Jul 31, 2025
Anxiety is a common experience. 19% of adults in the U.S. have an anxiety disorder, and even more struggle with chronic stress. Work is one of the biggest triggers for that stress.
Although not all stress is bad for you—eustress is a type of stress that can improve performance and better our lives—many people deal with chronic stress that can veer into anxiety and mental health disorders. When nervousness for your upcoming presentation morphs into chronic and debilitating anxiety, it can make it difficult to perform your job, uphold strong work-life boundaries, and maintain good well-being.
Work anxiety is an all-too-common experience in the U.S., so let’s look at some ways to prevent and cope with it.
Why Do I Get Anxiety When I Go to Work?
There are many triggers for anxiety at work. For one, work is a vital part of our livelihoods and takes up a substantial portion of our days. When you spend 8 hours or more at a place, what happens there matters.
Reasons work anxiety is common include:
- High expectations or expectations to give your all to your job
- Micromanaging boss
- Unpredictable environment in which you are expected to think fast
- Conflict or tension with your employer and/or coworkers
- Fear of failure
- Lack of control and autonomy has been linked to higher levels of work anxiety
- Perfectionistic qualities
- Tight deadlines or a heavy workload
Also, if you have a preexisting anxiety disorder, you may experience more anxiety at work. For example, social anxiety will make it difficult to go into the office. Generalized anxiety may have you catastrophizing over every mistake. OCD can make a workplace impossible to navigate. If you have an underlying, diagnosable anxiety disorder, work with a therapist or psychiatrist to treat the symptoms and meet your needs.
How to Stop Being So Anxious About Work?
Most people can’t just stop working because they feel anxious. The vast majority of adults need their job to make a living and afford rent, groceries, and other necessities. Quitting unfortunately isn’t an option. In these cases, you’ll need to implement strong coping skills and try to solve the root of the issue.
Stop being anxious at work by:
- Learn what your triggers are: Take note of when you feel anxiety at work. What happened before it? What are you anxious about? Keep track of these triggers in a notebook or phone app.
- Address the root cause: You probably can’t quit your job, but what specifically about your job is causing you stress? Can you address this? This could look like setting boundaries, having a conversation with your coworker, or leaving right when your shift is up.
- Set boundaries: Too many people experience work anxiety because they don’t have good boundaries. Examples of poor boundaries at work include your work is bleeding into your personal life, your coworkers constantly talking to you when you should be working, or your boss always asking you to do things outside of your scope and ability. Find the points in your job where you feel yourself stretching too thin. Ask yourself what you could scale back to make it feel more feasible. Set that boundary with the people around you.
- Build self-esteem: Imposter syndrome is common in today’s fast-paced work environment, but self-doubt breeds anxiety. Build your self-esteem by journaling, practicing affirmations, exercising, talking with friends, and celebrating your wins.
- Practice self-care: Your life doesn’t end when you leave the office. Your home life is just as important (if not more so) than your work life. How do you want to cultivate your home life? What sort of activities and hobbies do you want to engage in? Now take one step to get closer to those goals.
- Get organized: Sometimes the anxiety is caused by our own actions. Behaviors like procrastination, messiness, and being ill-prepared are guaranteed to build your anxiety. Take steps to make yourself more organized and less likely to procrastinate, like getting a planner, using a Notion board or accountability buddy, and prioritizing tasks.
- Clean your workspace: A messy physical space leads to a messy mind. Keep your anxiety levels down by keeping your workspace clean.
- Say no: Be honest with yourself about what tasks you can accomplish at an acceptable level of quality and which ones you can’t. If you get pushback, try to explain that you need a certain amount of time to accomplish a high level of quality. Offer to rearrange priority tasks if you need to get something done.
- Take breaks when you need to: We often try to push ourselves to the point of burnout rather than take breaks when needed. Your PTO, sick time, and lunch breaks are there for a reason. Use them! You’ll end up being more productive when you take breaks than if you get burnt out.
- Take care of your physical health: Our brain and body are intricately connected, so when our body isn’t feeling its best neither will our mind. Eat healthy foods (and don’t forget to eat lunch!), get plenty of sleep, and try to exercise a little every day.
If your anxiety persists, talk to a therapist. You may have an underlying anxiety disorder.
Should I Quit My Job If It Gives Me Anxiety?
Many people dream of quitting their job, but will quitting really stop the anxiety? Or will you be just as anxious at your next job?
To figure this out, try all the steps listed above. If the anxiety persists, and it is only present in the workplace, then you might be working in a toxic workplace. Although boundaries and self-care can help you manage a toxic environment, it won’t fix the problem. In this case, searching for another job may be what’s best for your mental health.
Therapy is also an option for those who are still struggling with workplace anxiety or anxiety in general. Therapy is proven to reduce symptoms and promote healing for anxiety disorders. Lifebulb has therapists who specialize in anxiety and have availability for new clients now. Contact our team to learn more.
