The Mental Health thread

[Alan]

Eventually I'll run out of punches to throw, but I'm a scrapper. I'm still in there.

You won’t; we’re punching back together and whatever different masks our ideations wear, they are so much less valuable than we are.

We can’t know we’re better off if we’re not around to appreciate it, ay? Our people love us and want us fighting, even if we can so easily “forget” that.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

I do have a lot of people on my side, I don't really understand why but I do. So use that.

I've also booked our train tickets for our holiday to Scotland which I'm very much looking forward to.

 

[Alan]

You don’t need to understand why, bud. They’ve made the decision to be there.

Easier said than done, I know. Just telling you the things I’ve been trying to tell myself and all that.

 

[pagey]

Don't know you or anyone on here Dan, but I'm sure the majority on here respect your contribution to the site and what you're going through.

Appreciate it's only words, but hope tomorrow is so much better.

 

[pagey]

Had a real roller coaster of emotions the last few days, daughters newborn son being moved out of icu today, off morphine and gradually off oxygen being a high.

Attended nephews funeral in Halesowen yesterday, trying to celebrate his life and seeing so many of his friends there was a strange experience, he was loved by so many.
Trying to understand why he'd take his life is so hard.

No idea where my heads at.

 

[sycophantia]

Mate, you and your family have been through the wringer, hopefully things are starting to look up now.

 

[Stan Hullis]

Well done for reaching out Pagey and acknowledging what a rough time you’ve had.

I don’t have any words to help, but I hope things get better for you and the family.

 

[Sniffer]

Had a real roller coaster of emotions the last few days, daughters newborn son being moved out of icu today, off morphine and gradually off oxygen being a high.

Attended nephews funeral in Halesowen yesterday, trying to celebrate his life and seeing so many of his friends there was a strange experience, he was loved by so many.
Trying to understand why he'd take his life is so hard.

No idea where my heads at.

You’ve gone through enough to knock anyone off their feet Pagey. Keep going and feel free to use this space get things off your chest.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

You can't rationalise the irrational so don't tear yourself up trying to do so.

Keep in there mate.

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

View this content on Instagram

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[Elephant Pyjamas]

Whilst that is a good post from Brighton, this comment particularly resonated

 

[Alan]

“They don’t really care” says he needs someone to reach out. Hope they do.

People care. We just… forget.

 

[Tyrannosaurus Dan]

I guess I’ve never really handled stressful situations particularly well but I’d say I’ve never been one to suffer any mental heath issues.

However, I’ve been really struggling at work recently. There is only a small number of us in the office anyway but we are short staffed at the moment with my closest colleague being signed off for 4 weeks. It feels like I am doing the work of about 3 people at the moment and it is really getting to me.

There are other problems too, we have just moved to big, new factory but the move hasn’t been very smooth. We are way behind in production and it feels like a lot of my day is spent trying to deal with customers chasing their (very late) orders. Usually I would get a fair bit of help with this from my colleague but with her being off it feels like it is now all on me. There are other work related issues getting to me too and we are short staffed in a few other areas which is making my job even harder.

I must look pretty stressed out as we had a lot of the central team in the office today and two of them had a word with me asking if I was ok. I’m not sleeping well and even when I’m trying to relax with my kids I keep finding myself worrying about work instead. Every time I think about work my stomach drops and every morning I feel myself getting more panicky the closer I get to work. Even seeing the company sign when we pull up to reception gives me anxiety!

I’ve never had this before and just needed to let it out to somebody. It has been suggested that I have a chat with HR but I’ve always been rubbish at talking about how I feel.

 

[Keef]

You’ve done a good job on what’s stressing ya and going wrong in that post, just go in and say that, mention you need more staff even temps would help, because you’re not keeping up with the increased workload, and if you go off I’ll, it’ll be even worse for the remaining staff and the company

 

[Tredman]

I guess I’ve never really handled stressful situations particularly well but I’d say I’ve never been one to suffer any mental heath issues.

