More threads by SS8282

SS8282

Member
How do you know if your anxiety is the anxiety disorder, or you're just really stressed out which makes you anxious?
 

Misha

Member
For me I think it is if there is a discrepancy between my rational mind and anxiety. For example, my anxiety skyrockets on the city bus, and is based on the fear that others are speaking to eachother about me.... especially in other languages. Obviously not rational. But that discrepancy is not always that easy to see. Stress can cause high anxiety as well. Try to record your moments of anxiety, noting your thought patterns and physical symptoms as well as the presence/absense of external stressors. Finding trends might reveal your answer.
 

SS8282

Member
Good point, gmnmd.

Now my next question would be how to tell if my anxiety is rational or not? There've been times when being at work is ok - I would be calm, talkative, smiling, etc. Then there are times (like for the past few weeks), where I get anxious all the time. I 'panic' whenever the phone rings, or if I'm in another room, I would yell at the phone and say 'I'm coming'. I get anxious with practically everything - like the phone, people talking to me, doing my work. Even my co-workers make comments. They asked me why I'm so quiet, where's my smile, told me to calm down, or let it out when I vent, which is often. I carry the feeling on my drive home.

Sometimes I would stop at a mall on the way home to 'settle down'. I would be distracted for a few minutes, then I would panic because I think I'm 'late' getting home.

I feel anxious, stressed, and panicky all the time. I want to stop feeling all this. It's very exhausting.

I don't know how to get my 'sunny' and calm self back.
 

David Baxter PhD

Late Founder
Have you talked to your doctor about this, SS? I'm not sure how long this has been a problem for you, but besides the obvious (generalized anxiety disorder or panic disorder) there can also be some "physical" causes of what you're describing - notably a hyperactive thyroid. It would be a good idea to get a general checkup as a starting point. If everything comes back OK, then seeing someone for some relaxation therapy and coping strategies - and possibly some medication - might be very helpful.
 

Misha

Member
Now my next question would be how to tell if my anxiety is rational or not? I get anxious with practically everything - like the phone, people talking to me, doing my work. Even my co-workers make comments. They asked me why I'm so quiet, where's my smile, told me to calm down.
I would panic because I think I'm 'late' getting home.

A couple things stick out... you are right that it may be hard to identify rationality, but you can identify the things that go hand in hand with your tension. You note that you are not your sunny self and your co-workers agree. That to me is an indicator that this is bigger than just a brief period of rational stress. And there are trends... feeling time constraint in picking up the phone, getting work done, getting home... Chances are you weren't REALLY rushed doing ALL these things, so that likely is at least a slightly irrational source of panic.

But yes speak with your doctor, get the physical symptoms sorted out.... if you have time before you see the doc try tracking your anxiety and the symptoms/fears that go with it.

Now I am getting redundant.
 

ThatLady

Member
I find myself wondering if there are, perhaps, other things going on in your life that might be increasing your stress. These could be things going on at work, or things completely unrelated to work. Have you thought about outside events that might be impacting your ability to cope with stress at this time?
 

SS8282

Member
My thyroid was checked not long ago and I'm clear of any problems.

I see my shrink once every 2 months, but I think he wants to wind it down. I told him about my anxiety at work, and he thinks it's the stress stemming from my having to go to tradeshows, which is only a few times a year. And I doubt he'll prescribe me any medications, even though I think it might help.

I don't have insurance that will cover my seeing a therapist of any kind, other than the provincial one, so I'm sort of limited to whom I can see.

Right now, my coping strategies are venting (to whomever is around), avoid doing my work, shopping, listening to music, or reading.

gmnmd, now that I'm home and can look back, you're right about me not really rushing my work, though it seems like it. Also, I feel like I'm running on 2 speeds - I'm either rushing or I'm late.

ThatLady, I can't think of anything in my life that is big enough to cause me so much anxiety. Although I have friends, I don't talk or see them much because talking or getting together with them is tiring. They know about my 'problems' so I don't have to fake it, but socializing with them is exhausting.

Think I'm becoming a hermit. I don't know how I feel about that. In some ways, it's comforting, others, pretty pathetic.

I don't know.
 

just mary

Member
Although I have friends, I don't talk or see them much because talking or getting together with them is tiring.

