Published on 12, July, 2020
I became aware of autism (I'm not diagnosed) in lockdown when I didn't know what to do at all - when to eat, when to read, when to wash & bathe - my whole structure collapsed. I was forces to look into this and all those steps brought me to where I am now. However my company wants us to start hybrid working 2 days in office. I think this is a great offer, but the upheaval and change for me will so so hard and really stressed about it now. I just feel really scared about it. I've had my job for 15 years and I told my boss about my suspected autism. Although he was very sympathetic, this isn't a point he will budge on. As I'm a supervisor, I can't not go back as it would make my team resentful if I didn't have to, and they did.
The change scares me, the possible change back to 5 days scares he, and he won't rule that out. I don't think I could handle that at all.
Anyone else facing this right now? I imagine that isn't a rare situation due to the immediate push back to work in the UK right now.
Our return isn't so imminent, however I do relate to the stress you're experiencing over the move back. If it's any consolation, I wnet through a similar thing a while ago when we reorganised our office and moved to hot-desking. It really stressed me as there was a lot of uncertainty (which I am not good at dealing with) for example not knowing where I would be sitting each day, would it be the same, and would I have a loud crisp or apple eater sitting next to me sometimes. AS it turned out, everything was fine. There were normally enough desks for everyone and most people stayed in the same place. I guess what I'm trying to say is that in my case the initial worry was way worse than how it turned out, so I hope this is the case for you too. Good luck with it, and try to remember that you've had way more experience working in the office than at home so once you get over the initial change hopefully things will fall back into place.
That sounds very positive. Thank you. I know I will adjust eventually, but the hardest part is now. This the time when I have to prepare my brain for the change. This is when I usually become still! I'm trying to accept this as just my preparation, so I think this will be OK eventually. Thank you.