Interfered With Your Job, Work?

[Llwellyn]

Good morning, friends! I was wondering if the Christianity virus (you will be cursed unless you believe in Jesus) has ever interfered with your job or work performance? I find that I am a much more anxious person because I grew up in a Christian household believing I was a "sinner" and believing that there was a supreme God of curses and blessings.

 

I believe that today I am not as productive and effective in my job as I would be if I had grown up developing a more healthy mentality. I have a good job, and it pays well, but I would have taken on a more challenging and more financially rewarding job years ago if I didn't have so many "personal" issues going on. Also, even in my present job, I think I am more anxious and stressed out because that is how my personality was shaped by Christianity. That anxiety prevents me from being as effective in my work as I otherwise would be.

 

At this moment, I think that my supervisors are thinking about reassigning me due to their judgment that I am not well-suited to the job I am in. I would be very pleased with a reassignment, but I see this as yet again one of the negative results of having my personality and mind warped by the twisted ideas fed to me as a youngster.

 

Does any of this ring true for you? Am I exaggerating things? What are your thoughts? Any of you fired from a job because your mind was too consumed by Christianity, deconversion, or legacy anxiety? Any of you admonished or reassigned?

[Mike D]

 

Does any of this ring true for you? Am I exaggerating things? What are your thoughts? Any of you fired from a job because your mind was too consumed by Christianity, deconversion, or legacy anxiety? Any of you admonished or reassigned?

Christianity definitely affected my personality, having been force fed those warped ideas and beliefs as a kid. But I think my symptoms leaned more towards depression than stress, although it did create a certain amount of stress at times as well. I tried my best not to bring my personal issues to work, but it's not always easy.

 

What is the cause of your stress at work? Are you stressed by thinking about Christianity, or is the job stressful? I think you need to identify the root cause of your stress and work on eliminating it in order to help.

 

By the way do you actually like your job? I was in a job I hated for many years (which also paid well), but that hatred caused me a lot of stress at times because it did affect my work performance. I was never fired, but I knew when I was slacking off.

[DesertBob]

I find that I am a much more anxious person because I grew up in a Christian household believing I was a "sinner" and believing that there was a supreme God of curses and blessings.

It may be a mistake to lay this at the feet of Christianity. If you're prone to anxiety then if Christianity hadn't messed with that vulnerability, likely something else would have. The same goes for depression. In my own case I think I have a tendency to be a pleaser / rescuer, and so I pleased my parents / mentors / teachers / authority figures by conforming to the Christian worldview that I grew up in the middle of. But if I had grown up in a hippie commune or a Libertarian family or a Jewish community what have you I would have simply conformed to that. As for the rescuer in me, that happened to be expressed as a "Jesus complex" but could just as well have been expressed as "save the whales" or "dismantle excessive government" or whatever particular formula for Saving The World™ I would have been exposed to and sold on. You get sold on stuff because at some level you want to be.

 

I know people who are plenty anxious who have had zero background with Christianity, so I would suggest just working on yourself because you'd have to do it anyway, even if you hadn't been a Christian. The only relevance of Christianity is the specific ideas it might have burdened you with that you'd have to address, versus others you might have otherwise been obliged to deal with.

[HRDWarrior]

I would say that your issues are less likely to be related to Christianity, and more about your personal attitude/feelings/personality/whatever. I was raised in super fundy-ville, and if anything, that only helped to instill a strong work ethic and drive for achievement (granted, my personality type is also prone to that kind of behavior). The fact that I am my own worst critic can be an issue, and I could blame that partially on my mother, and partially on who I am. I deal with that fact and move on, but I don't know that religion had much of anything to do with that side of myself.

 

Christianity can certainly affect how you view the world when you are in the thick of it, but once out of that grasp, eventually the effects will dissipate. Perhaps you just need some more time, or perhaps your own personality is working against you, and you need to take some time to figure yourself out and work on your weaknesses. We all have natural weaknesses and strengths, and if we don't work on them, they will only hurt us. It's hard to tell the true source of your issues, but from my perspective, perhaps a little more self reflection on who you are as a person and who you want to be would be helpful.

[Chikirin]

 

 

Does any of this ring true for you? Am I exaggerating things? What are your thoughts? Any of you fired from a job because your mind was too consumed by Christianity, deconversion, or legacy anxiety? Any of you admonished or reassigned?

 

 

Rings true for me, I hate myself because I am lazy and unfocused. I hate my job but I am too lazy to look for another. I certainly wouldn't hire me.

 

I blame Christianity, in part, because it taught "love not the world." How can I be good at anything if my religion says I am a bad person for loving it? I have to love what I do, but Christianity says I am not supposed to. Or do it to the Glory of God - whatever that's supposed to mean. I learned in church that it meant doing a good job so that I'd be a good witness. As if the work weren't hard enough, now I have to also do it in such a way that it will make people come running to my religion?

 

I blame other things beside Christianity, such as body dysmorphic issues, growing up in an angry household, and alcohol and drugs.

 

I say "you're a bad person" to myself - aloud, about 50 times a day. Now that there's no God, I have to ask what is that voice? The part of my brain where God used to live is still acting like he still lives there.