I would really recommend that you talk with your doctor. I felt/feel the exact same way, talking with friends is tiring. I mentioned that to my doctor and he suspected depression. I believe anxiety is a symptom of depression and medication can relieve it.

Good luck SS8282. And you're not pathetic, you're just trying to deal with something on your own. You don't have to do it alone, there are people out there who can and will help.

Take care,

jm
 

SS8282

Member
I still have a few weeks to go before I see my shrink.

Today, something happened that I did not want to happen.

Last week, we planned to have an internal meeting. My boss had to go away and wouldn't be around, so he wasn't sure if the meeting should go on or not. I told him it should, unless he really wanted to be there, because it was a meeting that needed to happen, and he's out a lot, so it would be hard to have a meeting when he can be around for. I assured him that I and our sales manager would take care of the meeting.

All weekend, I prepped myself for it, esp. emotionally, because there is one person who I, and a few other people, don't really like. She's a sales person, but she is very aggressive and abrasive when she talks. She doesn't listen well either. It's like talking to the wall. However, as long as she brings in business, then that's fine. I can handle it, er, her.

Well, today, I was on the phone when everyone arrived, so they started the meeting without me, which was ok. I had a short discussion with the boss before he had to leave for his meeting this morning, so I knew what the agenda was.

I went to the meeting and it turned out that the meeting became 'her' meeting. Meaning, all the discussions were about her issues. That was fine because it was about the information she was giving to clients, what she could say or not, stuff she needed to know.

Then boss called, and I put him on the speaker phone. While he was talking, she kept on asking me quietly when he was coming in. I mean, he's on speaker phone, of course he wasn't coming in. I told her that he isn't. She asked me again 3 more times. Why she didn't ask him, I don't know.

Boss wanted certain people to cover certain area (sales wise), and everyone was ok, except her. She didn't want to say yes when he asked her if she could try to get some business from a certain area (geographical). If she didn't want to do that, fine. Her choice.

She started talking to him on things that should be between the 2 of them because it was of no concern of the rest of us. She was rushing with her questions and info. I had to stop her from talking to give boss time to absorb and respond. I asked boss if he's ok, because he was driving and I didn't want anything to happen with all the talking. We went on with the meeting after he hang up.

I said my speal and let the group respond. After that, it went back to *her* stuff. I listened for a while and then realise the conversation between her and the sales manager was going in circles. He kept on saying the same thing over and over because she wouldn't listen, and kept on interrupting.

I got into the office this morning with 70 emails. I opened only 2 of them. I felt like I was wasting my time because it had nothing to do with me, so I went back to my desk to work.

BTW - my boss runs 2 companies. I do things for both companies, so I am very busy. The sales team works for 1 company, and I'm confident that the sales manager can handle the meeting ok. I have a lot to do for the other company, which has the 70 emails.

Soon after I started work, boss called again. He wanted me to go back to the meeting to listen in - keep an eye on things, esp. when I had a hard time hearing him because the conversation between the sales manager and *her* got heated and loud. I went back to the meeting, and listen. Then *she* wanted some copies of blank contracts - a 2 pager. I copied page 1, and was in process of copying the 2nd page, when I had to answer phone. When I got back to the room, I finished copying Page 2. I couldn't find the stack of page 1, and asked if anyone had seen it. *She* lied and said that she asked me where the copies were, and I said on the copier'. She never asked, but I didn't confront her with that. *she* just grabbed it from the copier and put them in her binder. The copies were for everyone, not just her. She couldn't find the copies she took, but luckily, someone else saw where she put them and took them out. He gave them to me, which she grabbed from my hand. She wanted to make sure I didn't get something that was hers. I didn't, cuz I could see what the last page was.

I was very angry. Not just her lying. I told her that she shouldn't take something that I didn't give her. She kept on insisting that I 'did' by 'answering' her question of where the copies were. I said at least 3X not to take anything if I didn't give it to her. I guess it was comical because one of the people was laughing so hard he had to leave the room.

I practically lost it with her. I spoke very loudly, on the verge of yelling. Oooooh, I was so MAD!

