New job - I feel like I can’t cope

[Mummylemon]

I started a new job 6 weeks ago and ever since I’ve suffered with the worst anxiety: it’s the first and last thing I think about when I go to bed / wake up, I wake around 4/5 times a night, I have that horrible sinking feeling in my chest all day, it’s even made me physically sick once. It’s literally all I feel / think about all day long and I’m exhausted.

I work for a large fmcg company and recently moved function, which I requested as part of my development. I could literally do my last job with my eyes shut, and now I’ve been placed on one of the biggest accounts on the biz, I feel like I am sinking and will fail. My handover was pretty non existent and I just feel like I’ve no clue what I’m doing, that someone could do a better job and my manager made a mistake hiring me! I’m working late nights most days and weekends to compensate, and I’m just not sure how much more I can take or if it will get better.

I’m scared to chat to my manager about it incase he thinks I’m not up to the job, but equally don’t want to be seen to fail, people normally stay in role for around 2 years. Right now I cannot see that happening, and I just worry if I did quit, I won’t be supported to find a new role internally.

That sounds really difficult.
What about writing a bullet point list of things you’d like clarity on - be specific.
then think who might be the best person to ask to meet with to get the answers.
think of how to phrase the request “having been in the role a few weeks there are some things I’d like charity on to make sure I’m following company procedures” type of thing…
your intentions sound like you want to do the “right thing” which any sane manager will be v grateful for.
Also allowing yourself some acceptance about “you can’t know what you don’t know” when beginning a new role o have found helpful in the past. I also have found it helpful to think in a months time, most of these things I will feel confident with..,Good luck!

The company wouldn't have moved you to the current position if they didn't believe you could do the job. But being stressed and, crucially, not sleeping is not going to help the situation. You do need to speak to your manager and ask for help - any company is going to prefer to resolve a short term issue rather than having to go through an expensive and long winded recruitment process.

A short course of targeted therapy could help with both the imposter syndrome and sleep issues in tandem.

The first six months of a new job are exhausting, so I’d say give yourself some credit and cut yourself some slack!

I agree with the advice above. Can you write a list of each of the areas of your job and then bullet point what’s going well, what you’re worried about and how you can tackle each?

Then I’d look at who to approach for support/ info and work out in advance how to phrase it.