Office Cliques and my anxiety

[antonia]

I feel stuck in an office cliques black hole and my anxiety issues are growing and growing. Ultimately I feel offices make me I'll and I need to change jobs, which I will. In the meantime though...I felt so happy being part of a group in my office..pathetic I know. I have social anxiety and going to an office with no chance of running away, I felt so great when I was getting on with people. I think I managed to get to know a few people very well and I even managed to let people get to know me a little better.
However, there is so very much gossip going on and I'm standing in the middle trying to listen to everyone and not piss people off and I'm feeling more and more weak and my brain is on fire so often and then my black dog sits on my chest and I feel lost and pathetic and drained.

[deb1960]

Offices seem to be a breeding ground for gossip and it can get quite nasty. I'm not sure how you handle it but I just wanted to sympathise.

Take care, Deb x

[Harmony]

One of things i hate about the working environment is that colleagues talk about other colleagues, gossip like you say. But then this is true for all areas of life, pple getting involved in other pples lives. Personally i think the more a person gossips the less they have going on in their own life. Their life must be so boring if they have to seek excitement in whats going on in someone elses life.
For me i just want to go into work, do my job and leave.
You will always find cliques, we tend to gravitate to pple who are similar to us or to those we have a connection with.
The world is filled with pple who no matter what you do will simply not like you. But the world is also filled with pple who love you so much and care about you.
The ones who love you are your pple.
Dont waste time and energy trying to convince those who are not your pple, the ones who dont like you. You are not for them and they are not for you for a reason.
Share your life with your pple, the ones who love and care for you, they will appreciate you for who you are.
Your not everyones cup of tea and thats ok .

[christabel]

Well said.

[antonia]

Very well said indeed. I think my brain knows all that, it's just getting so overwhelming at times. I'm doing much better though at work. I still have bad days but I'm getting better at walking away..and sometimes I even manage to walk away without my anxiety taking over.x

[kat32]

Hi, I know how you feel. It's one of the reasons I won't consider call centres. Where as now I've found my feet and love helping out but I'm either a threat to others cause I'm really good or that they have heard rubbish that tarnished my image and they won't consider me.

Best thing to do is stick to the people you get on with.

[rsxo]

I feel stuck in an office cliques black hole and my anxiety issues are growing and growing. Ultimately I feel offices make me I'll and I need to change jobs, which I will. In the meantime though...I felt so happy being part of a group in my office..pathetic I know. I have social anxiety and going to an office with no chance of running away, I felt so great when I was getting on with people. I think I managed to get to know a few people very well and I even managed to let people get to know me a little better.
However, there is so very much gossip going on and I'm standing in the middle trying to listen to everyone and not piss people off and I'm feeling more and more weak and my brain is on fire so often and then my black dog sits on my chest and I feel lost and pathetic and drained.

Work environments are breeding grounds for gossip and drama. What you need to realise is that you're much better than that. You don't need to criticise others and spread rumours about others in order to interact with others - that just sets you up for an unstable friendship imo. When it gets too much, sometimes we just have to walk away from the noise and find quiet. Cliques are an unfortunate part of social interaction - clique members form an secure group that deters outsiders because they are insecure and afraid that people won't see them as important.