I know that work anxiety is usually described as an anxiety caused by stress in the workplace, such as a high workload, a difficult colleague, lack of direction, or lack of control over the job. However, the problem with my anxiety is that even when the triggers are non-existent, I still feel the symptoms as if I am in a triggering environment. When I was new to a job, it made sense to feel this way, but even when I had a great grasp of the job and a good professional relationship with coworkers & superiors, plus countless positive feedback from customers/clients and managers alike, one minor mistake was all it took to undo my confidence and crumble my ground.
This work anxiety is not severe enough to interrupt my activities and relationships, but is debilitating enough when I am left alone and happen to remember that work exists. The constant, instinctive urge to check for work-related communications; to strategise and roughly plan for the next work day even if some aspects are unpredictable; to talk about work; to think that I'll do something really stupid and get myself terminated or that everyone secretly hates me and wishes that I wasn't hired in the first place. Does anyone else feel this way?