My workplace has begun bringing people back to work, and my return date is soon approaching.

It's been a year and a half since I last worked, so I'm definitely feeling anxious about going back. Getting used to that routine all over again, waking up much earlier than I've gotten use to, coming home late. All of that I was fairly conditioned to when this was my normal life, but now it's basically a big lifestyle change that's about to happen.

And I didn't even mention the actual job. 8 hours a day at work again, possibly working evenings and/or weekends (something I've always been opposed to), working alongside other employees (most of which I was never very close with as I don't make friends easily), and having to get use to new and strict covid protocols like wearing a mask for the entire day (something I've never done for that length of time since the longest I've had to wear one might be an hour or two when I go shopping, and even then, it didnt involve me talking to people).

Some employees I used to work with, I was a bit intimidated by them (either they didn't like me, or just didn't care to acknowledge me), and those are people who are more popular at the job, so I'm nervous about that too.

Basically one giant fear of the unknown where I'll start overthinking things and "hoping for the best but preparing for the worst".

Its not entirely like I have so much going on where I'll miss having time at home to do it, but I know how mentally exhausting work can be, especially if there's downtime and/or you have to deal with people a lot during the day whether it be customers or coworkers.