I feel like anyone could be anxious in certain situations. My second job triggered some anxiety bc anytime we were brought in for a meeting it was always bad. It was bad enough that I’d have a panic attack before 1:1 meetings in my next job. Until I realized the 3rd job was much more healthy of an environment. 4th Job was similar, it had a healthy working environment. My current job I’ve worked the longest. And during the startup days it felt very toxic and it retriggered the anxiety. And it all started with one person. Every time he wanted to meet 1-1, it was always to tell my I’m not doing enough, i’m doing a shitty job, etc. always something bad. Even tho I was killing myself working then working at home to overfulfill some lame need and he’d still have something to complain about. Once the company got acquired he could no longer hold me hostage to bad news due to hr being present etc. Now that it’s going through another transition, I feel like I’m back where we began. He isn’t telling me I’m doing a bad job or anything but it’s he way he treats me, gives me some of his work to do, as if I’m an intern, doesn’t make any eye contact with me and gives me one word answers. When he needs something he needs it ASAP, but when I need something he’ll take his sweet time. He wants to be an authority over me but our jobs have us as the same hierarchy. The anxiety has come again and I wfh or work elsewhere to avoid him. How do I handle this type of situation and how do I handle my anxiety? What do people do for their anxiety?
Get out. Your life is too short for these types of aspects to pull you down.
You should talk to your manager, or hr if that doesn't work. If things don't change, you should leave. It's up to you to determine which environment you'd like to put yourself in.
Maybe it’s time to try a big company for a change.
Currently am at a big company.
Sound like you have a bully as a coworker. Talk to your manager. Otherwise, try to move to a different team within your company. Or look elsewhere. Zoloft can also be great to help during your transition period.
Sometimes it is so toxic that the bully is your manager's right-hand man.
Try having more Vitamin B - your anxiety might be to do with your chemistry as well as your environment
Determine for yourself whether you are working hard enough or doing a good enough job. The guy you're describing is grinding you and using you. He doesn't care about your mental health...that is your job. Get the fuck away from him.
I felt like I was, and I felt like I’d go above and beyond to impress but in the first year I was called into meetings with him so much I started doubting myself. We moved into a diff team temporarily and I got praise, and it wasn’t just me, my coworker was being treated the same and he felt the same too. My coworker left some time ago, but I’m still here, and with some transitions ended up sitting next to him again. He’s rude, doesn’t communicate any info to me, doesn’t make eye contact with me when I ask him a question, acts awkward around me. Wants to do another 1-1 today and I’m just going to tell him how I’m feeling about the 1-1’s and overall treatment and tell him to only talk to me when he needs something from a Designer, otherwise to let me do my job. He’s not my manager, he’s a PM but he feels like he has some power over me. But I want to end this treatment once and for all.
Ok that's a lot. First of don't 'tell him how you feel' he obviously doesn't care and this will backfire bc it will show him that he's controlling you, again. Bring an org chart and go over the chain of command. Should he be meeting with your direct superior to keep them in the decision loop? If he insists on directing you, steer the convo to 'problem - solution' only. Spend the time clearly defining the problem. Write down everything he says. If he has a solution then ask him to back up his solution with data. Tell him you will be happy to bring this 'new' info back to your team and if they determine to move on it you will have your director follow up with him. If his solution doesn't save considerable time/money or offer innovation then he is just fucking with you to gain some sort of power profile. These type of people exist. Do not debate whether you are doing a 'good job' do not get defensive. Tell him some vague shit like 'feedback has been far above expectations'. Win this one.
Get professional help. If I need a quick mind clearing, I go on a walk and remind myself that I control how I react to situations.