Responsibility is stressing me out

[Star21]

I have recently qualified in my profession and have been promoted several times over the last few years, the most recent being a month ago but I am finding the extra responsibility is stressing me out. I am thinking about work every waking hour, waking during the night in a cold sweat worrying I have made a mistake or about how I am going to meet deadlines.

I feel out of my depth and want to find a new job without the reponsibilty that I know I can do well rather than struggle to do a more senior role and be miserable, however I am not sure how prospective employers will view the fact that I want to apply for jobs that don't match my qualifications. Will this make prospective employers wary and suspicious of me? I just think maybe responsibility and my personality don't match and sometimes wish I had never done the professional qualifications.

What have you tried to do about this so far? Taking a step down is probably possible, but it probably shouldn't be your first step. It might be that you are in the right place, but you just need things to slow down so you can keep up with it for a while. Have you spoken to your manager about this? Is it possible some of your workload could be reduced, shared out to others or something? If not your manager, do you have a mentor at all, or are there others in a similar position who might be able to talk things over with?

Does your employer have an employee assistance programme at all? If so, check whether they include careers advice. They'll almost definitely include something for stress management and that sort of thing.

We quite often get told at work that these days people's careers are on a jungle gym rather than a career ladder ("yes, and there are stagnant swamps to get stuck in," I have been known to cynically mutter.) Instead of going straight up a single path, people will go sideways to gain new experience, and sometimes back down a step. But I suspect how jungley one's progress can be depends a bit on the particular field you're in, and some will still be more of a standard ladder - so you probably need some advice from someone who knows your field, and how things work there.

I am working for a very small company, just 25 employees but providing financial services to 3 large organisations, I have just been allocated an assistant to help with the work but he has no experience and it is slowing me down giving him work to do, having to explain everything etc, not his fault. I have talked to my manager but he just says I doubt myself too much and need more self belief but he doesn't really have time to mentor me as he too is under a lot of pressure.
Employee assistance programs are non existent unfortunately.