation better than anyone else and I'm not asking you to divulge more (the above are more rhetorical questions).

That said, if you are finding it unbearably anxious then it's not worth staying there. Your health is more important. I get that leaving not that long after starting makes you anxious as well, but it's not that uncommon. You can never truly know what a job is like until you start it and many people find, after giving a job a chance for a few weeks, that it's actually not for them.