Oftentimes, when people think of anxiety it’s in relation to their personal lives.

Maybe there’s been events from your childhood that causes you to have anxiety as an adult.

Though, have you ever considered that work anxiety could be a problem too?

Work anxiety could be related anything from the nature of your work to deadlines or even how you interact with your coworkers. And having to face these kind of pressures every day can be hard.

However, anxiety treatment can help you with resolving these issues and with managing your work anxiety.

The Nature of Your Work Anxiety

The very essence of what you do can certainly cause anxiety. For example, a police officer’s job is very stressful and can leave you feeling anxious if that is your profession. Or if you work in an office setting, having to face ever-punishing deadlines can also be a problem.

When you think about it, just about everyone has issues surrounding the nature of their work that can trigger anxiety.

Most likely you have found ways to deal with these issues in the past. However, over time, those barriers erode and you may find yourself being vulnerable to work issues that you were previously able to guard against. Such as?

Making the Grade

You want to do your best and put your best foot forwards towards your employer. Perhaps you new in your organization and want to move up quickly. On the other hand, you may have been with your employer for a while but never seem to get feedback about how you are doing.

All these things can be sources of anxiety. How can you improve if you don’t know how you’re doing? How can you move up if you don’t know the benchmarks you need to meet to succeed?

Comparing Yourself to Coworkers

Making comparisons with others is a big problem that certainly triggers anxiety. It’s also very unfair for you. Your coworkers each have their own strengths and weaknesses, as do you. Comparing yourself to them only causes more stress.

Granted, there may be a fellow employee whom you wish to emulate. If so, ask them to be a mentor to you. However, making comparisons often only causes feelings of jealousy and anxiousness. It’s just not helpful.

What You Can Do about Work Anxiety

If you are experiencing work anxiety, consider getting anxiety treatment. Treatment with a therapist familiar with anxiety will allow you to explore why you feel this way and help you to keep things under control.

For example, you may not realize until you received anxiety treatment that you are jealous of your co-worker because of their success. Once a therapist helps you uncover this issue and make the connection, you can begin addressing the problem so you can move forward.

Anxiety Management at Work

A therapist can also work with you on anxiety management skills. That way your anxiety does not spill over and negatively affect your work performance or your job.

For example, you can use breathing exercises to stay in control when you feel anxiety start to creep up. Or you could try using affirming reminders that you are good at your work and everything is OK.

If you can, taking a break to walk around the office or going up and down the stairs may help you to release anxious energy so you can refocus on work. There are lots of anxiety management “hacks” out there that you can use while on the job.

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It’s understandable that you may experience work anxiety. More people get anxious at work or about their work than you realize. Yet, if left unaddressed, anxiety will erode your ability to do your job. It can even be so crippling that you are forced to leave your job (either willingly or not).

Anxiety treatment can help you to address this problem. I would be happy to help you learn anxiety management skills that can keep you working and even let you thrive at your job. Please, contact me or read more about my approach to anxiety treatment.