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Anxiety and IT?
An anonymous reader writes "During these long breaks from work, it's refreshing to not have to worry about your job. Unless you work in IT, in which case you're salaried and constantly on the clock. To all the server room monkeys and desktop admins, do you suffer from anxiety? How do you deal with it? Does the crushing worry of a businesses IT infrastructure (and the rest of the business) coming to a screeching halt make IT occupations prone to anxiety?"
My boss might be reading this.
Get on the treadmill, go for a run, etc... Stop stressin' dude.
Massive anxiety, and stress.
Frequently relieved by Beer.
If I were God, wouldn't I protect my churches from acts of me?
If it's being an anxious person that makes me good at my role in IT (disaster recovery/business continuity), or whether doing that job simply makes me more so, as I constantly have to anticipate the worst.. Either way, yes, I'm an anxious person (and prone to mild depressions), but hey, there are ways of dealing with it. In winter times, a SAD light really helps give a boost.. Every few weeks, I hit a health spa, and get a good massage. I work out at the gym, which gives a good energy rush and helps me feel better.. I dive.. Hanging around the 30m mark doesn't give your body any choice but to relax (the joys of nitrogen).. I keep a fairly busy social life, which doesn't let me dwell (there's nothing like people to keep you distracted!).. And being able to cook pretty well helps with that (and is a great distraction itself).. When you're at work, let the focus (and anxiety) creep up; it gives you an edge.. When you're away from work.. Keep yourself busy and distracted.. In general, that works for me.. And as a side effect, it keeps me pretty healthy and well fed too!
Most people I know that work in IT smoke egregious amounts of pot.
And delegate.
The workers care about the stuff that they do, and get anxiety about it. Managers don't give a rat's ass, and have no anxiety.
The hallmark of a good executive, is that he can turn his problems, into yours.
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
I find if I spend all my free time on the computer too (even if I'm doing fun things) I'm more likely to keep thinking about work and the fact those of us who are talented at work are out numbers by poor management and poor developers.
Salaried or not, take your free time and get away from the computer and do something physical and fun. Eat better too. Junk food is nice sometimes but eating better will have an effect on how you feel and as always get a decent sleep.
My biggest problem was drinking coffee through out the day even minutes before bed while staying up late. I was getting very little sleep. That really drains you (or me at least).
If the opposition is just entropy, it's not too bad. Active opposition is much more stressful. Lifeguards, firefighters, and EMTs tend not to be overly stressed. Cops and soldiers, though, routinely get stressed out.
I suffer from general anxiety disorder. It has affected my relationships, my health and my pocketbook. As of Tue I am being forced to declare bankruptcy, despite the fact WHEN I WORK I made $30-$40 an hour. I find it almost impossible to keep a job because of it. I really wish I had read this Slashdot story back in 1983. :)
Of course a crushing worry will introduce anxiety. In stressful times, people will be stressed. So I'm not sure what you're asking, other than idle chit-chat of anxiety anecdotes.
Anyway, it's certainly not specific to IT. Guess who else deal with standby time: doctors, police, flight attendants, engineers and service crews in other fields (transportation, organised events, most restaurants and bars). Each of which having to deal with systems far less redundant and scalable than what we can set up in IT.
I have found that handling the anxiety comes with experience. For example, I no longer care if the rest of the business comes to a screeching halt.
Have you tried turning it off and on again?
When I was in that position, I would wake up each morning, go to the washroom and throw up into the toilet.
Then things got worse and I landed in the cardiac care ward.
While out on disability, they fired me.
I'm now unemployed and the lack of stress is WONDERFUL!
-Eldurbarn
Does the crushing worry of a businesses IT infrastructure... coming to a screeching halt make IT occupations prone to anxiety?"
.. is to do it so things work.
Things don't come "to a screeching halt" on their own. It requires talent to make the sorts of mistakes that aren't blindingly obvious and that remain hidden during the pre-prod testing (you *do* test before putting something live?). Having a resilient configuration, that is monitored properly and gives plenty of warning of a problem helps, too.
