Job interview - can’t cope

[anxious332]

I applied for a promotion at work and have an interview on Wednesday. I went for it because I felt it would be good for my family if I could earn more money. However, I’m now feeling incredibly anxious and wishing desperately I hadn’t gone for it. I am a highly nervous and anxious person (though mask it reasonably well) and don’t feel I could deal with the responsibility that would come with this more senior role. I’m happy in my current position and even though the pay would be about 10K more, I know I would struggle mentally with the extra pressure.

If I pull out of the interview now will this impact on my relationship with senior staff? I’m worried that if I do pull out I’ll annoy everyone for wasting their time. Feeling so low today and just don’t know what to do.

I have had a few situations in my life when I felt just like OP but I decided to go ahead just for the sake of experience, and I am glad I did. One of the most extreme situations was when I was invited to interpret in court despite not being qualified ( I was a freelance interpreter without knowledge of legal terms). I literally felt sick and felt very uncomfortable in the court room. But the judge was very understanding and helped me a lot. To my great relief, the hearing was adjorned and I was asked to interpret in a small room for a solicitor and a client, in an informal atmosphere, and I did a good job. If I had declined, I would have missed on interesting experience. After it was over, my boss told me they were insured for an unqualified interpreter, I wish I had known before the job.
I try to abstract from a stressful situation as if I was watching a film. It helps!
My adult son says he fails the interviews when he wants a job very much, and aces the interviews when he is not very much interested.
I was invited to an interview recently, and cancelled it the day before.

Better than going through an interview or accepting the job and then finding it's wrong for you. If it's not for you let them know asap

Thanks everybody for the excellent advice. I think I’ll go along and do what a previous poster suggested, as in with the objective of asking them lots of questions about the role and getting a better understanding if it’s for me. I’m almost 100% certain it isn’t, but there’s no harm in exploring the idea a bit further I suppose.