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What do you guys struggle with when working in an office environment?
I've never told an employer that I'm autistic because I don't want to be seen differently but I always struggle with the same things. I also have generalised anxiety disorder and social anxiety disorder that I've had since I was a teenager (34 now) and are probably caused by the autism and I'm also prone to depressive episodes.
I always end up being isolated and known as the quiet/shy one in the office. Initially when I first start a job for the first few weeks/months I mask and put on a much more sociable act. But this becomes exhausting quite quickly and I start looking for ways I can avoid everyone without even realising it. I think people see me as the weird one who hides away upstairs and me thinking this makes me feel even more awkward.
When I do socialise I sort of act like a robot most of the time, most of my personality is an act and I'm just dying to run away the entire time. I also don't really find idle chit chat in office environments interesting at all and get extremely bored. I have different interests that people don't often share.
I have physical symptoms of anxiety like a lump in the throat and trembling anyway so I generally avoid opening my mouth in social situations so I don't get judged for how weird I know I look, which just makes me look even weirder probably.
I end up seeing everyone around me negatively because I think they're judging me and I don't want to go into work anymore and I become more depressed and it all just goes in a big negative cycle.
I tend to switch jobs every 1-2 years because of these reasons so I'm thinking of making it open in my current company so that I'm understood a bit better but I really don't know now if I suit the office environment at all and if I'd be better off doing another type of work.
I don't want to work a fully remote job because I feel like if I put myself in less social situations I will just become worse and never leave the house.
I'm thinking of getting into a manual type job because I tend to be less anxious when I'm keeping myself physically busy and I have less time to overthink EVERYTHING. I really shouldn't spend so much time inside my own head.
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