Hi there,

I have this weird thing, where i always feel like i am going to be reprimanded by people that i feel have any kind of authority over me. It makes my work and personal life miserable as I am always anxious when communicating. Whether it is speaking with or emailing clients, bosses, landlords or important colleagues, I always am scared that I say or do something wrong and I’m going to get a verbal beating for it. I’m always nervous to state my professional opinion on things at work. I fear that I will come across as being too rude, sensitive, or arrogant. I do get quite worked up about things and would say I am hypersensitive to peoples opinion of me in my work.

Sitting and waiting for email responses or feedback from people, at work especially, is like sitting in hell for me. My mind rushes into horrible ideas of the person on the other side being unhappy with me or irritated by me, even if I haven’t done anything terribly wrong.

In a nut shell, the feeling is almost like I am a middle school student and I fear getting reprimanded by the headmaster or a teacher for doing something wrong. If that makes sense? I feel like everyone is going to shout at me like I’m a naughty child.

Is this normal? Does anyone experience something similar? I do battle with social anxiety/phobia and a very low self-esteem. Is this something that could be related?