Anxiety impacting work

[bipolarteacher]

Looking for tips on how to deal with challenges and setbacks. I have been struggling at work and it has really affected my self-esteem. I'm a teacher and I've had a few resistant kids behaviorially. These two have also stopped achieving academically. I'm taking this really personally and it has caused anxiety. Some days, I don't even want to go to work. I'm feeling like a failure and I can't stop thinking negatively. Please help.

[Montana136]

Hello.. I empathize with you. I too can have problems with my self-esteem but my confidence usually goes first. I relate. The first thing I do when I feel anxiety coming my way is deep controlled breathing. It calms me enough to where I can think through and solve some problems. These kids that are resistant could have difficulties that don't have anything to do with you. And you cannot control external forces outside of yourself. I usually try to seek out others advice. Maybe there are other teachers who may have ideas on how to deal with resistant kids and crisis of confidence. Maybe even teachers from different schools sometimes talking to associates close to you can be a double-edged sword. Most definitely find some kind of solutions before you lose your will to want to work. Losing a job can create all kinds of anxiety you don't even want to deal with. Breathe, talk it out with another teacher. I'm sure you have had some successes in your teaching career. Do not forget about those, do not dwell on the negative counteract that thought with a positive thought immediately. Negative thinking gets out of control very quickly. Manage it. I wish you success and good luck. Thank you for being a teacher it is a very very crucial job. Be well

[designguy]

You might check out youtube, there is a lot of good info on there about improving self-worth and validating yourself and understanding more about what you can control and what you have no control over at all. I really like the youtubes of Julia Kristina and Bernadette Logue. If you are having issues with anxiety, I suggest the DARE Anxiety book and youtube videos to learn how to constructively deal with it. You may have some perfectionism issues that are impacting you which is common with low-self-worth.