Looking for Work Triggered my Anxiety

Tash Berbank

Tash is a mental health blogger and copywriter. Here she shares her story of looking for work when you have anxiety. You can view more on and follow her !

I've had anxiety all my life. I first remember it (not knowing what it was then) when I started going to sleepovers at my friends’ houses when I was 10. Since then I've been dealing with it; while not knowing what it was I worked out how I could calm myself down when I started feeling ill.

I was finally diagnosed in December 2013. I’d graduated from university in June which had always been my only goal. I never really knew what I wanted to do after that. I loved learning and I was good at that. Throughout school I was one of the top students and this continued through college and into university.

My graduation marked the end of 16 years of continuous education. I suddenly found myself in the complete unknown.

I've had jobs in the past but nothing that required real responsibility. And that’s when I started to worry – what on earth do I do now?

I began to worry that I wouldn't get a job at all; I received rejection after rejection after rejection and those were the employers that got back to me. I didn't have any relevant experience and an English degree that hadn't trained me specifically for a certain specialism.

So while worrying about whether I would get a job, I was also worrying about whether I’d be good enough once I’d eventually found one. This was when my most recent episode of anxiety started to escalate.

You’d think having finally found a job, my anxiety would have subsided....

*To find out what happened to Tash next, read her next blog.