Anxiety & Productivity

@Hanaa00 Honestly, I think my biggest motivator when I don't feel productive is deadline stress. When I am not feeling well, I will still always do the bare minimum to at least pass my deadlines.

When I am feeling motivated, to do lists are the best productivity tool I have. They keep me on task and keep me productive.

What do you usually do when anxiety is affecting your productivity?

Great points made in this post :)

Yes... Right now I am feeling overwhelmed with anxiety. I take medication for ADD, which usually comes with extreme anxiety as a side effect. My automatic response to my anxiety is to often to freeze, or run away from my stressors... like stalling and wasting too much time doing things to get my mind off of it. However, I recognize that isn't the best way to cope. Before tackling my problems, I usually try some mindfulness, exercise, mediation, taking a shower, or doing something I like to relieve some of the excess stress. While these things are important, you shouldn't take so much time to do them that you are cutting into your productivity.

I like to write down all my worries and make an organized list of everything I need to do. When you write everything down, you can see everything you need to do in front of you. A big cause of anxiety and stress is disorganization. Being organized can really help reduce your stress and keep you more focused.

Journaling is also helpful for when you are feeling stressed. Personally, it helps to ground me. Journaling is a great mindfulness exercise and can help you to maybe realize things that you haven't realized before, when the thoughts are all jumbled in your head.

It's important to practice an activity like these when you are feeling anxious or stressed, or it might be hard for you to be productive. Just make sure you don't spend too much time on it, so you don't take away from the time you should be working!

Coping mechanisms usually involve some kinda creative expression/form of healthy expression to re-direct nervous energy. But that energy usually becomes a form of distraction, and makes it difficult to shift back into a more orderly, disciplined mindset and so the day becomes unrpoductive.

I do feel bettter, but nothing tangible usually gets done, and then I get upset at myself.

That's usually how it works for me, no idea how to resolve it.

There is so much I wish to say! Nights spent with only thoughts in the air. So maybe I wish someone who listens to what I have to say. But no, don't assume I am all alone, I don't have friends, people I trusted the most they left. But still when I look around it's not the same. Whatever it is, it's not for them to hear, it's not for them to feel. I know this, I feel this, this is not what they think at nights. I wish for someone to turn to at my disturbed nights, when my thoughts open the gates and they pour like long captive slaves.

"We don't want to admit but suffering is also part of fulfilling life"

"What a drudgery being aware of your own existence"

"Do we seek belonging so that our ... "

Theres more! Theres more! Theres so much more!

And it is at such times I wish to look around and see and feel someone close, not with fear in their eyes of the words they heard that night but with thoughts of their own to fill that dreadful empty space that is left after all my thoughts escapes.

I think my biggest problem in this area is when the anxiety isn't even related to my work. If I'm trying to study, but I'm stressed about exams, I can deal with that - I know that making lists and keeping track of deadlines to make sure I'm on track are things which will help. But when I'm trying to study and I'm anxious about current events or other things I have zero control over - that's what I haven't figured out yet.

It's been more than an year since I started having anxiety issues. Last year I had frequent panic attacks. I had this weird hesitation and feeling of running away from people. I eagerly waited for the time to pack everything up, go home and cry myself to sleep. I followed this for 2 months. I realized that I was suffering however I wasn't willing to come out with acceptance for the same. I have always had too many friends around me, I was passionate, following what I loved, I went to a new place everyday, my life was different everyday. All this prevented me from accepting myself. I use to think that introvert and lonely people have these issues. I didn't realize when I was turning into a self conscious and afraid person. I was afraid of trying something new and wearing something different. I thought people looked at me all the time, they judged me. I use to put on a mask whenever I went out. I use to keep myself behind everything, hated myself and have importance to people who did nothing except passing triggering comments. There was a time when I was this fragile. And I feel proud to share that now.

My only coping mechanism is writing spoken word poetry. So when I have writers block, I'm basically back to shutting down. But I am trying to be more open and honest by telling people how I feel. I started with joining 7 cups. The anonymity helps a lot! My next step will be to actually make awesome friends here (hi future friends 🙋‍♀️). But anxiety is difficult and my biggest hurt is when people invalidate how I feel. No one chooses to have anxiety. And for those who do not experience anxiety and may not understand, the least they can do is be supportive without judgment and bias.

I have a weekly meeting with my supervisor, and so before the meeting I feel super anxious, I can't focus on any work (luckily the meeting is in the morning). But then after the meeting I can't get back into my work because my mind is ruminating about all of the things I did wrong, or how I embarrassed myself, or how I made a "social faux pas." Take today as an example, we spoke about lots of things, I updated her on my work and that was fine, but there were a few moments where I had asked about something she had requested from me in an email as part of an ongoing project, and she said "hang on, you're asking me about something I wrote in an email 2 weeks ago, it's very hard to remember what I asked" and I felt so bad when she said that, that I'd made a huge mistake in asking and that she was making some comment about my productivity. Even though at the end of the meeting she said that she feels up to date with everything I'm working on now and it all sounds positive, I can't focus on that, I keep thinking about the potentially awkward/embarrassing things I said/did. Even the fact that the video call kept freezing at the end made me feel like I'd embarrassed myself.

How do others cope with getting back into work after something that makes them anxious?