Does anyone else experience anxiety when they take time off from work?

[milly007]

I have been working a contract position for almost two years now. The thought of stepping away from the office causes me great anxiety. Does anyone else feel this way?

[lostandhurt]

I have seen it in other people.

 

What is happening in those cases is the thoughts of lack of control over their own life. At work many people excel and do great but in their own life outside of work they are a total mess. Work becomes a sanctuary where they feel good, in control, needed, part of something and respected. Outside of work they are lost.

 

Figuring out balance in your life is the key. There are things missing that trigger the feelings you have. The good news in all this is that you are good at work so you know you can be all good when you are not in that controlled environment with some work on yourself. Find out what it is about work (what it gives you) that you are missing in your personal life and then work on repairing that or adding that.

 

Lost

[DanZee]

Of course. I worked 80-hour weeks as a freelance audio-visual technician for years, but around Christmas as January, things slowed down, and other than my weekend hours as weekend manager, I had nothing to do! I didn't know what to do with myself, and of course there was the fear that work wouldn't pick up again.

 

So I would say what you're feeling is normal. Try to get involved with someone until you're needed again, like a hobby or hang out with your family or boyfriend.

[j.man]

I'm fortunate that my job doesn't involve much in terms of bringing it home or developments happening while I'm gone. Once I'm off, I'm off, and I gladly take it. I love free time, though. If I could retire tomorrow, I would.

 

Still, my lady is a doctor and while she's gone, her patients obviously progress or regress and her cases evolve, so she doesn't really get a full-on "off" switch, finding herself needing to at least go through emails and catch up. Puts a bit of a damper on things sometimes, but I understand her quality of life would be worse if she had to worry about catching up on however many existing patients and then new patients on top of it the moment she stepped back through the door. To her credit, though, she's gotten a lot better about not actually interacting with folks at the workplace during her time off.

 

It's all about finding that balance.