Anxiety Support Group
Anxiety is a physical condition marked by intense and persistent feelings of distress, fear, angst or dread. General anxiety caused by routine day-to-day stresses usually passes quickly and is experienced by almost everyone at one time or another. However, such feelings that linger over time and are very difficult to cope with, and which lack a clear cause, may indicate...
I'm finding that when I'm away from work in the evenings and on weekends, my anxiety is worse. My workload is overwhelming ( but so is everyone else's - we are a small 8 person office), they 2 and possibly a 3rd retirement of long time staff within the next 6 months. I'm "second in command" and the idea of added responsibilities, duties and people looking to me for the answers is triggering the anxiety. I feel I should be there as much as possible to "stay in front of the wave" of work. I'm finding it difficult to relax. Has anyone ever felt this way too?
I had a new staff member ask me on Friday if they should come in on the weekend, because they had a lot to do. I said no. I said you can't increase efficiency by throwing time at something. You will only gain efficiency under pressure.
I stand by this, but what I do suggest because I used to be a sole charge manager and - heh - we're not living in an ideal world, is to when you wake at 3am remembering some crisis issue, or can't get to sleep at 11pm because you're thinking of a crisis issue: email or phone yourself at work with the task.
And then go to sleep. Let it go. The message will be there tomorrow.
Also: when you come into the office in the morning, get a cup of coffee, sit down, and think for five minutes about the tasks you have and which ones are most urgent. Always have a time or day for those tasks which are not urgent, because they are often very high priority and failing to deal with them will cause an urgent issue.
Ultimately you are being paid to do one person's job. If they want two people's work out of you, they should pay you double. Otherwise they need to hire someone else. If you prop up a dysfunctional setup they will let you till you die of a coronary. But the right people won't learn the right lessons.
:)
Bridgie101: thank you for the reply & suggestions. My heart knows "I'm just one woman", but my head/self esteem thinks I should be Superwoman. Practicing positive self talk is helping & started back on citrlopram.