Weekly Prompt #12: Do you feel pressure to constantly achieve and excel at work due to anxiety
Hello everyone, I hope you are all being easy on yourself this week.
Last week we discussed: Do you think there are certain personality types that are more prone to feeling misunderstood or dismissed? Thank you to all who participated and shared their thoughts for discussion. I enjoyed them. I hope you all did too. If you didn't share yours, please share them here and I look forward to reading and discussing them with you.
This week's prompt: Do you feel pressure to constantly achieve and excel at work due to anxiety? How does this pressure impact your mental well-being and overall job satisfaction?
This week I want us to reflect and discuss the relationship between anxiety and work. I think work is a huge part of our lives. From being a student to working, we all may have experienced it and so I believe discussing it will help us normalize and find better ways to tackle anxiety. Let's get started!
Join us in the Anxiety Support Chat every Monday and Tuesday!
@ASilentObserver earlier this year I was working my my school library twice after school once before school, I worked at my school as a barista twice in the morning (both unpaid just volunteer) and I had my own job twice after school. I found it really hard to do what I’m supposed out side of class so working at the library or as a barista I didn’t feel like I had any extra work and I was still putting off my school work. I guess I wanted to feel like I was doing more then I thought I was but it didn’t help. On week ends I would go to a public library to do all my school work and even then I was still not on top of things. I had already dealt with a lot of mental problems and at this point I was kinda doing everything on auto I feel so detach from life if I wasn’t actively doing something I was spacing out. After a while my physical health randomly dropped and I had to quit my school volunteering cuz of my mother. Although it brought up a lot more problems it make me a lot more aware of myself and grounded and social because I guess I needed other distractions.
I can relate to wanting to do things just to feel like I’m doing more and achieving more. I’m sorry to hear about your physical health. I hope you’re taking it easy!
I’ve always been an overachiever, but once I started getting anxiety it became impossible to keep up with. I don’t think my anxiety made me more of an overachiever or put more pressure on myself, but it has made it almost impossible to work. My anxiety made me second guess myself. I’d do something at work perfectly, but I’d go home and have panic attacks thinking I was an idiot and messed it all up. I’d have constant anxiety if I didn’t get immediate good feedback. That’s what started my constant throwing up when I have anxiety. I started getting to a dangerous weight and realized that my anxiety had ruined any chance of me staying in my high power career. It’s like I sabotaged myself or rather my anxiety did.
@akay06 I'm sorry to hear anxiety has made things so difficult. That amount of pressure on yourself can be overwhelming. How have you coped so far with these anxious feelings? You've shown strength in recognizing the impact anxiety has had and seeking support.
I just take it day by day to be honest. Not much else I can do. I’ve done therapies of all sorts and all kinds of meds. What helps me is celebrating the little victories. Not having a panic attack at the grocery store, being able to hold a conversation at a mom’s group without hyperventilating, getting up and dressed, those kind of things. Although lately, I feel I’m in a slump and the small victories are getting hard to see.
@ASilentObserver
I no longer try to excell at work. It is just too much for me.
Now my goal is to try to not make any mistakes, also stressful.
@Gettingbettertoday That sounds like a stressful situation to navigate. Focusing on avoiding mistakes instead of excelling can add pressure. You're doing the best you can. These challenges don't define you. How do you feel when you think about your strengths and values at work?
@ASilentObserver
I feel broken. Like someone who lost a limb but i lost part of my mind.
I am just starting a job so I don't work yet but I definitely feel the pressure with my school work. I always wanted to give me best and not stand out as the best or worst but now with my anxiety I find it so hard to even focus long enough to do the work at all let alone very well.
This week's prompt: Do you feel pressure to constantly achieve and excel at work due to anxiety? How does this pressure impact your mental well-being and overall job satisfaction?
I was a substitute teacher when I worked during the school year. I did feel pressure to constantly achieve and excel at work due to anxiety. I would try to be loud, but also personable. I could not tell when I did a good job, because I just felt anxiety and not good enough.
Fast forward to present day, a therapist told me to be logical. Fact check. Ask myself the question, what happened, and what is the evidence of it. It helped me feel a bit more at ease with anxiety.
How, if I worry, about my work performance, I look back for the evidence to check if I'm telling myself a fact or my mind is lying.
@tealBear2472 It sounds like focusing on facts and evidence helps ease some of your anxiety. What feelings come up for you when reflecting on past work performance? You have a thoughtful approach that focuses on facts to reduce worry. Thank you for sharing your experiences and thoughts with us, bear. I look forward to learning more from you
@ASilentObserver
i do feel the pressure which is actually self imposed...i want to do alot at a time and do all of the work to perfection
@bubblegumRose4793 That does sound like a lot to handle. Juggling multiple priorities and striving for perfection can be stressful. It's understandable that you want to do good work. Take a moment to appreciate how much you've already accomplished. How do you think you might scale back some of the pressure you're putting on yourself?
@ASilentObserver not at work, but when I was still in school the pressure to perform well weighed down on me a lot. Growing up, my grades were always remarkably great and I performed almost perfect in school. When it went downhill with my mental health, the quality of my performance in school also decreased and suddenly without knowing I had built up this immense anxiety around school. I felt as if my grades defined who I was, since I was known for them. Losing that part of myself felt like some sort of control loss. Since I’m a perfectionist and knew I could do good, I’d try to do perfect but with those high expectations it was hard getting even started with a project so the whole procrastination play began. And the whole thing was just a vicious cycle that I had lost myself in.
@blue0cean It sounds like the pressure to perform perfectly created a cycle of anxiety, procrastination and lack of progress that weighed heavily on you. Dealing with these competing demands and expectations of yourself must have been very difficult. How did you cope with these intense feelings as things started to unravel?
Absolutely! It feels like it's my responsibility to excel at work and everything else I do (most likely due to anxiety and fear of failure)
@BunnygirlAnna It's understandable that you would feel this pressure. Wanting to do your best doesn't mean you need to be perfect. What makes this responsibility feel so heavy?
@ASilentObserver to be honest I'm not sure.. I'd have to think more about it
SilentObserver, I avoid work and I am on disability. I can’t get past the anxiety
@Asiam1971 I understand anxiety can make life difficult. It must be frustrating at times. What makes you feel your anxiety is holding you back the most?
@ASilentObserver I get anxiety attacks when being supervised during work!!!
@Asiam1971 I am sorry to hear that. That sounds really difficult to experience anxiety attacks at work. You must feel quite overwhelmed in those moments.
At my previous jobs, I felt a lot of stress about finishing tasks on time while having to do something else. I worked in customer service and I will probably have to work in this kind of job again until I have the qualification to do something else.
@Asilentobserver
For me, the challenge of wanting to excel at work so much, is disconnecting from my work related tasks and difficulties when I'm not working. Intrusive thoughts rub me off peaceful times with family, and relaxing time in prayer or meditation.
@ChocolateCupcake24 That can be challenging. Intrusive thoughts have a habit of sneaking in when we least want them. How are you coping with these thoughts in general?
Prayer, writing, therapy, meditation, and leisure activities like walks/painting... are all ways for me to pay attention, learn what could serve me for an intrusive thought and let go of that which doesn't. How about you?