I definately wasn't calm and in control - at least of my emotions. I planned to be professional, but I blew it. Good thing for me - the sales manager almost lost it with her too.

Nobody in the company really like her. It took her an hour to understand that she gives artwork to a certain person (who was there) to do, and not the IT guy. She also didn't put in the GST on contracts, so the client paid for something without paying the tax. This is NOT good. Hopefully, they will understand if *she* goes back to tell them they need to pay the tax. Otherwise, We would take a hit somehow.

*she* said to me that she wished I had told her the boss wouldn't be in the meeting, because if she knew, should wouldn't have come. I told the boss this, and said it shouldn't matter whether he was there or not. A meeting is a meeting, and it was something that had to happen, before things get out of hand. He agreed. The rest of the group (minus *her*) thinks we should have another meeting to talk about the stuff that we should've talked about today but didn't.

Even now, I'm still stressed out with what happened. I lost control of myself and was unprofessional. grrrrr

OK, enough. I think this is a long post. Had to vent. Sorry.
 

SS8282

Member
I wish I could avoid her, but most of the time I can't. I found out this morning that she had some cheques from clients, payable to our company. Salaries are paid at certain times. It turned out that *she* held onto the cheques that belonged to the company until boss *paid* her. Boss hasn't even missed a payment or anything to her. Ethically, you don't hold back money that doesn't belong to you like a hostage.

Come to think of it, I don't think she realise what she's doing, how frustrated we are with her, and how we feel. She wastes so much of everyone's time by not listening, causing everyone to repeat the same thing continuously.

I dread talking to her, even on the phone. I dunno, just mentioning her name upsets me, and I don't know why. I'm worried that my feelings about her will intefere with my job, my 'professionalism'.

I wish someone would tell her the effects she has on everyone else by her behaviour. Boss is the most appropriate person to do that, as he is the boss and he's the only person she would 'listen' to. Though she doesn't always do that either. Since boss is very busy and out of the office a lot, I would gladly do it for him and talk to her :)

She lies to the rest of us by saying, boss said this or he said that,when he really didn't. We're learning to check with the boss on almost everything she said that he said (make sense?).

I don't know how to calm down anymore. Once something sets me off, every little thing upsets me, or rather, get me even more anxious. I don't know how to keep control of my emotions, my anger and anxiety.

Working for 2 companies isn't easy. Oh, and part of my work also involve the government, and that certainly doesn't make my work life easier.

aaaaaargh!
 

ThatLady

Member
Sounds to me like the boss needs to step up to the plate and either get this person under control, or get her out the door. If she's this disruptive, she's not doing your company any good, I don't care how many contracts she brings in. Heck, if her contracts aren't paying tax because she doesn't include it, she's doing you more harm than good!
 

David Baxter PhD

Late Founder
I wish someone would tell her the effects she has on everyone else by her behaviour. Boss is the most appropriate person to do that, as he is the boss and he's the only person she would 'listen' to. Though she doesn't always do that either. Since boss is very busy and out of the office a lot, I would gladly do it for him and talk to her
Does your boss know what's going on? Have you talked to your boss about her and how she affects you?

You can't fix something if you don't know it's broken...
 
i think you need to sit down with the boss and discuss all of these things. she's not very helpful to the business, especially if she's starting to stress people out.
 

SS8282

Member
We have spoken with the boss about her. Unfortunately, he's willing to over look things as long as she brings in business, and that's what we need right now, as a new company. We don't have a lot of resources, especially manpower. Boss knows she needs to be more of a team player, but I don't think he's talked to her about her 'relationship' with the rest of the people here.

As for the taxes. Boss and sales manager have shown her how to calculate.

The good thing is that she doesn't come into the office that often.

There's so much work, so time consuming work. It's overwhelming today. I don't feel like working, no motivation, no energy. Just want to hide and hope everything will go away.
 

SS8282

Member
Yesterday, *she* came into the office. I went over the forms with her - showed her how to fill them out and stressed that proper completion is for the company's protection (legal-wise). She didn't interrupt as much as before, which is an improvement. Now we'll just have to wait and see if she actually fill them out right. I also told her that she needed to do it in front of the customer.

