If you are an introvert who would rather exist in isolation if you can help it, you know things get real for you a lot of time. But only a few things come close to when you have to start a new job and go into an unfamiliar territory. Do the following scenarios sound familiar to you?
The dread you feel the on the day before your first day
You like the promise your new job holds, but that also means a new space and new people to get used to. The anxiousness that starts on the eve of your first day can really be overwhelming.
You try to avoid everybody on your first day
You’re the new kid on the block, so naturally, everyone wants to be nice to you. But all you want to do is to be as invisible as much as you can, so you try to avoid all contact and just bury yourself in the work.
You run off to the toilet every time you need a break
No one is really bothering you, but you feel their gazes on you. The clicking sound of keyboards and overlapping conversations is getting too much for you too, so you bolt to the bathroom to get your shit together. It really doesn’t work, but you have to try.
The horror you feel when you have to introduce yourself to your new co-workers
New kid on the block duties means you have to let your new colleagues know who you are. You can manage if you have to do it on an inter-personal basis, but the amount of mental energy that goes into preparing for this if you have to stand in the middle of the office and introduce yourself is really exhausting.
You try your best to fit in ASAP so they wouldn’t think you are fake
You feel like they are giving you or your existence much thought, and you would really hate to the guy everyone thinks is the proud, fake co-worker, so you put on your best act to be as natural as much as possible, which is pretty exhausting and futile. You fit in eventually, but it’s a slow, agonising process.
You overthink every word you say every time you have to speak
Collaboration matters a lot in a workspace. You would prefer to be the resident mute, but you have to talk to people sometimes. You think about every single word you utter moments before you say them, and you think about them hours later, hoping they came out in the way you’d hoped.
