Ooooooh this so relatable as I've also had to access local NHS supported talking therapy after work decimated my mental health. Counselling was so helpful to me to me to build back up my self worth and identity, which had been so tied up in my job roles. I was able to realise that even though I was really good at my job the whole culture in the industry was not one I was ever going to fit in with and be comfortable in and definitely no longer deserved my time and effort.
Still making big changes over a year after I left the industry and still figuring out what I am going to be doing next to be able to keep paying the bills, but it definitely won't be working in a laboratory!
I hope that your wait wasn't too long for Talking Therapies, but I'm so glad to hear that it helped build-up your self-worth again. It's wild that a job and/or industry can have such an impact on your identity and mental health, and sometimes (IMO) I feel like that's not talked about enough.
I can 100% empathise with you on being really good at your job, but not feeling like you will ever fit in with the culture 😫 Too many elements of the cycling industry when I was *deep* in it made me feel like I was a fraud and didn't belong. Good on you, Sophie for reclaiming your time!!! 👏🏾
I hope that the journey of figuring out what you want to do next is one that brings joy and new discoveries about what will make YOU happy. Recognising the thing that pulled you down and not getting sucked back into it is a triumph in itself ❤️ x
I was really lucky that after my GP referred me to the local talking therapy 'triage' system and were kind enough to get me set up with an available counsellor almost immediately. I really needed that external, objective support to empower me to see once and for all I wasn't crazy, it was the workplace making me that way.
I've been thinking a lot about how your career/job can get so intertwined with personal identity, especially if you are a minority in the field. I was always really proud to be repping for women in the physical sciences but the longer I stuck it out, the more I saw myself and other women not getting the same preferential treatment as men in the workplace. I think our brains are really smart at trying to protect ourselves from bad stuff we can't change like toxic workplaces, systemic discrimination and this gets translated into I'll Just Do Better This Time - which then leads to burnout, depression etc.
That sounds like an excellent GP in offering the therapy side of treatment and not having a long wait! I hope that if I feel the need to refer again, it will be quicker this time round.
You're hitting the nail on the head, Sophie: I felt that pride too in the cycling industry, but it clouded the toxicity around me. Burnout and depression is never worth it. I'm glad that we're able to see through the clouds now and move onto things that make us happy 👏🏾
"There were lots of things I bared my soul about to my therapist, but I was stunned at how much job and career talk there was and how much my self-worth and mental health were intertwined with it.
People-pleasing and doing what was ‘expected’ of me weighed heavy on decisions I made in life in ways I could have never imagined."
Hard relate. Thank you so much for speaking so candidly about this subject, it is SO important x
❤️ Mildred! Lemme send a hug your way!!! This stuff is WILD to navigate!
It's quite something how much self-worth and identity linked-up HARD with jobs and career choices. It hit me like a tonne of bricks in those therapy sessions how much was riding on it. Even freelance life hasn't allowed me to escape that 😫 x
Ooooooh this so relatable as I've also had to access local NHS supported talking therapy after work decimated my mental health. Counselling was so helpful to me to me to build back up my self worth and identity, which had been so tied up in my job roles. I was able to realise that even though I was really good at my job the whole culture in the industry was not one I was ever going to fit in with and be comfortable in and definitely no longer deserved my time and effort.
Still making big changes over a year after I left the industry and still figuring out what I am going to be doing next to be able to keep paying the bills, but it definitely won't be working in a laboratory!
I hope that your wait wasn't too long for Talking Therapies, but I'm so glad to hear that it helped build-up your self-worth again. It's wild that a job and/or industry can have such an impact on your identity and mental health, and sometimes (IMO) I feel like that's not talked about enough.
I can 100% empathise with you on being really good at your job, but not feeling like you will ever fit in with the culture 😫 Too many elements of the cycling industry when I was *deep* in it made me feel like I was a fraud and didn't belong. Good on you, Sophie for reclaiming your time!!! 👏🏾
I hope that the journey of figuring out what you want to do next is one that brings joy and new discoveries about what will make YOU happy. Recognising the thing that pulled you down and not getting sucked back into it is a triumph in itself ❤️ x
I was really lucky that after my GP referred me to the local talking therapy 'triage' system and were kind enough to get me set up with an available counsellor almost immediately. I really needed that external, objective support to empower me to see once and for all I wasn't crazy, it was the workplace making me that way.
I've been thinking a lot about how your career/job can get so intertwined with personal identity, especially if you are a minority in the field. I was always really proud to be repping for women in the physical sciences but the longer I stuck it out, the more I saw myself and other women not getting the same preferential treatment as men in the workplace. I think our brains are really smart at trying to protect ourselves from bad stuff we can't change like toxic workplaces, systemic discrimination and this gets translated into I'll Just Do Better This Time - which then leads to burnout, depression etc.
That sounds like an excellent GP in offering the therapy side of treatment and not having a long wait! I hope that if I feel the need to refer again, it will be quicker this time round.
You're hitting the nail on the head, Sophie: I felt that pride too in the cycling industry, but it clouded the toxicity around me. Burnout and depression is never worth it. I'm glad that we're able to see through the clouds now and move onto things that make us happy 👏🏾
Ooof, I felt this, Jools. Particularly this:
"There were lots of things I bared my soul about to my therapist, but I was stunned at how much job and career talk there was and how much my self-worth and mental health were intertwined with it.
People-pleasing and doing what was ‘expected’ of me weighed heavy on decisions I made in life in ways I could have never imagined."
Hard relate. Thank you so much for speaking so candidly about this subject, it is SO important x
❤️ Mildred! Lemme send a hug your way!!! This stuff is WILD to navigate!
It's quite something how much self-worth and identity linked-up HARD with jobs and career choices. It hit me like a tonne of bricks in those therapy sessions how much was riding on it. Even freelance life hasn't allowed me to escape that 😫 x