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Appreciate your thoughts...

Appreciate your thoughts...

Dear All,

I would appreciate your thoughts on what course of action I undertake in what is such a complex and unrealistic world.

With a lifetime of ADHD and dyslexia I have managed to work at a high level for 20+ years. It has reached the point that both my stress and anxiety levels are now causing concern. I have now taken 2 medical leaves due to mental health just to survive. I want to get better and enjoy life, is this decision selfish as after 1 day back in the office and not real resolve I want to go....

6 replies

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In response to: Appreciate your thoughts...

Re: Appreciate your thoughts...

Hi @Annette11

I just wanted to send you a quick welcome message. I'm sure our members will make you feel right at home, and will no doubt be keen to offer you some support and advice very soon.

Welcome 🙂

In response to: Re: Appreciate your thoughts...

Re: Appreciate your thoughts...

Thank you

In response to: Appreciate your thoughts...

Re: Appreciate your thoughts...

Hi @Annette11, welcome to the group.

I don't think the decision to take leave to get in a better place mentally, is not selfish at all. It shows a lot of strength to decide to take a break to try and heal yourself. You say you managed to work for 20+ years at a high level so it's only natural that the stress and anxiety have eventually become a concern and rather than ignore it or let it get worse, you know you need to do something to get better.

Does you workplace have any MH counseling available? Or can they be flexible with your work hours, and would it help you to let you take a bit of time for yourself when you need, rather than taking more leave? Or any other changes with responsibilities to take some of the mental load off you for a while?

Safe Work Australia do have some resources on mental health that maybe be helpful for you.

https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/safety-topic/managing-health-and-safety/mental-health

As do Beyond Blue...

https://www.beyondblue.org.au/mental-health/work

In response to: Appreciate your thoughts...

Re: Appreciate your thoughts...

Hi @Annette11 reading your post, and hearing of your reluctance to be back at work, it makes me wonder whether your fear of being selfish may be pushing you back to work before you're ready?

I myself have had to take time of work for mental health at different points in myself. The last time I did I was putting pressure on myself to be back at work quickly, and my doctor put it into a perspective that really helped me, and I hope it will help you too: If I had a broken leg no one would be rushing me to start walking on it until it had had enough time to be healed, in fact doing that would likely cause more long term damage and ultimately mean more time spent needing to heal and overcome the damage done by trying to rush the recovery.

Our mental health is the same, it's just more difficult to understand sometimes because you can look at an x-ray and know that you're better, the only thing you can go off is how you're feeling so it's important to listen to yourself and tune in to what's going on for you.

As @MJG017 mentioned, reaching out to your workplace and planning a supportive return to work can also make a huge difference, whether this is coming back on reduced hours, or reduced responsibilities, whatever you feel would help you is work asking for.

Also just a quick note that I've moved this discussion to a part of the forums that better aligns with your post so that we can ensure others can find it more readily

In response to: Appreciate your thoughts...

Re: Appreciate your thoughts...

Hi @Annette11

I’m a newbie and first thing I saw hopping in here to see what’s here, here’s your post and I already feel seen!

You are definitely not being selfish, it is self care and really at this stage there’s not a choice and you must take time out to become well.

I’m 54 and 30 years in my health related career and my MH has never been as poor as right now due to a toxic work situation which has potentially shown up undiagnosed ADHD in addition to existing Anxiety and impacted me so much I’ve been requested to attend a performance meeting! Shocked as never been an issue discussed with me though also devastated to realise I’ve been unwell for a while and needed to speak up sooner and take leave and seek treatment sooner. Difficult though when the manager is the problem 😮‍💨 anyway this is teaching me about how not to do this!

So point being, self awareness and self care are key to protect yourself and all your life around you, if you feel your symptoms then do what you need to do before you get a performance letter!!

hugs x

In response to: Appreciate your thoughts...

Re: Appreciate your thoughts...

@Annette11

Taking time for yourself is in no way, shape or form selfish.

Take it from someone who burned out entirely: taking time for self care is an important thing everyone needs, if you don't meet your needs you will not recover.

Set your on pace.

I wish you all the best in your journey ❤️

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