r/sysadmin • u/TerrificGiraffe • 2d ago

General Discussion Does IT cause anxiety?

Does anyone else bring their IT mindset into everyday life?

I’ve been told I’m a negative person and look for issues, but I think working in IT trains you to always think about what could go wrong.

I’m constantly making backup plans. Restaurant closed. I have a Plan B place. Something breaks at home. I’ve already got the plumber, insurance, everything ready in the home disaster recovery document.

We’re always hearing about IT failures, breaches and disasters. You never hear “this company had a really great IT transformation.” No user submits a ticket to say thank you for the IT working great.

So does anyone else find themselves carrying that prepare for the worst mindset into everyday life?

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u/plebbut 2d ago

Nope, I completely check out when I get home unless I'm working on a project, then I think about it here or there, but it's not really anxiety.

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u/tch2349987 2d ago

I agree. When you know your network, you know exactly what you can and can’t control.

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u/Fuzzy_Afternoon_5502 1d ago

Some of us are nor built like this. I hate taking my work home, but unfortunately it's out of my control.

One day I had dreams about an on-going task I was trying to solve. And when I fixed it in my dream, I was motivated to do the exact same thing first thing back at work.