Anxiety After Break from Work

[MOchp]

Just kinda interested to see if anybody else experiences this. I live in the U.S. and I drive a school bus, which comes with it's ups and downs for somebody with anxiety. One of those ups is definitely being off whenever school is out. Like I've had a 5 day break since this past Thursday because of a mixture of President's Day and 'Teach Work Days' as they call them. It is nice to have breaks to unwind, but I find myself getting pretty anxious the day before I have to go back to work. It pretty much always happens. My anxiety has been pretty well controlled on a mixture of Zoloft and Effexor + Klonopin and Trazadone as needed. I also take Vitamin D3 and Magnesium supplements. So it is usually pretty good even on stressful days but without fail the day before going back to work after a break, and sometimes even after the weekend, it rears it's ugly head. Does anybody else experience this?

[Clydesdale Epona]

Where i volunteer it's very rare you get a lot of days off but when i do i often find myself getting overly anxious right before i go back, i don't quite know why but it always happens to me x

All the best :hugs:

[MOchp]

Only reason I've been able to come up with in my head is because I know I'll have to go back to waking up early (which I dislike greatly haha) and be "responsible" again. Also anticipating the stress that comes along with daily work at the job.

[Clydesdale Epona]

Yeah i get that, once my work starts again i know its back to getting up at 7 am
plus it can be rather stressful working with kids and horses so sometimes i think "what if i mess up?" "what if i can't handle it anymore?" of course these are generally short lived and after getting into work i realize it but the prior thoughts can be a huge pain x

[MOchp]

I definitely appreciate my job in that it helps me focus on something other than my anxiety. Driving a big bus full of kids around takes my mind off of anything that may be bothering me and the kids (though sometimes they can be stressful) put a smile on my face a lot. Here in the U.S. I grew up at horse barns my whole life and helped with both therapeutic (handicapped kids and adults) riding and summer camps and the like. It's a cool thing to do for sure.

[Clydesdale Epona]

It certainly is,
i went for 4 weeks of horse therapy myself and they asked me if i wanted to volunteer and stay and honestly its been one of the best and most rewarding things i've done for sure x

[Bill]

How would you feel if you knew the next day you would be running a race, taking an exam, walking across a ravine on a narrow wobbly bridge or facing a lion? They're all stressful, even if they're something we want to achieve or enjoy.

Your job must give you a lot of satisfaction but it's still stressful because it's a very responsible job. There's a lot of pressure so it's not really surprising that you feel anxious the day before.

A lot of people will be anxious about going back to work after every weekend because in a lot of cases they don't enjoy their job or they know it's going to be an ordeal getting through the day because of the stress anxiety they feel they are going to have to endure.

Fear is always behind it. Fear of something going wrong, fear of failure or fear of fear (the anxiety symptoms themselves). It's natural to feel anxious though. I should think every athlete feels anxious before a race. It's when the anxiety gets out of control that it hinders their performance but within it's limits it actually helps to make them run better because of the adrenalin.

One thought to bear in mind - if you're asked to make something that you've never made before, you will probably be extremely anxious of failing. However, the more attempts you make with the right instructions, the better you become until you achieve near perfection at which point you will hardly feel anxious at all. You have overcome your fear of failing. Summed up in one word - Confidence. Build confidence in your own abilities and you feel less anxious about anything. Confidence plays a big part in overcoming anxious feelings.