However, I’ve been really struggling at work recently. There is only a small number of us in the office anyway but we are short staffed at the moment with my closest colleague being signed off for 4 weeks. It feels like I am doing the work of about 3 people at the moment and it is really getting to me.

There are other problems too, we have just moved to big, new factory but the move hasn’t been very smooth. We are way behind in production and it feels like a lot of my day is spent trying to deal with customers chasing their (very late) orders. Usually I would get a fair bit of help with this from my colleague but with her being off it feels like it is now all on me. There are other work related issues getting to me too and we are short staffed in a few other areas which is making my job even harder.

I must look pretty stressed out as we had a lot of the central team in the office today and two of them had a word with me asking if I was ok. I’m not sleeping well and even when I’m trying to relax with my kids I keep finding myself worrying about work instead. Every time I think about work my stomach drops and every morning I feel myself getting more panicky the closer I get to work. Even seeing the company sign when we pull up to reception gives me anxiety!

I’ve never had this before and just needed to let it out to somebody. It has been suggested that I have a chat with HR but I’ve always been rubbish at talking about how I feel.

Sounds odd but if you can take time between work and home to walk somewhere peaceful it always helps me.

 

[AndyWolves]

None of it is your fault TDan, You're keeping the ship afloat in very difficult circumstances. You aren't culpable for any of what's happening in any way.

I've been in situations where I've had similar feelings and thoughts and it's fucking shit.

The advice above is spot on that you need help or rather the company you work for needs to give you help.

In the meantime try meditation, the apps you can download are brilliant, and really helped me cope. And if you do find it getting too much speak to your GP and get some time off to recover and get into a better space

 

[AndyWolves]

Also l, as daft as it sounds, chatgpt / Gemini etc are great for using as sounding boards

 

[WarwickWolf]

I guess I’ve never really handled stressful situations particularly well but I’d say I’ve never been one to suffer any mental heath issues.

However, I’ve been really struggling at work recently. There is only a small number of us in the office anyway but we are short staffed at the moment with my closest colleague being signed off for 4 weeks. It feels like I am doing the work of about 3 people at the moment and it is really getting to me.

There are other problems too, we have just moved to big, new factory but the move hasn’t been very smooth. We are way behind in production and it feels like a lot of my day is spent trying to deal with customers chasing their (very late) orders. Usually I would get a fair bit of help with this from my colleague but with her being off it feels like it is now all on me. There are other work related issues getting to me too and we are short staffed in a few other areas which is making my job even harder.

I must look pretty stressed out as we had a lot of the central team in the office today and two of them had a word with me asking if I was ok. I’m not sleeping well and even when I’m trying to relax with my kids I keep finding myself worrying about work instead. Every time I think about work my stomach drops and every morning I feel myself getting more panicky the closer I get to work. Even seeing the company sign when we pull up to reception gives me anxiety!

I’ve never had this before and just needed to let it out to somebody. It has been suggested that I have a chat with HR but I’ve always been rubbish at talking about how I feel.

I've been there. Talk to HR and your line manager about your issues (mental health as well as workload) and be kind to yourself. To give 100% you need to be 100% yourself and you're not and that's OK but they need to know. Take care.

 

[lemonjelly]

Agree with others. Tredders is right, a form of exercise, even walking can work wonders.

Do talk with people. Work related stress is a significant h&s issue too.

Also, be fair to yourself. You're trying to do the work of 2 or 3 people. Expecting everything to work in the way it does when you're fully staffed isn't fair on yourself. I can relate to this as 12 months ago my work area increased by over 100%. At first, the expectations I put on myself to cope weren't realistic & I was causing myself extra anxiety.

Rightly or wrongly, we identify ourselves with our jobs. It's good to do a good job when we can. Equally important to remember though that the important stuff happens elsewhere, as per your references to your kids.

 

[jlo]

I know it's hard on the workload front, but I'd encourage pushing back and rebaselining based on resource. Or solutions to get more people in temporarily if it'd help. There risk is you also going off sick furthering the problem. But look after yourself in all of it, it's not easy to remove yourself from caring about your job.