4 Tips for Handling Negative Feedback at Work When You Have Anxiety

Years ago, at my first corporate job, I had a boss that loved to see his employees sweat. He had a fear-based leadership style; being asked to come into his office was enough to bring on heart palpitations. Even if no one had done anything “wrong,” he liked to make sure we were on the edge of our seats, waiting for bad news. If you had done something wrong…brace yourself, “winter is coming.”

That was a toxic workplace in every sense of the phrase. What made it worse was my anxiety — I’ve long struggled with not feeling smart enough, skilled enough, sharp enough at work. Pile that on top of the endless pressure to figure out what you’re doing with your life and I was a mess.

Thankfully, I was able to quit that job and start freelance writing for digital health startups. That led me to the position I’m at now, as an account manager and brand publicist at a boutique brand strategy studio. Quite the leap. Taking this job pushed me far out of my comfort zone that I’ve basically lost sight of it.

At this job, I feel really valued and the culture is the polar opposite from the toxic job I talked about above. Why then did getting negative feedback about a project make me so anxious, so worried? I believe it’s largely due to the way I was conditioned to respond at my old job. That…