I haven't lost a pound, for starters, but that isn't the purpose for this thread.

I'm trying very hard to advance at my job. I'm doing everything I can think of to be useful and prove that I am a valuable employee. Last night, I sent an eMail to my boss and made a suggestion.

On my way home from work, I started doubting myself. First, it was stilly stuff. Did I put that comma in? Did I sign my name? Did I misspell something?

Then it started to get worse : What if I clicked the wrong eMail address? What if someone reads it for him?

Now, I'm to the point that I'm terrified to go to work today. What if he read it and thinks it's a ridiculous idea? Or if he comes back and says "Do you thinking the X number of years this company has been around we hadn't thought of that already?!" What if he laughs at me? What if I end up being publically shamed? What if I created some kind of faux pas by not going to the store manager first (even though he never listens to me)?

My stomach is in a knot, and I feel like I'm going to vomit. This extended my time of emotional eating, as much as I try and stop it. I curbed myself this morning and popped in an exercide video, but it's getting worse again the more I try to forget.

It's such a stupid little thing. It's an eMail asking if we can do something extra for customers. It's just an eMail but I'm convinced this will come back to bite me in the ***.

I would quit stressing about the e-mail you sent. If your boss disagrees with it or any of the other things you mentions happens at least you were thinking of the customers, the people who write your paychecks. Maybe if work is stressing you out so much can you find another place to work?? Most people don't care about what the customer has to think and if you do I would say you were an assest to the company. At least were I work you would fit right in, everyday were are told to give the customer the best shopping experience ever because they are our "boss" in the end. Deciding if they want to spend money with us or our competition.

Whoa! If your manager is at all human, he will appreciate your concern even if it's been said before! Let us know how he reacts.

Time to breathe now. Now get yourself together and get on with the weekend.

I know how you feel. I'm am THE queen of second guessing myself. I have turned in a project on friday, and stressed to the point of crying all weekend, wondering if i put in that comma, were all the T's crossed? I constantly second guess everything i do and say. i just put it down as the end result of working for 4 years for an extream anal retentive super-micro-manager who always, ALWAYS found something wrong with everything I did, no matter how hard i tried, or how long i worked on the project. Even if others found it to be perfect. It messed with my head bad. I don't work for him anymore, luckily, but the damage he did to me is still there. and i wonder sometimes will I ever have the confidence in myself, that I used to have. After he left, I found a "diary" he'd been keeping on me in his filing cabinet (the dummy didn't have sense enough to destroy it before he left) and found out that he took an instant dislike to me from the begining, and he spelled it out in this little dosier' that his intention was to make it so bad for me that I would leave, or he was going to pursue having me fired (he didn't have the authority to fire me, thank God). the reason he was not successful is because "our" boss (who was over him) knew what he was doing, and had no problems with my work, was sort of a "buffer" for me. What comes around, goes around. They guy had to retire because he contracted pancreatic cancer, and was given a year to live. that was several months ago. Not only did my work enviroment improve 600% after he left, but my work load decreased a lot too. appearantly i was doing my work, and a large percentage of his work too. sorry, i tend to be wordy
dont beat your self up, it will be fine. and they will respect you for trying to improve things for your customers.

Thanks ladies. It's good to know it's NOT just me!

The place I work is very nice, and it's not so much the stress of the job, but trying to set myself apart to get ahead. I want a managerial position so my husband can finish college without working and without TOO many student loans. If I can get the position, I'll be salaried for about twice what I make now. I just have to prove that I am the person for the slot when it opens up. It's against my nature to be so 'assertive' when trying to get what I want, so it's really stressing me out. I don't want to come across as a b***c, but I also don't want to be seen as a pushover.

So, I did some of my exercise videos, a whole cario routine and half the strength training. I was going do a whole strength traning video, but my lovely, wonderful absolutely evil four year old decided to take something out of my bag and through a hissy fit.