Your inbox is flooding and you’re running late for a Zoom call. Maybe your boss has thrown a new project your way, but all you want to do is curl up in a ball. Anxiety and depression are on the rise as all of us learn to navigate the new rules of working from home and establish adjusted boundaries.
When we get swept into a spiral of anxiety, the stress of daily life can feel insurmountable. Consider these simple tools from Victoria Bardega your crisis prevention toolkit. Explore five small, but meaningful practices to handle work anxiety like the mindful goddess you are.
Get a break from your own inner voice, and find your way back to loving what you do….
5 Ways To Handle Anxiety At Work
One | Practice meditation to give your mind a mental break. Daily, our mind receives numerous noisy and visual messages that can easily clutter our mental focus. Give yourself a few minutes to deep breathe, relax and say a simple thank you for the start of a new day. Whether through prayer, reading or sitting in silence, the mind is able to recharge itself and release any negative thoughts that may inhibit your workflow.
“Creativity is birthed out of a place of freedom; and allowing your mind to be free of clutter will generate fresh, innovative ideas.”
Two | Communicate your anxiety to your coworkers. Open communication vitally tethers a hard-working team together. If you are feeling the weight of multiple projects, make known your concerns and ask for help. In humbling ourselves, we are able to create a strong community, where we can lift each other’s weaknesses up. A team that is willing to value people will take the time to value personal struggles, too.
When you keep frustrations to yourself, it affects demeanor and could potentially give off the wrong message to colleagues. As you make known your anxiety in a professional way, you are allowing for mutual understanding, which can help avoid damaging fall-outs.
Three | Use visuals and music as calming rituals. With the right music or the right visuals, one can instill a sense of peace within any workspace. Download music apps like Pandora or Spotify to create playlist compilations of your favorite artists. This sense of familiarity instantly allows the mind to gain the motivation to carry on a successful workday. As analytical tasks or tedious projects can be quite mundane, surrounding yourself with art will bring an extra boost of energy that turns stress into productive determination.
Four | Take time to exercise daily. Calisthenics and cardio equip people to release endorphins that lead to a happier self. Pick a time and commit to working out for at least 15 to 30 minutes a day. Exercise enhances quality of life and will produce tangible results for the body.
Instead of allowing anxiety and stress to build up inside, make it a point to exercise in order to combat the negative energy. People on your team deserve to see the best version of you. By exercising you are giving yourself the opportunity to take care of yourself first in order to better serve others.
Five | Tackle things one step at a time. Create a calendar that features every project deadline assigned for the next few months. Pace your work intentionally to accomplish a variety of tasks during your personal peak times.
One of the easiest lies to believe is that we have to do it all, and we have to do it all right now. Because of our limited capacity as human beings, it’s impossible to accomplish fifty projects simultaneously. Be as productive as possible without having to compromise the state of your health. With assurance, take on the tasks in a productive manner that allow for you to create a balanced working schedule.
