Hi. I’m new here. I am a workaholic. When I started to notice my mental decline I was working in very important role at one of the largest companies in the world. All I could see was the end prize, financial freedom. A few years in I knew I was going through health issues because sleeping was rough, I always felt on edge. All I wanted to do was make sure my wife would be set up if I died.

One day I could not take it anymore. I went to a different company. Took less than a week and I had the big one. A complete breakdown. I didn’t know what it was until a friend told me it may be panic attacks.

I got let go in about a year. I’ve been bouncing around jobs since. I get back up, I apply myself, I’m determined; or more like super productive due to stress.

Then I heard about a friend’s spouse who died of cancer. They were younger than myself. It just breaks me with a lot of what-if questions. If this happened to me, I didn’t enjoy life. I just worked. I got little progress to show for it except money in what feels like a doomed economy. I worked to make sure my wife can live an enjoyable life when I am gone. I don’t have a clue how to have fun.

I am now stuck with a lot of what-if questions that don’t have answers. I start my new job in about a week. It’s a good company, pays well, allegedly they care a lot about their employees. I just wish life would slow down enough to process things; deal with the anxiety issues. Now that I can breathe a bit again and about to regain my footing I feel more stressed.

Tl;dr I don’t know how not to have my life revolve around work.

Edit: feel free to offer advice. I’m kind of just in my own anxiety right now.

  • chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    6 months ago

    Downsize your life. Some of the things money buys are really important (food, shelter, access to healthcare), and others are less important, so organize your priorities so you aren’t trading things that are priceless for things that are not. I’d expect your wife wouldn’t consider you dying early and miserable from stress to have been justified by a little extra financial comfort. Buy back more of your time and use it to take care of yourself.

    • Vej@lemm.eeOP
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      6 months ago

      I’m going to try doing that. I got a gaming computer. I always had one over the years until a year ago, then I stopped. Computer broke. Didn’t bother to fix it.

      • chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        6 months ago

        That’s a fun hobby. I recently spent a while troubleshooting mine, in the end what fixed it was swapping out the failing power supply.