Anyone else feel depressed or panicky at work?

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Joe90
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27 Jul 2013, 2:34 pm

Sometimes I have days at work where I'm feeling a bit down, fed up, and a bit panicky like I want to escape and not go back, only I can't do that because then I will be out of a job and that would be the stupidest thing to do. But it makes me feel like it sometimes.

Although all the people where I work are all nice to me, nobody's really horrible to me exactly, I still feel depressed sometimes (but I don't show it, I try to keep on a happy front for the sake of other people). There are a few funny people (not ha ha funny) that work there who don't ever speak and just glare at you like you're beneath them, but they don't outweigh the nice people. But sometimes I worry that people might begin to think I'm weird, or nice people might leave and ones who I don't get on with so much might take their place and I end up feeling lonely. Sometimes the thought of that panics me, especially knowing that my chances of finding another job are slightly harder than the general population because of my disability.

I know I am lucky to have this job, and the job is easy (just cleaning 3 days a week at a care home), but even so, I still keep feeling paranoid or panicky about things. I keep reminding myself that I am only there to earn a wage, not to build a secure social life, so I shouldn't worry too much about what other people think of me.

I know it's just me and I'm not looking for any advice. I'm just wondering if anyone else here feels like this sometimes, just so that I don't feel like I'm the only one.


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MisterSpock
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27 Jul 2013, 3:55 pm

I have recently been feeling down at work. Not depressed exactly, but something close. Last week I was feeling slow, unhappy, uninterested, bored, and at points wanted to cry because I couldn't go home yet. I think it has to be the other people who get you through. I'm not sure how my colleagues would react if they knew I was feeling like that, but I'd like to think they'd be supportive. So yeah, I hear ya. And don't get me started on the phone.



redrobin62
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27 Jul 2013, 6:53 pm

Concerning work:
Depressed? Very, because it seems like I'm stuck doing this same kind of job again and again.
Panicky? Sure. I'm in charge of vulnerable people and I feel like I'm falling apart myself?
Overwhelmed? You bet. Since I have no time for breaks, it seems like I'm always running on empty.
Out of place? Absolutely. The majority of my co-workers are African (Ethiopian, Nigerian, Gambian) and Vietnamese and they speak their own language even though they're not supposed to.
Headed for failure? Yep. I don't think I'll last another month there. Either I'll quit or I'll get fired.



Aperture
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30 Jul 2013, 11:46 am

I've had terrible experiences at my job on the social end of things. The job itself isn't that stressful or difficult (although occasionally a bit frustrating and tedious). One problem, though, is that I've had a lot of resentment over the treatment I feel I've gotten compared to other employees who are better schmoozers, have political connections, etc. There was an incident last spring where my frustration bubbled over and I spoke sharply to a supervisor during an incident that I felt was unfair. Of course, she made as big a deal out of it as she possibly could have, I was "written up", etc. In my view the reaction was quite absurd and blown out of proportion, and further increased my feelings of alienation and of being subject to a double standard.

I often feel anxious and depressed at work (especially today, as I got very little sleep last night and am also quite worried about a number of other situations currently going on in my life). At work I generally speak to people only when spoken to and tend to keep my answers to questions brief and impersonal. I need to find another job at some point because my current one doesn't really pay enough and financial worries are starting to pile up, but the idea of getting another job is SO difficult for me to contemplate sometimes. I've worked at my current job for a long time, and, I suppose like a lot of people on this site, making big life changes is sometimes really hard for me. The depressing thing is that the place I work wouldn't really be considered by many people to be an overly gregarious or social atmosphere, but I still seem to have gotten pretty badly burned by office politics, etc. I'm just worried that if I did get another job my security there could be even more dependent on how well people "like me."



babybird
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30 Jul 2013, 12:02 pm

The only time I feel panicky is when someone asks me to do something and this is because I have trouble understanding verbal instructions.


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James_At_48_Plus
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31 Jul 2013, 10:53 am

Like most Generation X folks I had the normal early career frustrations due to the Gray Ceiling. However with persistence I got on what I thought was a very steep career track. I was headed for the top! Or so I thought ...

At a certain point during the early 00s, a combination of my deficits, the economy, and, lack of passion, finally caught up with me.

I retrenched. I still did not know what I had, so the deficits were at that point unknown to me. Thus began the head beating against the wall segment of my career.

Now I look back at over 25 years of work, realizing I took many wrong turns, and lacked self awareness of so many things. I am feeling sort of screwed. I am not technical enough for "typical Aspie work" (e.g coding, analytics, etc) and I am tracked very deeply into work that is high touch, high communication, etc, and requires good so called "Social IQ" to truly succeed. I am now getting late in life for any sort of major change (I know, never say never, still ...).

Glad we've been saving lots of money. We may need that war chest at some point just to pay bills and keep food on the table. God forbid there is divorce. That is another looming possibility.

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