Struggling with work megathread

Coping
#21

I’ve been struggling to get anything done this week and some of the tips in this thread have been really helpful. Yesterday I spent half the day on the couch feeling awful, before I had a spurt of energy in the evening. I managed to get some meaningful work done in that time and it made me feel a lot better about my day.

One thing I wanted to add is the effect that calls and meetings have on me. I try to schedule meetings which aren’t too intellectually challenging during my down times, as they really suck my energy which makes my neurological symptoms far worse. I don’t want to spend precious energy on them. If I have important calls, I schedule them early, as I know that I won’t be able to engage in difficult discussions later in the day.

I think for those of us with neurological symptoms, interactions with others can be really challenging and draining.

5 Likes
#22

Tell me about it, Mitch.

Human interaction is one of the most challenging bits for me, neurologically speaking.

It’s a good thing that you try to schedule calls and meeting according to how challenging they can be.

Feels like a sensible and sound strategy.

1 Like
#23

If you feel as poorly as you’ve stated here, will you be able to function, much less excel, in that new job you’ve written of elsewhere?

#24

I did it for 3.5 years before working full-time on this, and have also worked full-time on this for 10 months. I always find a way.

6 Likes
#25

Good for you man
Keep ur head up…I did the same

Certainly not easy to teach with this but staying him is really really not good and possibly dangerous
You’re thinking just gets worse

1 Like
#26

Just had a one on one Teams meeting with a manager. We started off talking about a recent company reorg and toward the end he began asking personal questions like ‘so how are you doing, what are your plans for summer…etc’. This was brutal, I had to on the spot come up with a fake life to appear ok and avoid an impromptu health discussion. I tried to channel my past but I’m so far removed at this point that it didn’t feel convincing at all.

Anyway now that I’ve bumped this thread I’d be interested to hear if anyone else has any work updates. Today has been an exceptionally bad day both physically and mentally and this incident didn’t help.

2 Likes
#27

That sort of thing sounds familiar.

I’m supposed to transition from a temporary contract to a permanent contract in a couple of months, so my team lead is asking me all these big questions lately both about work and about life because the company has ‘big decisions’ to make for my case, and it’s so hard to act like this uplifting life-loving character who is full of ambition and stuff like that when all I’ve been doing these past years is essentially distracting myself, tunnel vision for work, lots of fake smiles, trying to survive the depression I’m in. It also frustrates me that I’ve worked my ass off for two years for this company and now I feel like I have to ‘pitch’ the reasons for me to stay, when ultimately it will depend on the company’s financial state whether they are going to terminate temporary contracts or keep them, and no matter how much people love me it’s out of my hands either way.

I’ve barely had a chance to even think about a future and when I do I usually don’t have the self-esteem to really believe in any of it or something. Or maybe I don’t believe I will enjoy any of it without a significant other. I can’t explain it properly. Corona lockdowns from a while back probably didn’t help either… I’ve been living life on a daily basis so much and sometimes I feel like I’m still stuck in ‘lockdown mode’. Probably need to take some time off soon.

2 Likes
#28

So our work division got re-org’d again and they scheduled a happy hour for this evening. Before PFS I was a happy hour mainstay. Not first to arrive but almost always last to leave. My direct boss is encouraging everone to attend to meet the new crew but it sounds awful to me. First off all I feel now is how it used to feel to just wake up and not yet have my coffee. That’s basically my whole life now. Also I can’t feel alcohol so I have no idea what I’d do at a happy hour. Before PFS I’d order a favorite beer and let the buzz lead the way. Now I have no favorite beer and no buzz. I don’t like going somewhere and depending on anyone for my own enjoyment but if I go to this thing that’s what it’ll be. Me standing there tired and not knowing what to do. I used to talk about my hobbies and travels and how I got where I am and what my plans are. Now I have no plans, I’m just tired and hope I die in my sleep. Doesn’t make for good chit chat with new people.

2 Likes