Professional f**k up

Written at work

Panic attacks at work

Are not conducive

To getting promotions

 

Hyperventilating rarely reflects well

In performance reviews 

I am petrified of criticism 

And yet it consumes me

 

They shout loud angry words 

My failures are apparent and unforgivable 

 

How can I function

With such an aching anxiety 

Tearing holes in my belly 

Reviews

[Robert Parlange]

Workplace hostility seems to be the norm lately. You captured that in your poem. Yea, we've all been “chewed-out.” I stepped down from supervisor position because I couldn't be hostile to former workers. I remembered where I came from.

[Tamika]

Though simple, it conveys the struggle of anxiety quite well. I especially like the line "tearing holes in my belly", because often this is how anxiety, or an anxious state feels. It isn't fluttery nerves, it feels more dramatic, terrifying and painful.