5 Signs You Have Work-Related Anxiety

Work-related anxiety impacts your ability to get work done, to get promoted, and to work effectively on a team. It also impacts your ability to be happy!

Here are five signs you are suffering from work-related anxiety:

You can’t help but run late and miss deadlines, no matter how hard you try.

Anxiety sometimes manifests in self-defeating behaviors. Even if you’ve been warned about your tardiness, and you know you have to do better, for some reason you just can’t help but be tardy and you don’t know why.

You feel exhausted all the time.

Not just getting up in the morning, but mid-morning, mid-afternoon… you always seem to need an extra cup of coffee.

You are extra-sensitive to criticism.

No one likes criticism, but being a working professional means dealing with constructive criticism – it’s just a part of life! If all of a sudden every suggestion feels like an attack, that can be a sign of anxiety.

You stop speaking up in meetings.

Anxiety can manifest as detachment – it’s like your mind is getting so amped up that you appear to not care, even though you care so deeply you are making yourself anxious.

You aren’t enjoying your job, yet you also can’t get excited about looking for another one.

Usually when we stop enjoying our job or our workplace, it’s time to find a new job, and there’s usually a feeling of excitement and possibility associated with the job hunt. But if you are suffering from work-related anxiety, the job isn’t the problem, your anxiety is, so finding a new job won’t solve the problem.

So what can you do if you are experiencing work-related anxiety?

First, you have to identify it for what it is. Recognize that what you are experiencing – exhaustion, sensitivity, detachment – all stems from anxiety. You may be feeling persecuted, picked on, left out, or like you are failing, but those are just feelings, and they aren’t necessarily reality.

Second, get help. You could consider professional help, like cognitive behavioral therapy to stop the endless anxious loops your mind is running. Or you might be served by finding a mentor to coach you, help set you on a path to success, and break your less-helpful habits.

Finally, find some enjoyment. Ideally, you can find enjoyment within your job, since that’s where your anxiety manifested. Perhaps take on a new project or get involved with an affinity group at your office. If that’s not possible, look for enjoyable opportunities outside of your work. Stress-relieving activities often have benefits that can bleed over into all areas of our lives, so get out the door and find something enjoyable to be a part of.

We spend too much time in the workplace to be miserable, so tackle work-related anxiety head on.

-Courtney