[lotusflower93]

My anxiety is bad at the moment. I am in my 2nd week of work experience and I feel so awkward and uncomfortable. I hate myself for being like this. I am so scared for the future, if I will ever be able to get a job or if I am doing this for nothing. I know I have to finish the work experience but I am really uncomfortable and anxious most of the time. Especially today, having a bad day today.

[reb569]

First of all, don't hate yourself. Anxiety in new situations, whether it be work, or work study is common and normal. That said, if you have an anxiety disorder, the anxiety you are feeling is likely higher than someone without an anxiety disorder.

I'm not sure if you are familiar with mindfulness/grounding techniques or not, but I would try some of those. I haven't had a lot of success with them myself, but others do.

One technique that I've seen mentioned several times is:

Name (to yourself, or out loud if you are alone) 5 things you see, four things you hear, three things you can touch, two things you can smell and then take one slow deep breath. (I haven't actually tried this one yet, I always forget about it when I'm stressed out)

I think the idea behind this, is that doing this makes you concentrate on you and your surroundings and not your anxiety. What's neat about this, is you can do it while sitting at a desk, or table. It can't hurt to try it.

Additionally, another one is a breathing exercise where you take a long breathe in (like 4 or 5 seconds), hold the breathe for the same period of time, and then exhale for the same amount of time. You do this for a couple of minutes and it can help relieve tension and anxiety. I have tried this one a couple of times and it did seem to work some.

There are other techniques out there too.

Good luck. I hope things come together for you and you can find a way to get your anxiety under control.

[lotusflower93]

reb569 Thankyou for the advice. I haven't tried these before, should try these out when I feel overwhelmed.