Today, she came in again. This time the sales manager was here, and he spoke to her about her filling out the info sheet. All sales people has a form which they fill out - name of customer, company, phone, whether they want to sign up with us, or if not - why, etc. She wasn't filling out the form properly, so the manager had to go over it with her. It also turned out that she lied. She did not go to the places where she said she did. She also basically said she'd say 'yes' to whatever the customer wants just to get money from them - even though we can't do what they want. She didn't give all the information they need to know. As the manager said, she just wanted to take the cheque and run.

There is something she's hiding, and we don't know if she's completely illiterate, because she could read, at least some words. However, she couldn't finish reading a sentence or 2 when I was with her yesterday. Her math is not the greatest either. She thinks 3 months is equal to 10 weeks, and that's what she put on the agreements. The customers signed the contracts.

What the manager and I agree on is that any problems that comes up from the customers, she'll have to deal with them. That's almost the only way to learn. Unfortunately, we may lose clients that way.

I've been so tense lately, my shoulders are hunched up and very tight. And I clench my jaw to the point that chewing is a problem. sigh.

Just venting.
 

David Baxter PhD

Late Founder
Yikes! But the thing is, you don't really have to do anything to remedy her errors, right? She'll do it all herself.

"Hoist by her own petard", to paraphrase William Shakespeare...
 

SS8282

Member
Yep, if she makes her bed, she's gotta lie in it. The thing that scares us is the possiblility that the client would talk to other people and we may lose more than 1 customer. The sales manager went to one of the places she went to who didn't want to sign up, and when he talked to them, it turned out that she didn't give them enough info. Once he told them what we can do and all other pertinent info, they want to sign up.

Things could be worse - the sales manager is trying to do some 'damage control'. I hope we won't get into any legal problems because of her.

As if working more than 10 hours a day isn't enough, my boss wants me to attend a seminar on Saturday. He wants to make a sales person out of me. I have social phobia, which I manage to hide sometimes - at great cost. I told him that although sales is not where I want to be, I'll go and hear them out. I don't know how to prepare myself in just a few days.

And the next weekend (Nov. 19 - 20) we have a conference/tradeshow to go to at a hotel. We have a booth there, and my boss is one of the speakers. I've been prepping myself since the day I found out about the show - a few months ago. While I'm at it (prepping), I've got another conference to attend on Dec. 1.

I've done tradeshows before, but I could never get the hang of it, and certainly could barely face anyone, let alone open my mouth. I hope there's beer or something at the seminar and tradeshows to help me feel better. I can always use a drink when I'm with people.

I'm anxious just thinking about going to these places. I don't even know how to answer when people ask me what I do. Call it - identity crisis. Would it sound stupid if I answer by saying, 'What I do depends on which company I work for at a particular moment'. I only have business cards for one company I work for. I don't want any for the other company, because I can't decide on what title I want.

Argh - blabbing again. Sorry.
 

SS8282

Member
Last night, the sales manager went to the course that I'll be going to on Saturday. He came in today and told me that it's not what we thought. It wasn't really a 'course'. What it was was that a bunch of people from a huge telecommunication (telephone) company that's is big in Europe and is only starting here in Canada. So the 'staff' told all the people who attended what the company was about, and tried to get everyone there to 'join' the company - by paying $500. Once joined, if Person A gets other people to 'join' or sign up for the product, then Person A will get a % of the money. If the people whom Person A sign some other people up, then Person A also get a percentage. So it's like a pyramid.

The 'staff' told the people in attendance that it's their ONLY chance, and that they should sign up right then and there.

Granted, the company there is huge, the product is useful and very profitable, but I don't want to join them. Not only am I not a sales person (talking to people scares me), but I don't like their 'tactics' - at least from what I heard. I don't like people to say that it's now or never. No way! I want to have the time to think and decide.

Right now, I don't see how the seminar is useful for the companies I work for. Anyway, I said I'd go, so I will, but I hope I can stand my ground when they start pressuring me to join.
 

David Baxter PhD

Late Founder
I hate that business model, personally. They put a lot of pressure on young people, fresh out of high school or in college, with unrealistic claims about all the money they're going to make. It's basically like motivational speakers gone wild. And the only people who actually make any real money are those at the top of the pyramid. :mad:
 
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