I can relate strongly to all of this. My email inbox gives me really bad anxiety for reasons that seem similar to what you go through. I'm lucky enough to have carved out a situation where I can feel comfortable talking about my needs. My best advice would be to try and address problems when you're not having the problem. Let people know you sometimes get anxiety and burnout etc. when you are not currently experiencing it because then you don't have the added anxiety of finding your words and having a potentially difficult conversation.
There certainly are levels to anxiety like this. With one person I was working with on a side project, I often found myself quickly opening and closing the facebook messages popover, so the red number would disappear, and I would'nt have to see the new icon lit-up on Facebook. Whenever I got a notification from someone else, I quickly clicked the thread, so I wouldn't have to look at the other unread thread waiting for me. It felt more like a physical aversion than a concious decision to avoid it.
I really want to be open to people about this anxiety, so that they know, and we can collaborate and communicate in an honest way. But what makes this scary is the idea of "how can I expect them to understand, when I don't even understand it myself?" But I think it's the best way forward. And conversations around this going well will hpopefully encourage me to be more open about my issues in general.
Yeah, definitely. I find it helps to go into these, or any situation, with a plan. It might not go as planned, but you have something to work off of. Also, if you have a plan for when and how to have a needed discussion, it can help alleviate the other times where there might be a chronic "I should be talking about this" feeling in your mind, with no end in site, and feeling sort of constantly guilty that you're not dealing with it. If I've told myself when and how I am going to deal with a thing, it helps me let go of it for the meantime. That's me at least.
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I can relate strongly to all of this. My email inbox gives me really bad anxiety for reasons that seem similar to what you go through. I'm lucky enough to have carved out a situation where I can feel comfortable talking about my needs. My best advice would be to try and address problems when you're not having the problem. Let people know you sometimes get anxiety and burnout etc. when you are not currently experiencing it because then you don't have the added anxiety of finding your words and having a potentially difficult conversation.
There certainly are levels to anxiety like this. With one person I was working with on a side project, I often found myself quickly opening and closing the facebook messages popover, so the red number would disappear, and I would'nt have to see the new icon lit-up on Facebook. Whenever I got a notification from someone else, I quickly clicked the thread, so I wouldn't have to look at the other unread thread waiting for me. It felt more like a physical aversion than a concious decision to avoid it.
I really want to be open to people about this anxiety, so that they know, and we can collaborate and communicate in an honest way. But what makes this scary is the idea of "how can I expect them to understand, when I don't even understand it myself?" But I think it's the best way forward. And conversations around this going well will hpopefully encourage me to be more open about my issues in general.
Yeah, definitely. I find it helps to go into these, or any situation, with a plan. It might not go as planned, but you have something to work off of. Also, if you have a plan for when and how to have a needed discussion, it can help alleviate the other times where there might be a chronic "I should be talking about this" feeling in your mind, with no end in site, and feeling sort of constantly guilty that you're not dealing with it. If I've told myself when and how I am going to deal with a thing, it helps me let go of it for the meantime. That's me at least.