Mental health and work

[abeautifulmess1234]

I am going back to work today for the 1st time since middle of December. I have a multitude of mental health illnesses, mainly depression and anxiety. My mood has crashed and my anxiety is through the roof and I just feel like such a failure. I am sitting here crying because I am scared that I won't make it through the day.

Take it an hour at a time. One thing I used to do when I was a worker bee in an office is every morning I would write all my hours down on a piece of paper and then cross them off on the hour. It would help keep in perspective that home time was coming. You can also do it on outlook by opening up the calendar bit and the line moves for you.

Hi abeautifulmess I didnt want to read and not respond. I hope someone with more experience will come along and help you more than I can.

Are your colleagues aware that you struggle with anxiety and depression? How do you get to work - walk or car etc?

Didn't want to read and run. I suffer from the same and understand. Are your work supportive? Can you maybe make sure you take lots of breaks just so it doesn't get too overwhelming? Are you going back on reduced hours? I hope your colleagues will be good with you when you go in.

Thank you for your replies, it means a lot and makes me feel less alone. I feel quite isolated at work because I am not very confident (worried that people see that as anti social when that seriously isn't the case) so I tend to keep myself to myself, I kind of feel like I am bothering people if I speak to anyone. This is only my second year in this job so I really can't take anymore time off, my boss knows about my depression and anxiety but he doesn't know how debilitating it is most days. Think taking it an hour at a time is a good idea.

How did it go in the end today?