OT: Serious topic

Hi,
Normally I wouldn't ask this sort of thing, but I'm at my wits end at this point. Being that I work in IT support center, and this is a very high stress environment, I'm starting to get to the point of starting to get angry with people (which I've never done before).
I'm feeling a rather bad case of burn out and it's making me twichy when dealing with those around me. And I'm getting a rather black case of depression starting to come on.
Sadly, the only hobbies I have at the moment help me socialize and feel better after a bit, but I'm starting not to care about my work.

Suggestions? Ideas? Razes? :(

Well, these stories always improve my outlook about work.

I don't know if it's possible for you, but whenever I start feeling like this, I try to take a few days off and travel somewhere. Even a week end somewhere else can do wonders. Oh, and lots of sleep, too. This helps remaining calm with people (I'm very familiar with this problem...)

IT work is stressful. As is often said, if something goes right with it, nobody notices, but if something goes wrong you get nothing but cr** all day long.

Okay, a few suggestions.

Yeah, taking a couple days off (if they'll let you) would be great. Go somewhere with as few people as possible and listen to nothing in particular. Nice way to apply Drano for the brain ;)

Go see a silly movie. Dumb can be great! Then you can come back and say, "Oh you're having a problem? Is it as bad as 'fill in the blank scene from movie'?"

Go somewhere with a friend or two (preferably not someone you work with) and REALLY rant about the place. Get ALL of it out. Then try talking about the things you like about the place. See if the two even out.

My dad was a safety engineer for the state of California. His job involved making sure pressure tanks did not blow up. In his 35+ years on the job only one small propane tank ever blew in his territory. But due to working around a lot of boilers the term SAFETY VALVE took on holy connotations in my family.

You need a Safety Valve, a way to blow off a bit of steam before you explode. I don't know what exactly will help, but please feel free to contact me off-board if you think that might help in the slightest.

Two ears, no waiting.

Buy a motorcycle & good on long rides once or twice a week. Best therapy you can get.

Secondary: buy a gun and go to the range. Really gets out the stress...trust me; I've been stressed for 15 years & I've never shot anyone. Or take up martial arts so you can bash the hell out of things. Same effect.

Many people who know me casually think of me as a pretty laid back guy when in honesty I'm probably one of those "Type A" personalities who keeps things under control.

One thing that I've found helps me is Tai Chi meditation exercises. In most decent-sized towns you can find someplace offering a class - often at a YMCA (that's where I help teach Tai Chi in my area). The thing I like about it is it is active - you are constantly in motion. Also it emphasizes balance - in the physical exercises keeping your balance if very important as you stand on one leg and pivot on your heel, kicking outward... :D The neat thing about that is I find it helps me with life in general, keeping things in perspective, reminding myself to stay mentally rooted, etc.

Also, be careful on the depression front. I know it's a pretty common term in our culture (i.e. "I'm feeling depressed" as a synonymn for "really down") but if you are thinking you might actually be experiencing depression, I'd definitely suggest seeing a medical professional about it - I've not experienced depression myself, but I've lived with someone who has and I can say it is a terrible thing to experience and it actually can be treated.

Take care of yourself.

What is IT work? What do you do?

IT Work= Information Technology. Specifically, I'm one of the guy's who people call for help or to yell at (mostly yell at) when thier connection to the internet is not working. You would not believe how rude or foolish people can be in this area.

I guess you're already familiar with this comic ? If not, I'd suggest you to read it... its characters are precisely IT support guys, and that might cheer you up a bit.

That one deals also with tech support guys, only this time, they're not precisely here to help...

IT's a sucky job. If you're really unhappy, consider a change of venue or lifestyle -- a new place to work or job can help.

As for depression, I went through a crushing bout about 6 years ago while in government service. It took me until a year or so to really pull out of it. Here's how I survived (and I had actually nearly commited suicide...thank goodness for the active safeties on those H&K's.)

1. Get OUT! Do stuff with other people. I mean it; you hermit, you'll die. Depression's like a shark...stop swimming, you'll drown.

2. DO something! Anything. Motorcycle...say it with me...

3. Look at what's making you unhappy. If it's work: there's always another job. If it's where you live: save up for a few months and move. Try something competely different. If it's people, avoid them or punch 'em out. Come on, jail's not so bad and you have a date on Friday night... oof

4. Did I mention GET OUT and DO something?

5. See a professional, but be careful. They love to just throw drugs at you. Prozavc and all that crap only levels you serotonin and other nerotransmitter levels. It helps the biological causes, but ultimately, what got me through was I was determined not to get dragged down. Willpower conquers anything.

