What job do you do?

[jayjoe18]

I hope you don't mind me asking this, but I'm just wondering what type of jobs people have? Has anxiety stopped you from getting the career you always wanted?

I think of all these jobs I'd love but then I worry about what they entail and how I'd cope with my anxiety being so bad. I've always wanted a good career, dreamt of university etc but so far anxiety is ruining it. I don't want to end up without a career that I love.

[Lilac58]

Hi,

I work in an office in a hospital, Not something that I thought I would end up doing, but I really enjoy it.

I trained to work in a lab but a hand injury put paid to that. I was off work for 18 months and that is when anxiety/depression kicked in.

When my anxiety was bad, I couldn't walk up the corridor in the hospital, it was where I had my first panic attack. I still don't like but I can do it.

My office has become a safe place for me. I work with eleven other people and though I haven't really discussed my problems, people accept that sometimes I cry or am very anxious and they don't need to say anything, it passes.

Have you thought about the Open University if you want to study? No need to leave your home and they offer a very wide range of courses and have forums for discussions so you can be in contact with other students online.

[Edie]

I'm in my first year at uni, studying animal care. It's taken me this long to feel able to manage uni - I am 31. There are a lot of mature students at uni these days. Two of my friends on my course are both aged 47. So you don't have to go to uni right now, there is always time.

Until uni, I always just had minimum wage shop jobs. Part time, because I just can't cope full time. So yes, anxiety has held me back, but I've mostly had jobs that have been quite enjoyable so it's not so bad.

[damopanther]

im an engineer, and have been for 20 years, and i absolutely hate it, always seems to be a pressure cooker environment! i would not recommend anyone with anxiety to go into engineering, especially automotive/aerospace, but there again there is certain pressures in most jobs!

[Moley]

I suffer with social anxiety and am an assistant manager in a bookshop. I love it never thought that I would be able to do a job in retail. It is my safe place as all my colleagues know about my problems.but in work most of the time I have confidence to do things i wouldnt normally because I have security in my knowledge of stock and what to do.

[sjlb]

I used to work in finance and in the end I found it very stressful and probably the cause of my panic attacks and anxiety. I'm working as a teacher now. I have never had a panic attack or anxiety symptoms at work despite some stressful days (e.g Ofsted!). I sometimes feel anxious when I am not working so for me keeping busy and working with lots of people helps. It also helps that I am very lucky to have a job I really enjoy. Try to find something you really want to do and take it one small step at a time so that it is easier to cope with.

[GirlAfraid23]

I am a learning support assistant in a primary school. I work one to one with a visually impaired child.

[Jacsta]

Hi there. I'm nearing the end of my training to become a nurse :) I never thought I'd be strong enough to do a job like this but I love it! I think if you want something hard enough you work out the anxiety problem and make it happen. The assignemtns have been a killer for me as being alone and concentrating is sometimes hard for me, but when I'm out on placement I'm great!

Maybe short list the careers you fancy and see if you can do voluntary work or speak to people that do the jobs, it will help you decide if its for you or not.

The important thing to remember is that you can do anything you want if you put your mind to it, having those dreams can often drive recovery :)

[ricardo]

Jasmin
It's a very hard question to answer as there are so many different things to consider.
We are all anxiety sufferers to different degrees and in my case GAD only effected my work afTer I was thirty.I am presuming you are still quite young and uni isn't the only option these days. there are apprenticeships, internships which are not something I like, as often they are unpaid but one has to consider say on a gauge of 1 to 10 how much anxiety is affecting your life in general.

Many people work just as a means to an end, others are more ambitous and know the field that interests them, whilst many in the mid to late twenties don't really know what they would like to do.

In the end you and you alone must decide and take all these things into consideration. Good luck.

[littleme92]

I just do voluntary work one day a week at the moment in a charity shop. I am surprised how easy I am finding dealing with customers because I didn't think I would be able to cope. I think I would like to work with animals eventually though but i'm only 20 so hopefully I will get a job I love in the future.

[MangoMadness]

Ï am 26 years old and I am soon done with my Bachelor Degree in English literature. If I pass all my exams that is. I do not have a job yet, as my anxiety makes me feel like I am incapable of performing to a future employers satisfaction.

[Sparkle1984]

I work as a web developer/programmer for a local media company. It is my dream job, although it took me several years to get to where I wanted to be. I studied for a degree in computing science and I graduated in 2005. When I graduated, I got a temp job at a big multinational company headquartered in my home town, but it was quite boring at first, as it involved lots of data entry and copying/pasting data. But a few months later I was taken on permanently and I was given more responsibility, such as developing and maintaining databases, which was more my kind of thing. The company had loads of restructures every couple of years, which I found very stressful as it meant I had to keep moving to different departments. While I was at that company, I did various IT-related jobs including Reporting Analyst, Test Analyst and so on. When I was at university, it had been my dream to become a web developer, but over the years I had pretty much given up on that dream. I thought I would always be doing data analysis-type jobs.

About 3 years ago, I saw the advert for the web developer job at the local media company, so I decided to apply, and after a very lengthy selection process, I was offered the job. :) Even though I didn't have much commercial experience of web development, I included in my portfolio some work that I'd done in my spare time, such as hobby websites and voluntary websites. I was really anxious in the first interview (I had to have 3 interviews in order to get the job!) and I kept stuttering and stumbling over my words. The room was really hot and stuffy which made it even worse for me. As soon as I left the room, I was convinced that I'd blown it. So I was really surprised when a few days later I was invited back for a second, and then a third interview. I felt much more confident and relaxed in the second and third interviews. They also gave me a really difficult programming test to do. I never thought I'd get the job, but I was so pleased that I did. I enjoy it a lot more than the jobs at my old company.

It's been hard work to get to where I am - not only have I had to deal with recurrent anxiety/depression episodes in my life, I also have Asperger Syndrome (high functioning autism) which makes communication and social skills very difficult for me. For me, the main symptom is that I'm very shy. So, I wouldn't be able to do a job which involves a lot of interaction with people, such as a sales job, or a job that involves talking on the phone a lot. But a job in IT is ideal for me, as it doesn't involve too many interpersonal skills and it's a subject I've always enjoyed.

So I would say, don't give up hope. :) Think of all the things you enjoy, and see if they could become a career. As others have suggested, you could do a degree with the Open University or study an online course. Also, don't expect your first job to be an exciting job - quite a lot of new graduates have to do boring jobs for a few months to prove themselves (like my temp data entry/copying & pasting job)

[owlkeeper]

I'm on disability as I have a brain damage (dyspraxia), depression and anxiety. It makes me overloaded very easily.. some days I can do more then other days. But I try to stay busy. I'm trained in graphic and web design so I make brochures/logo's/banners etc. for several non profit organisations.

Part of me is happy with what I do, but part of me will always beat myself up and say to myself I'm lazy (I know that that is not true, but it's just hard to also feel it that way..)

[Rennie1989]

I work in the bookies, which is exacerbating my anxiety (more so after the recent murder that happened not too far away from me) but I am looking for work.

I am working on my anxiety but I have a long way to go. I think it's stopping me pursue a career (what ever that happens to be) because I'm scared I'll fail at my responsibilities and I'm not competent enough. I do want to go back to University but my confidence got knocked the last time I went and I'm scared of failing again, more so because I'm rubbish at essays.