Every job has stress involved. I don't know what to tell you to do but you still trying and that is most important. During a time in my life I would do things I thought would be difficult at home to help me deal with the new changes I was going into. I chose cooking French food out of Julia Child's cookbook. I don't follow recipes very well but this actually helped me. I followed them and finished them. So basically I took a hobby and adapted it.

Don't work yourself up or talk to these people. I've known of people who will make drama out of nothing. I too get worked up from people saying things but I have found I can't be around them or anything like that.

Hi there,

I'm kind of in the same boat that you are. I admire your tenacity, please continue to pursue as many different avenues that you can and never give up on youself. I would like to go back to school, but I currently don't have any money for it and just trying to find a job where I could save up for it seems out of my reach at the moment. If you haven't done so already I would suggest to you to take an assesment of your skills and interests like the Myers-Brigg test. Or the career assessment from the book "What Color is Your Parachute". This will give you at least a starting point of where to look and where to go as far as a career.

As far as the personal issues of anxiety and depression and not being able to focus, continue to talk with your doctor about it and contunue to speak with others and work toward building a support group for yourself. Please know that you're not alone and that there are millions (including myself) who are experiencing this right now.

I wish you the best! Please continue to keep up the good work and never give up on you!

Hi,l find sometimes we think too much and cause ourself to have anxiety and panic,maybe try some deep breathing to calm yourself,there are many self help audios at the library ,they may help you ,by listening to how they deal with anxiety.lt is worth a look into,when you don't have a job always feels more stressful trying to get another one.well l think most people have stress when it comes to interviews and talking to knew people.sell yourself and be confident know that you are just as good as the next person and you can do the job just as well or better.have faith and you will be okay.remember were all on this earth together all trying to just make it,you are not alone in your thinking,please breath and calm yourself before each task you get nervous over,will help,breath is a large part of anxiety,not doing it properly,hope this helps and keep your chin up and you will prevail,all the best to you.p.s. l am leaving a job l had for 16 yrs to presue my happiness,lm 48 yrs young and want to be doing a job for me,l am going to be doing hair from home since lm a liscenced stylist for 25 yrs but l am not surd of how many clients lm gonna get ,so l am taking a big chance ,but l have faith it will all work out,its my better option to all the changes my job l have now is going through as well my hubby has a great pension,l am not fiancially tight ,but lm use to spending when l wanr and on whatever l want,so if lm not busy that will be my challenge,all the best to you all and we all have stuff your not alone my friend!!!

I went to nursing school and dropped out due to the stress. I was terrified of hurting someone and just couldn't do it. I've worked in a call center years ago, and yes that can be stressful too. Here's the thing: all jobs are stressful. It's just the nature of the beast. You're never going to find a job that's not stressful. But you can find a job with less stress.

I've had four careers: Call center, IT, nursing school and now sales. All of them were stressful, but to different degrees. Take Call center--lot's of angry calls with that one. People take their frustrations out on you and there's nothing you can do about it.

But here's the thing with a call center job: nobody dies. It's not like nursing where someone could die or get hurt by something you've done. With a call center job the people you're talking to can't physically hurt you. They don't even know where you are. They may scream and have all sorts of tantrums, but the screaming is not about you. It's about the company you're working for. So, if you can keep that in mind, you isolate yourself from the stress. You do your job. And focus on the good things about the job. You'll be able to travel, or get that pedicure, or buy that expensive purse that's been calling your name. That's where you put your focus. You'll be independent and one day you can retire and live the life you want to live.

You'll never going to find the perfect job. It doesn't exist. Not even if you start your own business.

Most people won't tell others this because it's such a "be all you can" and "never surrender" world, but people who give up negative thinking usually something very positive happening to them.

Also, man has driven his fellow men crazy, there is no other answer for the sharp increase in mental incapacity in this century. I've tried it all, school, career, creativity, submission, being open minded, thinking I needed to be rearrainged, and everytime I tried something different, the world and it's job market stayed the same. Same old "what can you do for me lately" mind state that is just so illogical. Imagine if you friend had 1000 dollars and knew you had nothing but then asked you to do them a favor for free. That's how I view the world and it's job market. People who were not born to utilize the fundamentals of capitalisim messed it up, keep messing it up, and it isn't going to get any better any time soon. Maybe I'm the wrong one to talk about this because I am bitter and angry, but I have nothing to loose, man is evil, and man continues to treat his peers wrong, and if I say this man will say that, and if I say that man will say this. it's a lose lose situation when it comes to a job market or free capitalism. It's that simple, I can pray for you though, and I will do so right now.

