Good Ending - Job seeker who struggles with very high job switch anxiety

I just wanted to post for people who struggle with high anxiety with regard to changing jobs, there is good news for you. Some background - I'm currently 31 with a small family. 6 years ago, I never had a family and tried to make a job change which failed miserably, not because of my ability or talent, but because of new job jitters I quit that job (Two days in I may add) and was accepted back into my old job. After that I spent 5 years trying to break free of that failure and all my anxiety surrounding it. This was so bad for my career as my job didn't do a lot to further my career with anything. I was also too anxious to stretch myself out with other jobs. My hang up was always the unknowns and "what ifs'.

I want to say today I finally accepted a job that is in perfect alignment with my now carrier goals as a Network Security Analyst with a great company. Even now with this news, I still struggle with my anxiety over it, but I now have a good support system in-place and since I've signed the dotted line, I feel a great sense of sticking with this and not let doubt detour me. Also, I'm dedicated to sticking with it for a year before making and judgment about the job. I just want to learn and grow and network with other great security folks.

If you struggle with this, let me tell you there is hope and you shouldn't give up. Take all the steps to get through the anxiety whether it be with a good support system or prescribed meds

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Comments

networker050184

Changing jobs is always a stressful journey filled with unknowns. Congrats on working through your anxiety!

cyberguypr

Congrats and thanks for sharing the story.

volfkhat

Reminded me of this lecture:

https://www.ted.com/talks/jia_jiang_what_i_learned_from_100_days_of_rejection/

DatabaseHead

I suffer from anxiety as well and did something similar, I actually had my mother drop my laptop off, how pathetic is that. But you know what as I get older and chill out my perspective becomes clear.

3 things I have come to accept

1. It's never as good as it seems and it's never as bad as it seems
2. Pressure will always be present so you may as well accept it
3. All I can do is the best of my abilities and that is good enough. Anything outside of that is out of my control.

inverse_one

volfkhat wrote: »

Reminded me of this lecture:

https://www.ted.com/talks/jia_jiang_what_i_learned_from_100_days_of_rejection/

Good video, it can easily mapped to self doubt or self defeating thinking due to high anxiety. The only way to defeat it is to go through it.

inverse_one

DatabaseHead wrote: »

I suffer from anxiety as well and did something similar, I actually had my mother drop my laptop off, how pathetic is that. But you know what as I get older and chill out my perspective becomes clear.

3 things I have come to accept

1. It's never as good as it seems and it's never as bad as it seems
2. Pressure will always be present so you may as well accept it
3. All I can do is the best of my abilities and that is good enough. Anything outside of that is out of my control.

Number one is great, to add, most my anxiety is by thinking, what if it was the wrong move, will my work load suck, will my anxiety affect my job performance, etc. All those what ifs. Obviously I have come to realize this, I won't know until I face those fears. Sometimes that takes a bit of commitment on my side. I can only do so much with interviewing and such, the rest just has to be experienced.

I like number three as well. Starting out at a new position, it's going to take time to ramp up and be a great contributing member of the group. I just keep telling myself, that once I get through the first few weeks, my anxiety should diminish as a go into another familiar routine.

sillymcnasty

volfkhat wrote: »

Reminded me of this lecture:

https://www.ted.com/talks/jia_jiang_what_i_learned_from_100_days_of_rejection/

This has been one of my TOP ted talks. Amazing. By day 3 he was getting a yes lol. So good

Neil86

Good advice and video. I'm interviewing tomorrow for a position that is a complete career change for me and will take me from one corner of the country to the complete other side. Lots of anxiety about such a big move and just keeping positive vibes in my mind.