Is “I hate my job” the first thing that you think when you wake up in the morning? Maybe it’s the last thing you think before going to sleep? Maybe it’s stopping you from sleeping altogether?
Do you just not want to do it anymore? Is it causing you to feel anxious, depressed and sad? Maybe you’re bored, need more freedom, or to be better compensated for your time?
Hell on Wheels
When your job feels like hell on wheels, why not get a medical certificate from your doctor and take a week’s sick leave to sort yourself out? If that doesn’t work for you, could you take a “staycation”? (a stay-at-home vacation). At the very least wind your life back for a period of time so that you have space to think.
Use Your Time Wisely
While it’s important that you use your time off to relax it’s also important that you work out what’s gone wrong. Why are really so unhappy, and what are you going to do about it.
The reason you will be feeling stressed out, anxious, depressed, or bored could be because your job is not meeting your needs. Everyone has five basic needs to varying degrees:
- Survival (financial, physical)
- Love and Belonging
- Freedom
- Fun (including learning)
- Power (acknowledgment, achievement)
You can learn how to create and understand your own needs profile by checking out our online course.
Internal Threats
When you started your job, you might have been happy with your paycheque. There may have been lots to learn and excitement in new things. You were meeting lots of new people, and people valued your contributions. Over time however, you learned the job and maybe there were no promotions. People may have started taking you for granted. Maybe they started having unrealistic expectations and you may have started feeling constricted. A job that had initially met your needs no longer does. This will always take a toll on your well-being.
When you suffer from extreme anxiety the modern parts of your brain give way to the older parts of your brain. This puts you in a state of fight/flight. Your reptilian brain developed responses to stresses that were external. You would fight and either win or lose; or you would flee to get away from the threat. These responses worked well when threats were largely physical, but they are not so great for workplace stresses.
Stress, anxiety and depression brought on by a job may seem like they are the result of external threats. But the threats are actually internal because they are created by your thoughts about the situation.
Here’s a scenario that shows how this works. If you thrive on acknowledgment and achievement you’re likely to become very stressed if you’re not being recognised for your work or expectations are impossible for you to meet.
Old Brain Responses
When you’re very stressed your reptilian brain kicks in and it only has two options: fight or flight. The physiological responses are not useful in modern workplace environments. They make matters worse and can leave you losing confidence in your ability.
- confused thinking (because the old brain isn’t great at logical thought and planning)
- increased heart rate and breathing as the body prepares muscles with more oxygen ready to fight or flee
- tense muscles, again ready to fight or flee
- nausea as the body withdraws energy from the digestive system in an attempt to conserve it to fight or flee from the threat
- even sleeplessness as you are unable to turn your highly vigilant brain off
Learn More About Your Needs
Only you can know how much you really hate your job. Only you can decide whether there’s anything you can do about it in your current position.
Our course, will not only help you to feel better, but it will also guide you through the steps to understanding why you might be feeling the way you are and what you can do about it. Go ahead, check it out. If you have any questions or you would prefer a personal online session don’t hesitate to contact Jeff on jeff.steedman@choicepractice.org. You can also book a counselling session here.