Question:
I'd be curious to know what you were doing, occupation-wise, when you
first started suffering from panic or anxiety. What kind of work are you
doing NOW, and how have you managed to cope?
Answer:
My attacks began at 16. I was in high school and worked part time as
a cashier at a cafeteria. Skill-wise, it didn't require much, but I found it
quite stressful--was always afraid I was going to close out short and be
accused of stealing. Now I'm working for my boyfriend and his attorney,
researching foreclosures and evictions, and other paperwork-type things. The
most stressful part of the job is going to the courthouse every Friday, but
I'm getting used to that. Otherwise, it's a pretty stress-free job, and I
enjoy it.
I was a magazine editor, Erik, and working for a demanding
lunatic who had burned-out a string of us.
That said, I believe I was an accident looking for
somewhere to happen. Sooner or later I'd have found
sufficient stress to have set this ticking bomb into
deadly action.
Now, I'm a freelance journalist - still deadline
driven and still preferring it that way ;)
It'll be interesting to see what your informal survey
reveals.
I did tax returns for a Big 6 firm (Ernst & Young). The stress of the
job was a lesser factor in my breakdown last year. I was supposed to
be working 3/4 time, but it kept turning out to be more like full time
plus. Then we got a manager from hell, and I was trying to run
interference so that she couldn't ruin the relationships I'd set up
over the past 2 years.
I loved it, it was the perfect job. If I could have stuck it out I
would have made the 3/4 time work. (Part of the problem was I was
constantly sick from my allergies and that was my 1/4 time off, which
doesn't really count). It was real flex-time, so I would "bank" my
overtime to take nice long vacations in the slow season.
It was stressful in that you HAVE to have things done by a certain
date (not just April 15, but October 15), and you work a LOT of hours
in the weeks before then. However, you know what your schedule's
going to be like.
Unfortunately I lost that job because when I broke I totally withdrew
and did not call into work, unplugged the phone, and at the end did
not even leave my apartment.
I will be looking for work as soon as my body stabilizes on my new
diet. I'm going to do temp work. I've done it before, and loved it.
No politics, they love you because they're really desperate, generally
I'm way overqualified, so it's pretty easy work, and since I don't
stay too long it doesn't get boring.