So far, in 12 years looking after this current setup, I've never had an unscheduled call outside working hours. The problem with that is that it makes me look invisible. It's hard to convince "management" that the systems don't look after themselves and will throw novel and exotic problems if not looked after properly. But that's why we take vacations.
politicians are like babies' nappies: they should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons
I've gotten a lot more disciplined in my exercise schedule, and have always eaten good foods, but I've started going to weekly mediation and have been going for about a year now. The exercise just helps me feel good (hooked on endorphins!), but meditation helps bring awareness and focus and has given me the ability to slow down and pause during the day, let my thoughts all line up, and then focus on one at a time. Having the ability to focus on one thing at a time is nice.
"False hope is why we'll never run out of natural resources!" - Lewis Black
I don't think IT is any more stressful than any other attention-filled, high demand position in the work field, I think what makes it stressful and piles on the anxiety is what everyone else in the world has to deal with any job: co-worker cooperation (or lack-there-of), difficult boss, tight deadlines, piss-poor-planning, busy streaks in industry or retail, demanding work performance, stupid end-users/consumers, ect. I could go on forever.
Almost every position I've applied for has asked "How do you deal with stress?" because it's something that comes along with any job, not just IT. If you don't have a particular outlet (e.g. break time to take a walk, co-worker to vent to, shruggable conscious, squeeze ball with your co-worker's face on it), then you better get one.
But let's face it, a lot of anxiety and stress can be self-inflicted, too. I've been a Systems Administrator by day profession for quite some time now and I couldn't think of a more fluid position to have to constantly get used to. Every year, I see ton's of "new guys" come in and can't handle it because they are cocky, their resume doesn't match their skillset (e.g. LIED) or just don't have common sense. If you know your job, do it well, can multi-task and prioritize without having someone hold your hand, everything else will fall into place.
I work seven days a week, where I manage about 150+ desktops out in the field, over 150+ email accounts and several dozen mobile phones. I am also hosting high traffic websites. This may not sound like much to many people out there, but I am constantly under pressure and yes, anxiety does kick in.
Even though I work out 3 times a week (strength training) I am still under stress. My social life is a train wreck, where I rather stay in a veg out on the weekends. Mind you, I have friends and plenty of relationships with the opposite sex, but lately it's just too much for me to handle. I come home and the last thing I want to do is talk to another human being.
One thing that helps is 5-HTP. I pop 100mg in the morning and the rest of the day goes by with little worry. Sometimes, I combine it with a bit of melatonin to have a nice deep sleep (with very vivid dreams). I wake up feeling a bit more refreshed, leading to a better day.
Really?
I have no stress in my job at all. I'm an Electrical Engineer. I work on billion-dollar pieces of life-critical equipment with tight deadlines, zero tolerance for error, and 20-30 year reliability requirements.
I just don't stress about it, I don't come in on overtime unless I'm paid for it, and I enjoy my work. Some people think that you have to be stressed out ("it's part of the field") but that's just a way to move into a small below-ground apartment ahead of schedule.
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ECHELON is a government program to find words like bomb, jihad, plutonium, assassinate, and anarchy.
If you suffer from anxiety (and even if you don't) I suggest you take a magnesium supplement, preferably magnesium citrate or magnesium ororate. Magnesium helps you relax.
You are spot on. You cannot "think" yourself out of stress. Often, it has the opposite effect. But exerting yourself into some physical activity, can be a tremendous stress-reliever.
I've also discovered breathing techniques and yoga to be very helpful to relieve both stress and delusions about one's place in this universe, also on how important one really is ;-) Where mere physical activity can relieve your stress there and then, yoga and its knowledge, can relieve you of all kinds of fears and tensions, or help accept whatever comes, which is more important often than trying to "get rid of the bad feelings" - they tend only to get more stuck that way!
Some people become wise after a long life, but there are ways to speed up the process, if you're smart, and lucky ;)
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The market is bad, yes, but paradoxically not bad for the already employed. I switched jobs in August.