Why am I stressed at work?

“The core reason why I am stressed at work is that actually I do not like my job.” If this resonates with you, then this self-inquiry exercise may be valuable to you.

Self-Observation on why I am stressed at work

• A certain level of uneasiness kicks in even when I think about my job.
• I want to feel good at work but my stress, my anxiety kick in.
• This anxiety comes from the thought that I am not good enough.
• I feel shame and I want to comply.
• I find that my job is something that is not about enjoyment. Though I am looking for fulfillment in it.
• I just realize that my mindset is such that work for me is about complying and proving my worth. And about ‘begging’ to stay in it so that I feel some kind of safety.

Chain of thoughts coming when I am able to go deeper

• This is not normal. My job shall not be about proving my self-worth so that I can feel safe.
• I project my fear onto my job. This is how I gravitate towards jobs and this fear is behind how I work with people.
• This is not how everybody relates to their jobs. Some people truly love what they do.
• There is this revelation now: Actually, I do not even like my job. And this is totally understandable since the way I think about it is that ‘I need to prove myself because I am not good enough’.  
• If I realized my self-worth, my view about how I want to work, and probably what I want to do would radically change.  
• Stress would be gone, I would not think about why I am not capable, and how hard my work must be. I would just naturally go towards what I enjoy. Stress would not even come up.
• I may not even need to see my self-worth; it feels good now that I have an understanding of why I am stressed.

The above self-observation exercise is just one possible flow of associations. It is meant to stimulate you, and by no means is it implied that it is about you.