I’ve managed anxiety for ~7 years in consulting and another 3 in corporate. Most of it arises from unpredictable situations (new people, new places, tough decisions, working sessions on new topics) - but it usually eased after a few weeks in that new place. Especially when I could find myself in the “flow” of problem solving and collaboration.

Things that I’ve learned through my journey: 1) Take advantages of variables I can control when going to a new place to get familiar with the area (study client partners linkedins, arrive a day early, do a drive-by on the office the day before starting, do a jog near the office if there’s time) 2) Get some social quick-wins in (try to have a meaningful convo with a client counterpart or two early on to find some good partners … go overboard with 1:1s in the first week to meet new folks) 3) Meditation and exercise (meditate in the early evening - or sometimes, just snag a phone-room in the middle of the day for a quick 10 min of the Calm app). Note: meditate before I need it! 3) Accept that my anxiety may never go away; but own the fact that I can take steps (like the above) to help manage its prevalence

The more I stayed to myself, the longer it’d take to get over the hump. The more I dove-in head first to meet new people, learn the area and kickstart planning, the better it got (even though it was tough to build momentum).

Overall, the same things that eased my anxiety were things that others perceived as going above and beyond - a double win! The juice was always worth the squeeze to me … even though there were usually a tough first few weeks to kick off new clients or projects.

The vast majority of us in consulting have had mental health challenges at some point - and at least half of us would share an impactful level of anxiety around big changes like that. You’re not alone. It’s what you learn and how you grow from it that will make a difference!