Anyone Else VERY Afraid of Work?

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Or have been in the past? I worked for years and I was mistreated at every job. I was a baby sitter sometimes I would cancel my plans to watch her kids and she wouldn't pay me for all the hours and the day she skipped paying me I quit. I did in home care and things were going on that weren't suppose to and I had to keep hush or lose my job.

I worked in the fields for an entire year which was my favorite job ever! The only problem there was spiders.

I worked at a factory for a day and the shift supervisor was racist and I guess assumed those that he was talking about did not understand Spanish and 2 of us did. I told him calmly what he is doing and saying is illegal; can't make racist comments nor act on your racism at work.He walked away never came back the rest of the shift. They(the temp agency) called the next day saying they hired too many people and then sent the other woman and I a check for 3 days.

I worked for a disabled company that was private owned for 8 months. This place had drunks coming to work, people high on whatever coming, houses only fixed right before a checkup from a third party, staff favortism, verbally abusive staff/managers, invasive managers/supervisors,..

I tried in home care again and this lasted about 7 months. The woman was manipulative and when I put my two week notice in and we had a long talk about it I came to finish my last week and someone else was working there! She said "oh I thought you left already.. well you're moving aren't you..." I helped this woman do stuff off the clock too.

I have no idea how to "get out there". I am SO afraid! I had a phone call from a place I applied at last year and the woman said my call had static..I freaked out and I asked if she wanted me to call back she said yes and I never did.

Did you overcome this? How did you overcome this? Also I want a regular schedule ideally part time but most jobs seem to be on call or random schedules.

Hi there

I was terrified to start my new job. All the flourescent lights and noise and people! Oh my how this place gets crazy!

About two weeks in my "emotional reactions" to my difficulties stopped. It is what I call staying in the now. Or being centered.

Yes - I have many issues still. Yes I get overloaded - but my reaction and emotional reactions are no longer the same.

It has been the best I have ever felt in a job - but oddly the most stressful job I have ever had.

It all came down to my accepting myself and the mud I am in.

This was not an easy thing to learn. But finally after four years of practice - I have managed.

As my boyfriend said to do: Look at your emotions like they are suitcases or "bags" that you are holding. If a bag is heavy you simply put it down and the weight lifts right?

So emotionally freaking out? Put the bags down.

Read "The Power Of Now" by Ekhart Tolle


Hope all that made sense for you.

I breathe fear at work, its practically my amniotic fluid. I just have very high expectations of myself and to make up for my blind spots I just become hyper-aware/vigilant as a defense. It's really frustrating how robotic and professional I am in contrast to people at work. I feel like I have to be so aware all of the time (which is useless because I cant control how I sound, or how my face looks, and ESPECIALLY not how someone else perceives me or how I make them feel or if they'll communicate if there are any concerns or issues). I'm paranoid about being late as well, but I never get consistent hours so no matter how much I plan ahead (which I do alot of, even making my meals a week in advance) I will on occasion still be late or very early(which makes up for being late sometimes) and I'll wake up several times (4am, 5am, 6am) before my alarm goes off because I'm paranoid that my alarm didnt go off or I wont hear it (which never happens...). It's miserable, I just want to be asleep next to my partner not waking up every two hours panicking for no good reason. What depresses me the most is that the higher the stress the bigger the paycheck usually, but it seems I'm walking on eggshells and eating cortisol for breakfast and taking it to work for lunch for a measly paycheck and unprofessional co-workers. not so fun but I manage to keep a good attitude.

http://www.businessinsider.com/stigma-a ... yed-2013-4

I am. I'm 37 now and the last job I had was when I was 23 (I think). I only had 2 jobs ever. One lasted 2 weeks and one lasted 5 weeks.

I don't really see myself ever working in my life. I have no education other than a ged and so little experience it doesn't even count. I wouldn't even know how to find a job. I can't even think of any jobs to apply for where I'd be qualified, actually able to do the job, and have it be within walking distance or on the bus line because I don't drive. The only jobs that might even hire me would probably be fast food and cleaning jobs. I've never even done a successful interview. The 2 jobs I had didn't interview me.

I've never even had a full time job. The one job I had that lasted 5 weeks was part time and it had me so exhausted that it seemed like 5 days a week I did nothing but work and sleep. All that misery just to earn not much over $100 a week after taxes.

I just want to stay at home doing things I enjoy and not being around people. I think my ideal job would be making things at home to sell online and will look into that in the future when I get some money I'm expecting. At least with that I'll be home, have minimal contact with people, and can do it when I feel like it rather than set work hours.

i can no longer do physical labor jobs due to arthritis and a dimished-in-function left arm after a severe bike accident last year. i can do computer-related work [call centers and such] but really i dread rejoining the rat race after a somewhat blissful 8 years away from all that. i don't really qualify for any gov't bennies, nor do i have the wherwithal to even go through all the paperwork and bureaucratic hurdles for such.

I've had three jobs and the only one I enjoyed was delivering newspapers. I left that one because of the low pay.

I had a terrible time when I was working during the day. People would mess with me all the time. I would wear headphones and listen to music to deal with the stress. That only caused people to think I'm really weird and mess with me more.

The solution? I work a graveyard shift. I only have to deal with three people. Not everyone is willing to work overnight too. I was given the option to work from home after I proved myself, so yes I love my job now. If I ever lost this job, I would probably need to leave the workforce. But night shifts are great -- fewer people, fewer bosses.

I was terrified day in and day out at my last job. I got two hours a night of sleep twice a week and was catatonic the days afterward. I had many meetings about mistakes and became progressively anxious. I was told 'we love you now, but when you started, everyone thought you ere strange...'

I was terrified of starting my new job. One year and a diagnosis later, the sun is shining... I am singing... and life is great.

It never really occurred to me, but that fear is growing in me the longer I'm away from it. If my writing takes off, I won't have to worry about that... but the dang social element of the typical office is "pecking order" of the worst kind. [shudder]

I have been under employed or unemployed for the past 4 years due to the economy and going back to school. I have a job now but I can't shake the fear of getting fired again. Every day is a torture to sit here. Every time someone walks by, I think they are going to come in and fire me.

I am a great worker, but I think I am doomed. My fear is effecting my ability to produce.

If I was able to work for myself I would be fine. I just don't know what I can do as an independent contractor that would keep me "above the waterline"

I can fully understand why you feel the way you do. I've had many jobs and walked out of most them on a whim. This is usually the end result of feeling a massive sense of injustice over some incident or other. I still stress out and take every working day one at a time, and I try to just keep focused on the fact that I need to work. My current job isn't too bad because I have an element of control over what I do and my biggest issue is trying to maintain the dozens of micro relationships I have with my colleagues in order to stop myself being the outcast. when you start any job, you just don't know how you will adapt to your surroundings and the character of your boss/colleagues is just luck of the draw. Unfortunately it appears to me that almost every job comes with some degree of stress and worry, but sooner or later one will come along that is manageable. Not working is a grim feeling and I try to remember that for my own good. Someone mentioned that working nights helped, I found that too. I took emergency calls through the night and loved it. I also worked as a Night Auditor for a hotel and I loved the isolation. In Scotland summer time has very few hours of darkness and it became impossible to sleep. In winter there are very few hours of daylight, I went months without seeing any. If not for that, i would always work nights, but it's just too disorientating.

I'm dealing with this right now. I should probably start a new thread because I don't want to hijack this one (I always thought that was rude). Anyway, I worked from the time I was 18 until I was 35. I've been unemployed for awhile and I'm kind of terrified of finding a new job.