Why does wfh make me so anxious?

[Clytemnestra2]

Like many people I’ve been working from home since March, and will be for the foreseeable future. My role is not particularly junior, not particularly senior - mainly organising events, research and report writing within a public sector/charity type organisation. So some responsibility, but not loads, and no management responsibility.

After over six months of wfh I feel a lot has been said on many of the pros (flexibility etc) and some of the cons (eg difficulty of team bonding) but there’s one negative I’m experiencing that never gets a mention - wfh makes me really anxious! I find myself panicking or dwelling on worse case scenarios in a way I rarely did when physically in the office. Even though my job role is pretty identical to what I was doing before March.

Something about being physically alone wfh and not having chats or even just the presence of colleagues surrounding me makes me prone to worry about things that shouldn’t really bother me. For example the other day I received an unnecessarily snotty email from a contact at an external organisation - if we’d been in the office I’d probably have had a quick moan to a colleague for a couple of minutes and then got on with my day. But at home it plays on my mind a lot more.

And I find it really easy to start catastrophising - one thing will go slightly wrong, or look like it might, and I start imagine the whole project or event failing completely. I never used to think like this, or definitely not to this extent.

So - am I the only one? The idea of having 6 more months or whatever of wfh and the accompanying low-level anxiety is really depressing!

[Fastforwardtospring]

Yep as much as I like WFH it does make me anxious, at the office I don’t worry about computer issues as we have an on site IT guy, at home I have to go through a call centre, and remedy issue ourselves, hate it, especially with most of our IT being off shore, I find it difficult to understand what they are saying! When work dries up at work I can pass the time of day with colleagues, at home I find it particularly boring, I can hardly wander off and do any housework as when someone needs me I need to be on it straightaway. It has its pros and cons though, DD in year 8, and I’ve increased my hours so she would have been coming home to an empty house, by the time /if I go back she’ll be that bit more independent.

[daisychain1620]

Or breathe lol🤭

[daisychain1620]

No you are not alone, i feel the same as you. I naturally over think things and doubt myself but in the office you can bounce things off others and ask a quick question to anyone in earshot. WFH is difficult in that regard.
I loved it in the beginning, flexibility, no commute, etc but am finding it increasingly anxiety inducing. I'm hoping it's a blip and I'll go back to loving it as I think I'll always be home now.
I have no words or wisdom or advice, just wanted to let you know you're not alone and breath!