To ask for advice about work anxiety when working from home

[Dishwashersaurous]

So I don’t like my job at all but financially I need it and cannot just quit. And I don’t have the headspace to apply for a new job at the moment.

The specific issue I would like help with is how to cope with the anxiety about work when not working.

So like lots of people I am having to work from home at the moment. When I finish I shut my computer off and shut the door.

However I still need to use the room for other things, getting things out of cupboard, hanging laundry etc.

Now any time I enter the room I start to feel panicked, my heart races and I want to cry. Simply from entering the room that y work equipment is in.

I absolutely hate feeling like this about a room in my house but however much I tell myself it’s ridiculous I cannot feel better about it.

Does anyone have any advice?

In the kindest way it does sound a bit bonkers, but how you feel is how you feel.

Do you use a laptop or a desktop PC? If its a laptop, put it away in the bag when you've finished. Or, leave it on, but on a webpage you like or with an image that makes you feel happy.

No advice but massive sympathy, I feel the same about my work equipment. Putting it in a draw has helped. I’m also considering completely rearranging the room so it’s totally zoned. But it sounds like you have yours in a less well used room, so that probably isn’t an option (mines in my sitting room)
It’s currently in the spot where we usually have the Christmas tree and that’s making me feel
Anxious as well as resentful.
Can you talk to your manager about it? Is there a way you could work form the office a couple of days a week (I have been offered this but can’t do it because I also have the logistical challenge of “wrong time” school pickups meaning I really need to wfh to maximise working time)

Oh OP, that's really sad. Can you make the room really, really lovely so you can't help but like it?

I worked from home pre covid for a few days a week so I have simply kept the same boundaries now I am full time WFH.

At the end of the day I pack away my laptop, charger and everything else into my backpack just as I would have done if I was back in the office the next day. It then gets put away so I don't see it and it isn't easy just to get it back out to quickly check email etc.

Could you do something similar so it isn't on show and therefore on your mind when you enter the room.

I understand OP. I was once having a panic attack at work and it was just after a woman with bleached blonde curly hair had left the room (it was nothing to do with her I didn't even know her). But I couldn't look at her hair for weeks because it would set me off.

Do you have a dining table? If so sit and work at that but sit in one of the chairs you wouldn't normally sit in, then tell yourself "it's only my work space when I sit in this chair, it's home and separate any other time".

Or... light a candle with a certain fragrance or put a CD on of a certain singer when you are working in the room. Make sure this is removed after work... then whenever you go into the room socially tell yourself "No. NO! I can't smell / hear what I do when I'm at work. So I'm not allowed to panic. This isn't work. This is my lovely home time".

You might think I'm full of shit but maybe it'll help x

I put a blanket over the desk when I am done! It really helps!

Thanks all. I appreciate it. I have a massive monitor, which I need, but makes it harder to hide it all away

I have this too. I have a desktop and massive monitor. I have put it in my box room which used to be my personal study. I now hate going in there.

@Dishwashersaurous

Thanks all. I appreciate it. I have a massive monitor, which I need, but makes it harder to hide it all away

Think about how to mentally hide it.

Maybe turn the monitor round so it faces the wall at the end of the day and put away keyboard in a draw then have a lovely pot plant you can put back in front of the monitor at the end of the day.

Sympathy from me. I’m finding my job tough at the moment and having it in my face all the time while working from home is not helpful.

I try to go for a short walk at lunchtime. I also try to join in with a bit of the office banter on Teams. It just makes the whole thing feel a bit more human.

Is there anything you could do to reduce the actual work anxiety? Is it a workload issue? Or relationship with your line manager?

Are you taking your annual leave?