I am suffering from extreme burn out at work. I am a great employee and although my work/output hasn’t suffered, I certainly have. My personal life is non-existent, I’m not even “working” so much on the hours I’m off, but just stressing about everything.
My leaders don’t set an example. The things that they do with no consequence are things that would get me berated and ostracized.
I receive comments/compliments on my appearance, dress, hair, body often that make me uncomfortable.
I have been desperately trying to fix myself and make myself better, and I can’t.
I want to take FMLA and use the time off to get help for my mental health and try to understand who I am outside of my job, but I am terrified of retaliation. Although there are laws to prevent it, I really don’t think there would ever be any consequences for my leadership if they openly discussed my medical condition or chose to withhold promotion or pay from me in the future. I would take a 20% pay cut for up to 12 weeks and at this point I feel the anxiety of not knowing what was being said about me would make me even worse.
I can’t go on like this anymore and I just don’t know what to do.