Workplace Anxiety

It is not uncommon at all for a person to have certain fears. We all fear something or someone. Fear is simply a part of life. However, though they are related, there is a difference between fear and anxiety. For anxiety sufferers simple everyday situations and task can be extremely fear-producing. For many people the workplace is one of their principal sources of anxiety.

The type of anxiety that people suffer in the workplace can vary. That said, social anxiety is the most commonly expressed. For people who experience this syndrome, interacting with their co-workers, bosses, and customers can be a very trying exercise.

When a person suffers from social anxiety they tend to avoid social interactions because they have an irrational fear of the outcome of that interaction. Many times they fear embarrassing themselves or having the spotlight shone on them. When they do have to interact socially they tend to find that their anxiety keeps cropping up causing them to have difficulty functioning at a "normal" level.

During an anxiety episode a person will experience several physical symptoms. Often times the most commonly reported of these are flushing of the face, difficulty breathing, difficulty thinking, sweating, nausea, trembling, difficulty speaking and rapid heart palpitations. If this sounds to you like an unpleasant experience then you are right!

Because of the sheer unpleasantness of anxiety symptoms, people with a social anxiety disorder often avoid social interactions. Many times anxiety sufferers will miss out on events and activities that they once enjoyed because they are afraid of having an anxiety episode or panic attack. Therefore they simply will not attend.

This form of anxiety becomes especially troubling in the workplace. Workplace anxiety wreaks so much havoc because people have to work in order to support themselves and their families. They must continue to attend their job or they risk being fired. So they begin to dread going into the workplace because they feel overwhelmed by anxiety.

Examples of workplace anxiety include feeling fear that one might make a mistake, that one might be the butt of jokes made by their co-workers, that they will have to do a frightening task like public speaking, that they will be summarily fired, and that they will embarrass themselves in some way. Therefore the employee becomes so riddled with anxiety that they become unable to effectively use their time to do their job. In many cases the anxiety-sufferer begins avoiding certain people and situations in the workplace so as not to trigger an anxiety attack.

In order to attack and defeat workplace one must begin to examine the source of their anxiety directly. If you frequently suffer from anxiety symptoms in the workplace ask yourself what is triggering your symptoms. Do you have to speak with a boss who you are not comfortable with? Do you have to do a task that you feel endangers your health or safety? Do you have to do something that you feel will embarrass or humiliate you?

When considering these questions try not to put a value judgment on any of the answers. If you think you know why you are having this anxiety, do not beat yourself up about you are blowing such a little thing out of proportion or demean yourself. Instead look at concrete steps you can take to alleviate your anxiety.

For instance are you working in a field that itself triggers your anxiety? For instance are you a fire fighter who is terrified to bodily injury? Do you counsel HIV positive individuals when your anxiety is provoked around health matters? Etc. If this is this case, you will probably have to take a look at whether you are in the right field? Having an anxiety disorder does require that you take a good hard look at the choices you make and try to stack the deck in your favor. This may mean taking a job that is less stressful for instance.

In order to combat your anxiety you will need to develop a level of acceptance about your reality. It is true that you might feel judged. People might even be judging you, however you are going to have to come to the point where you are willing to accept yourself for who you are and stop trying to become something that you are not. Therefore, there is no overstating the importance of acceptance when dealing with a social anxiety disorder.

Next you should begin to take some concrete steps to alleviate your symptoms. For instance, medical studies have demonstrated that regular exercise and proper diet play a large role in regulating your central nervous system. If you are currently living a sedentary lifestyle or consuming large amounts of alcohol or caffeine, you need to challenge yourself to make a change. If you are able to get out of your comfort zone a little bit in these areas you will find that your workplace anxiety will begin to diminish.

Finally, remember that acceptance means loving yourself as well. The fact that you struggle from workplace anxiety does not make you any less deserving of a person. By providing yourself with affirmations of your true worth you can begin to correct the thinking errors that have exacerbated your anxiety in the first place.