Due to a combination of multiple things I'm not feeling mentally well. I have a breakdown almost every evening. Feel super depressed and anxious. I feel I'm not doing a good job with my tasks because I'm not motivated. Any advice? Has anyone taken leave of absence? Looking for company specific advice from folks at LinkedIn but also looking for advice from others too #wellness
Meditation, yoga, pranayama(breathing excercises) will help.
What do I do about my productivity at work in the mean time? I'm not very productive and feel like I'm constantly falling behind
One you do what I mentioned it will help you to calm your mind and make it more effective thus eventually you will be productive.
FMLA
LinkedIn has emergency leave — if you’re struggling with depression and anxiety, that sounds a lot like a medical emergency (given that mental health is part of health) ... pursuing a leave may be beneficial to you. I went through a period of time where I was breaking down quite a bit toward the beginning of the shutdown. I benefited immensely from therapy (LI has great offerings for therapy including free Lyra). I was also very intentional about establishing a routine, and getting outside for exercise. I eventually started doing much better through those things. For me, I felt a leave of absence would have been worse since work was bringing purpose and routine to my life. That said, I don’t know the specifics of your situation, so maybe a leave would be right for you. Hope some of this helps!
I will take a look at emergency leave. My therapist takes assessments every week and said work is the main stressor and I need figure out a way to get it under control and focus on taking care of myself. I'll definitely look into emergency leave!
Get a checkup done for vitamin D deficiency
Why Vitamin D?
And Vitamin B as well. I used to be a smoker and was terribly depressed. It was due to vitamin b deficiency caused by smoking and not getting enough fresh food. Ask your primary care physician for doing blood tests and get more info.
How tf has no one suggested a therapist yet? Not all depression is curable by pulling urself by bootstraps. Sometimes people might need assistance. OP I’d suggest usin EAP first. Get diagnosed and see a therapist If recommended.
I am working with a therapist but the stress at work is so bad it's hard to form a routine and be healthy. I don't have space to breathe and even take a break during the day. But I will definitely continue working with a therapist.
That’s good. Hopefully u can speak with ur therapist about how to bring this up with ur manager.
TL;DR: take a break! I have. In nov 2018, I quit a job I had worked at for over 5 years, right before a promotion and an eoy bonus. Why? Because I had enough saved up for at the very least 2 years off of work living comfortably, and I have interests I had severely neglected by working so hard. The real reason though, was that my work was making me insanely unhappy. Here’s an easy example: I was always a top performer. But my (large for its space) company wanted to know where all of its employees were in 15min increments during the day. Didn’t matter the impact I had or my performance. The amount of time I spent at work was legit the most important metric. The day before my birthday that year I broke down and cried in my car. The day after my birthday that year I went down to my basement with a power chord (somewhat humorous in a very dark sense since I was SWE) and was going to hang myself. The only reason I didn’t was that as I was finalizing my noose, I realized that my housemate would find my body. And as sad as I was, he had been my best friend for years and I couldn’t do that to him. So I quit. I moved to a location I had wanted to live in, took a winter sabbatical to ski, and it was the best choice I ever made. It took about 4 months to feel ready to look for a new job, and a few more months to find one. they’ll ask you why you had this gap - but you can say something like “I had been working x years nonstop and was fortunate enough to be able to pursue y passion”. Make sure that’s true. If you have savings, use them. If you have marketable skills, you will make more money in the future. The savings are there if you need it, and experiences you have young are way better than retiring old with maybe 20% more wealth (from what I gathered). Plus you don’t want to end up in a situation where you do feel like living is a burden. Take time off and do something you love or use the time to find something you love. Keep your skills sharp and make sure you set aside a small part of the day to advance your professional interests. 2020 has sucked in many ways, but it’s also the year i have received multiple offers for 2x what I made 2 years ago, moved in with a girlfriend I loved, and lived in a place that I wanted to. Hope this helps, and lemme know if you ever need a random to talk to.
Thank you so much for sharing your story! It brings me comfort to know that this is not permanent and it will get better. I think it's extremely hard to remember that things won't stay the same when everyday feels like I'm falling deeper and deeper into a dark pit. I have enough money saved up but I am on a visa and I can't just quit unfortunately. I need to be actively employed if I have to stay in the country. Also, I can't leave because I have a family here and they have their own lives here. If I just decide to say the visa is not worth it and we'll go back to my home country, I'm disrupting their lives too. Hence, I feel trapped and bound to my job.
That’s really tough - I can’t imagine the added pressure between a family and worrying about your immigration status. Couple of thoughts - Have you seen a psychiatrist/psychologist? Sometimes the most cathartic act is just letting it all out to professionals. Even if you feel like they won’t be able to give any real advice, just venting to someone you know won’t judge you can help. As far as your particular situation, is it possible to move teams? My guess is that it could be difficult if you know you aren’t performing to your fullest. As another person posted, look into taking unpaid time off and coming back with a fresh set of eyes. You’re definitely in a tough situation, but just remember a couple of things and take a deep breath. 1) you have a family that loves you. They will always have your back 2) You still have agency. You were smart enough to get into LinkedIn, and smart enough to do your job for some time. Make a list of the short term objectives you have at work. make a solid plan for addressing them, and give yourself enough time to take a little bit of air. It’s a lot easier to propose a complete plan for your tasks than have him dictate the flow and ask for stuff before you’re finished. I wish I could give some advice on the visa situation, because other than knowing it’s hard to switch jobs, I know very little. But just remember, life has its ups and downs. It can be hard to manage the downs, but every day is a new one and has new opportunities.
I was in similar situation and ended up quitting my job because of it, even though I was on a visa as well. Can talk to you about my experience and what helped/didn’t help. Feel free to msg if you want to talk to someone about it
Thank you so much! I'll dm you
Dare: The New Way to End Anxiety and Stop Panic Attacks 1st Edition. Helped me a lot! Better to read it before you get a panic attack. I had one, felt breathless and super high heart pain. Ended at ER for heart attack and diagnosed panic attack. Read the book, also worked with a therapist and went to anxiety management sessions at kaiser. All good now. Don’t end up in dire financial or life ruining situations such as gambling, working without rest, working for inhuman managers etc.
Thank you for the recommendation! I'll look up the book. How did you manage to not let it affect your work when you were dealing with it?
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