Work kills people, I'll say it. The attitude that life is work is the reason why people don't feel like living and then have to desperately seek medical attention, making them more broke, and it's just a down hill spiral that imitates the slaughtering of the masses. This world is a horrible place (unless one has been bestowed fortune or uses ignorance as bliss). Just think about it, man created money but man also made himself broke!

You can minimize it here or justify it there, but the truth is (well for me atleast) that this world drives me insane without some sort of God having my back, we all suck as a team. We really do, we are quick to throw each other under the bus and then laugh as if it was a write off. People without a blink of an eye accept that the 5:00 news is saturated with brutal crimes and watch it, because the consenses says that "good stories don't sell". What kind of people are we where we take that as gospel? The news fails to say that in a country of millions there are far more good stories than bad stories daily, because they need money and that's the truth. The worst part is, you can't beat the beast, even though the society continually says "don't give up" and "stay strong". In this age where we are all connected through technology, we are far from conneceted as human beings, we pretty much hate more than we love, and it's getting really old.

I'm just angry, because I am and have met so many promising people like yourself and countless others that constantly are treated as if writing us off is ok.

A Doctor saying you have negative thoughts, ask he or she if she is familiar with a brain that cannot dictate whether or not a thought is positive. Or you could just try to think positive, but that's alot easier to do when things always fall into place for the person. Remember most Doctors and professionals are more recipents of grants than sheer goodness due them a spot. They'll say they worked for it, but what about the one who works just as hard but is screwed for no reason other than man is not the supreme being he or she thinks they are, but swears it is a fact. Man and woman are lost, completely lost, and they are so lost they think their truth is a lie, etc.

Sorry, I just am so frustrated with this world. Disregard this if I bothered you, that wasn't my intention. I will pray for you.

i'm 27 but never went to nursing schools. jobs have stress some have more than others. i used to work in a grocery store in 05 that was stressful, i was lucky to have a happy day plus it's in the city i live in that has a rep for being snobbish.

i was told all sorts of lies about jobs especially if you're a certain race, you won't be accepted, they don't want you there, etc all negative! that put a big scare to me and was discouraged from getting a job that "it's easier to be taken care of than to deal with that shit." i didn't get a job late in life like 19 i quit jobs well didn't have many but still was a quitter.

i didn't know how to handle the stress and what to do if someone on the job came after you for something u didn't do or they wanted to pick on you for no reason. it was hard for me to adjust to a job setting and wouldn't work while i was in college because of the lies that i was told and was scared to death about working.

i've been seeing a therapist for a year now. i have been seeing that work has both positive and negative. so, i want to earn my own money again too but finding a job where i live is like a needle in a haystack and i have a degree which doesn't help. i tried call center once hated it and quit within a week....

So many truths in what happiness wrote.

Jobs are not what they used to be. I'm about to leave the working world, and could never be happier. I used to be happier working, but back then companies gave you respect. I'm a minority, but never had problems with the companies I worked for. On the contrary, they were happy to have me there because it kept them from being sued for not hiring minorities. I'm a woman too. Back in the day they used to say we were double minorities.

Today's working environment is all about give and take. You give, they take. It's not fun and you'll never find happiness there. Therefore, see it as just a job, a way to put food on the table and a roof over your head.

They say in Europe people work to live. Whereas in America we live to work. Obviously the Europeans are the smart ones. I understand they have smaller living quarters too. Someone said it's because they don't plan to spend much time inside. So they're out, enjoying family and friends, while we're sitting home, eating and getting fatter. Our lives feel empty because we're thinking a job is gonna make us happy. Then you see people killing others and doing all sorts of things and they're employed.

Simply put, the human body can only take so much stress than it snaps.

The way I handle my life now is by freeing myself from buying junk I don't need. Think about it. In the past if you got a TV and a stereo you were good. And you kept these things till they fell apart. You didn't replace something that was working simply because a new generation of the thing was coming out.

Nowadays, we want all the new gadgets. We want to fill our bellys with food we don't need. But it comes at a cost: we become slaves to the corporations that employ us. They treat us like dirt and we take it because we want that new Iphone, Kindle, big screen TV. For me it's about freeing myself of the need for these corporations. I do it by living frugally. So, I don't have an Iphone and my Kindle is two generations back. And I don't live in a big, beautiful house. I live in a modest house that has the things I need and nothing more. And at the end of the day, I'm happier than I was when I was worshiping the consumer god.

double minority? what does that mean? i never heard of that. it is true in Europe i would hear how Europeans would work but have shorter work days so they can have recreational time because they simply enjoy life unlike america where we can't seem to enjoy life because of the way jobs are structured in america.

too many hours hurts families/friendships/relationships because of working too much. these companies believe in about the dollar signs they are gonna get. today's economy u see more and more people unhappy, getting a check, and still complaining. i mean who is happy working at a low wage job? they say people should be grateful for having a job if they have one but where's the happiness in it if you dread the job? it is putting food on the table and a roof over your head, but i also want to be happy too....

