I have anxiety and there’s a switch I mentally flip. So when I first started working with the public again, I would sweat so bad. It would cause me to be even more nervous, because I must look nasty, right?
About six months into my new job and now having to be a manager that still has associate duties (for some reason), there was this click. I didn’t care what people thought about me. I HAD to keep this job. I stopped pushing myself to run from one place to another.
Every now and then, I’ll catch myself worrying about people and workplace politics and I’ll switch it off. The sweating stops, I move more confidently, but I still maintain courtesy. Not because I’m rushing to do it now, but because it just has to be that way.
I let negative criticism from my abusive environment roll off me. I don’t worry about being terminated. Because the work I provide is triple the output of a normal associate and, yes, they could replace me, but it would be a shitshow to do it.
So, the moral of the story is, stop caring about what people think of you. Don’t take every comment to heart. Free yourself from the societal hierarchy. It’s not easy, but if a little ball of anxiety and depression like me can do it, so can you.
Imagine a physical switch. It can be anything- a lightswitch, a button, a lever. Pull that switch when you feel pressured or overwhelmed. You might have a few fails, but it will eventually succeed.
Currently at work, but I do want to address this. In short, though: self advocating. I do not let them run me over.