Anxiety Over Going to Work: Find Peace and Confidence

If the thought of going to work gives you anxiety, read on for ways to find lasting confidence and bring peace with you to your job. 

Imagine waking up each day, having that first sip of coffee, and calmly heading to a job you find satisfying. The smiling faces of co-workers greet you as you enter. Your work is so engaging that the day flies by. As you leave you smile to yourself; Another pleasant day awaits tomorrow. Anxiety over going to work is nowhere to be found in this dreamlike scenario. It may seem completely farfetched because everyone experiences some level of stress in their work life. But days like this aren’t completely impossible either. 

Let’s explore ways to find peace and confidence in the face of today’s high-pressure work environments. 

Anxiety Over Going to Work: Look at the Problem from a Distance

The thing about anxiety is, it feels so personal. It’s your anxiety. It makes you (or at least me) feel as though you can’t breathe deeply enough. It’s cold tentacles reach into your body and make everything tense. In my case, I’ve gotten so used to having anxiety during past jobs that when I was finally able to find my way free (with a lot of help, which we’ll talk about here), it took time for me to adjust. I didn’t know how to feel without my anxiety at first. 

This complex, weird relationship we have with our anxiety—especially when it’s related to the way we make our living—creates a tricky scenario where we have trouble gaining enough distance from it to truly understand it. So let’s define it first: we’re talking about the presence of feelings of stress, nervousness, unease, or even apprehension around work (1). No surprise, it’s super common! According to the American Institute of Stress, over 1 million workers A DAY are absent because of stress (2). So if this is you, you’re in good company, and a lot of it. I hope that alone is a small comfort to you. What I hope more, however, is that this stops seeming so normal! 

So now that we know a million people a day are wrestling with their work anxiety, awful as it is, knowing the sheer scope of the problem can help us take a step back in order to figure out where all of these tentacled monsters are coming from. I like the sources cited by Priory Healthcare group in the UK (3): 

• Concerns about job performance
• Strained relationships with colleagues
• Long hours
• Tight deadlines
• Job security
• A toxic work environment

Unfortunately, many companies cause and nurture anxiety over going to work by putting growth above all else, pitting departments against one another, hiring and laying off as if employees are disposable napkins, and then talking about company values as if none of it is happening; making employees feel as if they’re to blame! I have had this happen to me personally, and I’ve heard it from countless career coaching clients. Hear me now: You are not to blame. 

But what to do? 

Strategies to Find Peace and Reduce Anxiety Over Going to Work

The very first question you should be asking yourself is: Do I need help with this? If you’re reading this article, the answer is yes. Even though workplace anxiety isn’t a clinical diagnosis, you don’t need a clinical diagnosis to get help. We’re communal creatures and we are meant to tackle problems together. It’s often easier to start by speaking to a trusted friend, mentor, teacher, or family member. But I encourage you not to stop there. 

Ask for Help 

A qualified therapist can help you move forward, often with the help of a menthod called cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Your therapist will help you identify your personal sources of anxiety and then practice real ways to cope. I’ve gone through CBT myself and it really does help. When anxiety attacks, you suddenly have multiple ways to tame it. So how to find a therapist? You can try whichever of these feels the easiest to you: 

• Call your general practitioner and ask for a referral. 
• Call a friend who goes to therapy and ask for a referral to their therapist or their therapist’s practice (this is how I found mine). 
• Check your health insurance website, as many offer free sessions either in person or online. 
• Try a web-based practice like Better Help.

End Each Day With a Quick Planning Session

While you’re getting that sorted, it’s important to spend time at the end of each day, preparing for the day ahead. When you’re already overwhelmed, this can seem like a lot to ask, but it reminds me of that old saying “Pray hardest, when it’s hardest to pray.” In this case, plan hardest when it’s hardest to plan (although I am also a big proponent of a good prayer). 

Here is a simple way to get started:

• Force yourself to stop what you are doing about 20 minutes early and make a list of everything you are working on.
• Put a star next to the really urgent ones that you’ll need to tackle tomorrow.
• Now go to your calendar. Make sure all of your meetings are in there for tomorrow.
• Assign times for the starred items.

Take a deep breath. Your next day has taken shape. That anxiety over going to work can loosen its grip on you for tomorrow. It won’t always go perfectly, but doing this over time will make the big cloudy disembodied idea of “work tomorrow” look a lot smaller and easier to handle. 

Move Your Body 

During one particularly bad anxiety attack, I called my doctor’s hotline number and the nurse there told me to take a walk while I was waiting for a callback from my GP. She told me anxiety gets trapped in the body and we need to move to help dispel it. This sounds a little folksy, but studies back it up (4). This is not a time to worry about doing a specialized workout. Just fit in any movement that you like. Even if it’s 5 minutes of stretching. 

Say No 

If you’re already worried about your work performance, turning down a meeting or a project can feel like the kiss of death. It’s usually not though. Most managers would like to know if their team is overwhelmed so they can help spread the workload a bit. Try starting small by declining a meeting you know you aren’t really needed for. If it’s online you can ask a coworker to record it for later review, and let your manager know that you’ll be working against a project with a close deadline instead. This is advanced time management and it should earn their respect. 

Going to Work with Confidence 

The tips above are necessary foundational steps. Together, they’ll bring you an immediate sense of relief that will give you the mental and emotional space to plan ahead. 

Once you have that space you can begin to plan, not just your days, but your weeks, and eventually months. You can also: 

• Audit your meeting schedule and slowly say no to those where you aren’t needed.
• Ask for projects that you enjoy. 
• Use all of your vacation days, even if some are just random Fridays away from work.
• Identify a mentor at work and spend time learning from them. 
• Build a network of colleagues both inside and outside of your employer, creating a safety net to dispel the constant worry of being laid off.  
• Prepare for your next exciting career move, something you truly look forward to. 

Part of this journey is understanding if a new job, or a career shift is what will bring you a majority of those peaceful, satisfying work days. You deserve for days like that to be normal, not a dream. 

Would you like to figure out your next career move and land it with confidence? Book a free consult here.