I'm showing my age: Starting in the 60s, many companies actively sought minorities and women to work for them. It was groundbreaking because only a decade before a company could advertise no women or no African-Americans and get a way with it.

Along comes the Civil Rights movement and Women's movement and companies wanted to brag how progressive and diverse their company was. If you hired a black person a company would count them once, saying they hired minorities and thus prevent themselves frome being sued because of discrimination.

Let's say a company hired five black people but one of them was a woman, that woman was both black and female, and since females were considered minorities and fell under legal protection against discrimination, they would count in reality be counted twice. A company could say we hire racial minorities and women. Thus the woman was a double minority since she'd been counted in both categories.

You never hear this term anymore and it never made sence because at the time there were more women than men in the US.

I feel like I can relate to you on the anxiety part. I can honestly say that, during my time at this current job that I have NOW, I would wake up scared. Because life just scared me especially when you're at a job you hate. And I think my 'general' anxiety might run deeper, but how could I know for sure, I'm not a doctor. With that said, all I can think right now is that maybe you need to go on some specific type of medication if you're not on it already? I'm not sure, I'm pretty naive to how this world works, but right now I think you need to just take a day or two and relax your mind. We're human, we need time to unwind and cope.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6r7OZwhcqxY This link is for eft for depression but I use it during acute anxiety attacks and it helps a lot. I feel your pain. It sounds like a combination of medical and therpautic intervention is what you need. I am taking time off from work and living at home in order to get treatment.

Since you studied nursing, have you considered doing home health part time? It's usually less stressful than hospitals and nursing homes and you only deal with one patient at a time.

I'd continue to do the jewelry thing in your free time. After treatment, you can see if it is something you want to do as a career but perhaps it can help with concentration and just for fun for now.

I think a good option for you would be to volunteer somewhere first if possible. This way, the pressure to perform isn't as heavy and you can get your foot in the door/experience to carry with you to another job. I can really relate to what you are saying bc I haven't worked in years due to anxiety (actually on ssdi because of it). BUT, I feel I am at a point in my life that I'm ready to go back to work bc I have new ways to cope with stress and calm myself. I hate it when ppl say "oh your probs are because you think negatively" well..duhhh! Best way to overcome it is to talk positive to yourself when the negative thoughts arise. You don't have to say it out loud but really verbalize it in your head...tell yourself you CAN do this and you won't let anxiety or nerves ruin things for you anymore. I returned to school almost 4 years ago and have so far completed by Bachelors and almost finished with an MBA. Tough part is finding work w/o the experience. That is why I mentioned volunteering..I know it will help me by getting me back into the swing of things and gain some experience. Best of luck and don't give up!

Hi there,

It sounds like you could really use some support during this whole process!

Have you ever tried a job agency before? Remembering that some are better than others - they can assist you in the whole process from preparing for interviews and helping you score a job tailored to you. You can talk to your case manager if you're having troubles in the job so it's a supported transition.

i'm not sure what country you're from but there's plenty of those in Australia. I actually found my favourite career that I ended up sticking with for four years from a job agency! Who would have thought it!

Just sounds like you could really use support in the transition, and it's great you have taken the step to get support via this group as well.

I can relate to stressful jobs, if you have a lot of stress in your life it's really important to look at a healthy work/life balance and that is different for everyone. For some it is working part time, for others it is choosing a career that is not dealing so directly with emotional stress.

I resigned from the counselling industry due to this, it used me and burnt me out and I became really anxious in the end so I had to quit.

No job is perfect, but it can compliment your life - whether it's through money for greater freedom or social connection. Starting small can be a safe and good way to go whether that's cleaning, working at a fast food place or whatever!

Thank you for all of our replies. I think selling baked goods online is less stressful than call center. But I am torn. Working in a call center will give me a bigger salary than baking. The question now I is can I do it? I remember talking to a psychiatrist last week. I told him the four things that are bothering me: Sounds that I hear when I am alone, ( not loud and spontaneous) 2. Short term memory loss ( forget things easily, cant concentrate/focus that much 3. losing weight 4. lack of career. So there..at first he was assessing me and medications. We changed the medicines that I am taking. So he replaced my anti depressant. I honestly think that I am better now. I am still trying to figure myself out...

With your "never say die attitude," you are going to find something. These days people have do 2 or 3 things to make ends meet. If you like the baking thing, stick with it and find something else. There is nothing wrong with having a diverse array of skills and knowledge. You will set yourself up well in this tough economy.

Our greatest gifts can be our struggles. I know it doesn't feel like now and I certainly hear your pain and frustration.