Those with jobs....

I have a job where I work only a couple of hours a day, have very little contact with any1 but earns me not much at all. Because of this I have realised that eventually I will have to find full time employment so I can earn more money. What I want to know is, those of you who have full time work, do you think full time work with frequent contact with people has; improved your sp. or has it made your life much harder, but you think it helps your sp so you put up with it? Has it made your life much harder and given you more anxiety and stress, and you don’t think it improves your sp? Has it made your life much easier and you think it improves your sp? Or do you think it has no effect on you one way or the other, and you would be exactly the same in or out of full time work? I know it all depends on how severe your sp is and what level of contact you have with people at work but I would just like some peoples ideas, my feeling is that it would be hard at first but as time goes on the more frequent the contact with people the better your able to cope with sp....but I heard on here where someone was that distressed about going to work they were thinking of crashing their car just to get some time off. And I was thinking that I should go to therapy and improve my sp first before i try and find full time work. Your thoughts?

I'm not sure how open the people are over there (it does vary geographically), but they may mistake your symptoms (also, dont know how severe the problem is with you) as being aloof and rude. And if you try to converse, your nervousness may make them uneasy about you. You will find a few that may recognize there is a problem and will take pity on you and be nice to you, although you may not get invited to hang with them for beers after work (which may make you feel somewhat like an alien), but you will still be able to make a living and be independent (which is what really matters), plus it may lead to advancements (people with SP can still do well in technical arenas) that provide you with more resources for bettering yourself.

With that said, I have been in the working world just about all my life (with the obvious exception of when I was in primary school and a couple of extended lay-offs) with SP, I couldn't imagine letting it keep me from working, but if I could take a sabatical and learn how to deal with my anxieties better, I would. If you cannot afford that option, you can always goto therapy sessions once a week after work, and work will provide you with an environment to practice your new techniques picked up from therapy.

You probably know best which path is for you, though. Im not in your shoes, so its really hard to say whats the best choice is.

Hope things work out well for you, bud. I definately feel your pain!

definately find that i'm better the busier i am. if i'm out of work for even a couple of weeks, i start to get more anxious. of course the work environment makes a big difference for me as well.

i feel more anxious in a company where the people are very cliquey. i prefer working in smaller crews as opposed to big corps with 100's of employees and high-level politics.

do you find working part-time has helped you?

Thanks dazedNconfused. magda74, working part time has not been good for me over comming my social phobia at all as I don’t get to practice my social skills very much...i suppose atleast it will give me the opportunity to devote plenty of time to actually overcomming the sp without all the stresses of work wearing you down as well if you know what I mean. so i will look at it that way

skins said:

I have a job where I work only a couple of hours a day, have very little contact with any1 but earns me not much at all. Because of this I have realised that eventually I will have to find full time employment so I can earn more money. What I want to know is, those of you who have full time work, do you think full time work with frequent contact with people has; improved your sp. or has it made your life much harder, but you think it helps your sp so you put up with it? Has it made your life much harder and given you more anxiety and stress, and you don’t think it improves your sp? Has it made your life much easier and you think it improves your sp? Or do you think it has no effect on you one way or the other, and you would be exactly the same in or out of full time work? I know it all depends on how severe your sp is and what level of contact you have with people at work but I would just like some peoples ideas, my feeling is that it would be hard at first but as time goes on the more frequent the contact with people the better your able to cope with sp....but I heard on here where someone was that distressed about going to work they were thinking of crashing their car just to get some time off. And I was thinking that I should go to therapy and improve my sp first before i try and find full time work. Your thoughts?

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you know when i got my first part time job, i was damn miserable, cos i was super negative, i could not cope with the SA pressure

when i was recovering, i got into other part time job, and this involved much more human contact.

the difference later is that even though i was nervous/anxious, i tried my best to deal with it, to cope with it, to mitigate the severity of the effects.

but in my first job, instead of finding ways and solutions to counter SA, i dwelled into my mistakes and blamed everyone for my demise, and that was the difference between the first and 2nd job experience.

what i had learnt was that if u dont give, persistant, determined, you will get nowhere....but achieve victory.

Yeh icandoit, my job feels like your first job, it gives me no self esteem, not many chances to interact with others and improve myself…hopefully this will change with my next job like it did for you. This has given me some hope. thanks

working in retail was the best thing i ever did for myself. i used to be sooo shy but mooching off my parents isn't good either. so i had to get a job and that's about all kids my age can do other than work in food.

i find that when i'm at work i don't feel as nervous b/c i'm not myself, i put on another persona, i represent a company, not myself.

it's made my SP sooo much better, i highly recomend it. make it through the training period even if it's alot of stress, but you'll make it through and be glad you did

I had a full time job during the summer, and I found that it helped me a lot in being more outgoing. I was working as I counselor for kids at a summer camp. I had a partner (who I ended up getting a hugh crush on lmao) that I worked with everyday with our group of kids, so I was always talking and interecting with him, the kids in our groups, and the kids parents. I was also interecting and talking to my other co-workers. At the end of the year, my partner had a BBQ at his house that he invited all of the counselors to, and for once I wasn't having any second thoughts and considering not going. Like I was actually excited about it, and I went and had a good time. I was still always more quiet than all of my co-workers, but I was still able to interact and have fun. So yeah, actually of all the jobs I've had so far, I think that onethis past summer has helped me the most. And I'm going to be working there again next summer, so I can't wait.

that sounds like a lot of fun phantompod

Jobs are a pain in the ass

I think jobs are one of the hardest things you have to do if you SA/SP and the sad thing are our whole life's are based on working
I'm currently looking for a part time job but I gotta do it or I starve (my student loan only goes so far) i've actully managed to have a few jobs and although working is hard and i can't stand people watching me it seems to get easier the more time i spend at a job. I've found afer a month or two working you get used to it and SA doesn't affect me to much. Still get hard moments thou

It was! It was definitely the best experience I've had at a job so far.

I feel good at work, brings me out of my shell. I am terrified, though, of conflict. Most jobs for college students involves working with customers/the public. I hate it when people get rude with me and blame the company I work for. I feel so put on the spot, like I am being scrutinized. If I show any sign of weakness towards the person I will be so embarrassed. I start shaking when people yell at me.

Anyone else have this problem? I kinda feel alone in this so far.