Job suggestions?

With my anxiety and depression bringing me to rock bottom I haven't been working for over 3 months. I'm starting to feel better but the thought of gettin a job freaks me out, I'm scared of failure and scared of how my mental illness affects my performance. Does anyone have suggestions for good jobs for people with anxiety?

[Hidden]

Maybe working with animals. I used to be a vet tech and it was comforting and soothing to be caring for something that felt my gentleness without judgment. The animals can sense your character and seemed to give me something back. It always brought me joy and made me smile.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

I've actually been considering that! The schooling doesn't take long but unfortunately I cant do school for financial reasons right now. Hopefully one day though, I could look into working with animals in another way for now though

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

I didn't go to school for it. It's not a requirement. Look into it. You might start out cleaning kennels but still have time with the animals.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Oh that would be awesome! I'm from Minnesota and idk if there's state regulations on that type of stuff but for some reason I thought a degree was required, I'll look into it

[Kerstindyer]

I onced teach at a kindergarten it was terrible with my anxiety and depression. Used to get agitated and fatigued very fast. That was so terrible. I stoked caused I know I wasn't giving it my all. I was constantly thinking about my health and just wanted to be home resting

[Hidden in reply to Kerstindyer]

I can imagine. I used to work with clients with dementia at a memory care home and it was god awful for my anxiety. No sense of control and you have all these different groups putting pressure on you; the clients, families, higher-ups, stupid regulations etc. I'm sure same goes for schools

[mz_rachel]

I'm afraid to go back to work as well. I recently left my job bc I felt like it was affecting my job performance. I wasn't too reliable anymore and I hated that I'd have episodes at work. So now I stay home doing my dog sitting full time. Or at least I would like more dogs to fill the gaps. I'm trying to look for a part time but I'm afraid as well bc I feel like I may not be able to hold down a job bc of it. And it's frustrating me even more, my breathing especially bc I have bills every month and I really wanna work at home. I feel so horrible bc I deal with this every single moment of every single day..... I can definitely say it has worsened for sure. I feel like going down the street feels far. Almost everything that I've been been through is coming back. Feeling like I'm gonna die... feeling like I can't breathe... the works. So I pray that things get better for you. It's a struggle but we're still here.

[Hidden in reply to mz_rachel]

I totally understand. I have a lot of debt and bills I'm behind on but luckily my last lease ended and my parents are okay with me staying with them until I get better (though it feels like a lost cause sometimes). I had horrible agoraphobia because my panic attacks were so bad, I've learned to deal with them better through therapy and what not but the whole job thing is a huge trigger for me and I hate being on display at work when I'm suffering. What helped me with the agoraphobia was Pass Through Panic by Dr. Claire Weekes so I highly recommend that because it helped me learn to get out of the house again! It's an audiobook I got from my therapist but if you sign up for a free trial of Amazon Audible you can get it for free! Being alone and trapped at home definitely made it worse so I completely understand how you feel. I'm gonna try doing in home caregiving just because I can get really short shifts but I'm really scared to be responsible for someone else with disabilities even though I've done it in the past.

[mz_rachel in reply to Hidden]

It's soooo funny you say that bc I applied to be a caregiver as well and I thought to myself, what if I needed to leave or I freak out while helping the elderly? So anyway they never called back lol, who was I fooling! Thank you I'll try that! I've been listen to Dare by Barry Mcdonagh it's free to DL on iBooks. I've bought workbooks as well, watched videos of people going through anxiety, seen a therapist etc. god.. agoraphobic. That was the worse. I wasn't working for 2 years and thank god I had edd that lasted. But NOW, I do feel myself getting comfortable again. Like not wanting to go out shouldn't be a bad thing but not when you're scared of the world. Sigh..

[Hidden in reply to mz_rachel]

Yeah with the caregiving I'm hoping I can just push through the panic attacks if I get one and hopefully the distraction and knowing I'm doing a good thing will help with my anxiety and self esteem overall. I've heard of Dare before so I'll have to look into it! For me the agoraphobia started with me just being scared of panicking in public and always wanting to get home quickly but then eventually it got to the point where I was too scared to leave and the thought of any threat would disable me. Eventually I realized sitting in the house was just fueling it and honestly my thoughts are more of a threat than fainting in public or something is. You just have to take a minutr each day to be grateful for whatever progress you've made or if you've had a setback at least be grateful for what it taught you

[mz_rachel in reply to Hidden]

That's a very good thing! I love that, helping others to better your self esteem. 👍🏽 Yeah I know sitting around the house can be paralyzing but until I know my breathing is normal then I feel like I have to stay home where it's "safe". Where in actuality your "safe" zone is wherever you are. That one I'm still working on. But yup being agoraphobic was unexplainable. I couldn't even shower more then 5 mins before I started to feel like I couldn't breathe. Getting the mail down the hallway seemed like miles away, a quick errand was torture, I would also rush home, Target was always a place that I'd avoid bc that's where all the bright lights that made me uncomfortable would be, never wanted to hang out, if I did I'd suggest doing that one thing and then going home, even when I did get a job that was down the street it felt so far from home, but I'm thankful I did get to work when shit was still rough, eating dinner out was the worse bc I couldn't run away, I had to sit there in front of company that didn't know about my anxiety and act like I was "normal". I can't even walk my dogs downstairs in our courtyard without wanting to come back up really fast etc. I've gotten far as well with my anxiety. Everything I've mentioned I've conquered. So now, I just feel like I'm slowly going backwards again. I'm slowly trying to find myself again. It's hard everyday... every fucking day. But I refuse to give up. At least I don't have suicidal thoughts anymore. Yeah no. Nothing there. I am grateful for staying true, staying strong to no matter what comes my way. We are fighters!

[Hidden in reply to mz_rachel]

With the breathing it's probably because you're way too conscious of it, I've been there. I'm way to conscious about every little ache or twinge in my body but its gotten better. It gets to the point where it's like okay if my body hasnt completely failed me yet then screw it I'm done being worried about it even if I feel like I'm dying. The saying I heard that I likes is that anxiety is "a toothless tiger". Feels like its deadly and horrible but is honestly just a little bitch lol. Acting normal is the wooorst because you just wanna explode but the average person isn't gonna understand. I've tried so hard to explain to people but they never get it. It sucks when you make progress and then seem to go backwards but thats just because anxiety has trained your mind and your body to do that, so you have to use all your might to retrain yourself but it's so easy to fall in that pit again because its all you know. I'm getting better with the suicidal thoughts, I've had anxiety for so long but for the longest time I shoved depression to the side and denied it because I literally didnt have time to be depressed but once I finally faced it the suicidal thoughts and sadness hit me like a train. It was short lived and almost nothing compared to my anxiety but still scary and fueled the anxiety quite a bit

[mz_rachel]

Yes!!! I like that, a "toothless tiger"!! lol I will remind myself that. Again thank you so so much for taking your time to talking, I say this to everyone but I genuinely appreciate it! Retraining the brain is something I have to learn again. And also bc I'm not working I have all the time in the world to thinking about shit. People who don't go through it yeah it's complicated lol... gives me anxiety when thinking about it. But I guess it's the same thing when we say what we say to someone who's going through something when we can't truly relate but just say what's in our mind. I've learned to coach my group of people and how they can help me through it. And yeah there were times where I did feel embraced and didn't wanna be judged but that didn't live for long bc I couldn't resist the lie. Have you ever felt like you couldn't walk? Or I mean jelly legs? Like let's say when we're at the mall and when I start to think about things, it feels like my legs are gonna give out and that I'd ALWAYS have to be on the side where stores are so I can hold on to something just incase.