If you're having a lot of trouble sleeping, your serotonin's probably screwy. Instead of prozac, try melatonin to get the sleep cycle back on track. Take about 1 or 2 of the 3mg tablets (you can get 'em at any drugstore) for 3 or 4 days, then stop, otherwise, you're body will get used to it and you'll need to keep taking them. They should help for a few weeks at least; do it again in a couple of weeks, if you start having trouble again. (Melatonin is what serotonin breaks down into...)

Personally, I'd stear clear of the mental helath profession -- they'll hose you financially. Try changing the stuff bringing you down, first.

Having been through real, deep depression, if you starting thinking suicide or some such, email me at srhymer@comcast.net I'll try and talk you through (hell, an' I don't even know you...) :p

Courage.

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Liz, what are the medical problems with melatonin?

BC, I'm gonna second (or is it third?) the motion that you change jobs. Were you planning on staying in IT as a lifetime career? Assuming the answer to that is "no", what do you want to do? Find an answer, then, like Nike says, "Just do it."

thanks for the replies people. it helps immensely. I was thinking of moving up from the help desk after getting my Cisco certification and moving into Network operations and away from the stupidity I see at the Desk (several types). considering how sucky the job market is right now, this seemed to be the wisest choice.

Quote:

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Originally posted by BouncyCaitian
thanks for the replies people. it helps immensely. I was thinking of moving up from the help desk after getting my Cisco certification and moving into Network operations and away from the stupidity I see at the Desk (several types). considering how sucky the job market is right now, this seemed to be the wisest choice.

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Go for it then. Just DON'T LET DEPRESSION SET IN! Once it does it's like a downward spiral unless you have people to pull you out.

Get out and do some thing you like to do and socialize. If you got vacation time, Take it!


(And you guys thought you'd never see this. A Klingon acting as Councilor:D )

Hey BouncyCaitian,

I'm really sympathizing with your situation... I know customers can sometimes be... obtuse.

I went through a similar situation (albeit for totally different reasons) and I think, in my experience, qerlin sait it all. The medical profession is really recommended only if you have a psychological problem you are not aware of or negate, and thus can't solve on your own.

Best of courage in those rough times.

I'm not in IT, but molecular biology is a field where experiments constantly go wrong on a regular basis and you feel like nothing you're doing is any good (well, you do if you're an insecure perfectionist like me...). So what I do is this:

1) Go home. Go straight to home. Do not "just finish something off". Do collect $200, if available, but hell, if that happens, you won't really need stress-relief... :)

2) Do not think about work. You'll only wind yourself up again.

3) Drink at least one bottle of wine (sweet or medium white, not red), eat some good food and watch a movie/comedy show you know makes you laugh.

4) Turn in early (ensure you aren't going to be hungover from the wine) and get a good night's sleep.

Now, if you successfully avoided thinking about work, you should wake up feeling much better in the morning (unless you're highly weight-conscious, 'cos that wine'll blow your diet!). The sugar in the wine always leaves me feeling bouncy the next day and the emotional release from the booze/laughing at the video will have relieved some tension. Also, the alcohol should have relaxed any tenseness between the shoulders (that's where stress gets me, all the time - of course, if you have a partner - backrubs!!).

Obviously, don't do this too often or you'll end up with a drink problem but I find it does relax me. Use the energy and buzz from the wine as you head to work the next morning to plan your day. I've found I generally create more problems than I solve if I make plans whilst still panicked about something. I've run completely pointless experiments to check out the one that just failed when I should have just set the thing up again with a different control.

So, basically, if you get stressed because the glass always seems half-empty, top it back up with something cheerful and mildly alcoholic! :)

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Whaddaya mean, Look 'em up yourself?! Damn it, Liz, I'm a flight engineer, not a doctor!

Body stops making its own and you're an addict. Get it? Got it. Good.

BC, sounds like you're taking steps to improve your situation. That's great. It shows that you're not giving in to hopelessness. As long as you keep doing something positive, things are bound to get better.

Well...I found something to help work off my frustration and excite my eye-candy quotent: TRON 2.0. And I can safely say it's as fun as they say it is. And the eye candy factor.....wow

Good, Glad tyo hear their is a little something out there for ya!:D