How Do I Manage Stress in the Workplace & Beyond?

 These are a couple of things that I find useful to manage stress in the workplace and in my personal life:

Change of perspective! Looking from many different angles

I find keeping a journal useful. Start noting down situations that may have made you abnormally upset or confused. You may stick to two simple questions, “What made me upset?” and “Do I have the resources to overcome this situation?” If you notice that your mind is spiraling with negative thoughts, you may want to simply write all of them and then look at it tomorrow to see if any of these thoughts are helpful. If they aren’t, feel free to discard them. Some stressors are not worth holding on to, they do not make you “worthier”.

Talk therapy and the community

We need a community who understands our troubles to thrive. Mental health conditions do not choose people, and anyone can struggle from it. This pandemic has opened our eyes to the idea of therapy and a therapist can be effective for some. Don’t you find that sometimes just talking out loud about a problem already makes you feel just a little better?

Finding the right therapist, therapies and people will be an effective part of you building resilience. You may be a shy introvert like me but there are many different options these days and don’t give up even if the search takes awhile. Additionally, when you are in a community and interacting with someone else, you feel better by feeling that good energy bouncing off your mind, calming you down.

Rest is not idleness

Give yourself a break, you deserve it. When you find yourself without the resources to do what needs to be done, you end up feeling less able to get through the day.

Here is where I would like to introduce the idea of self-care. Build up a resource of things that make you feel rested and genuinely happy. It could be as simple as a hot cup of hojicha latte. Eventually, we may find ourselves building a concept of self-love and a strong sense of self-esteem.

Educate!

Spread this idea around to a friend, sometimes giving care to others is also a way of caring for yourself. Start teaching the young ones that they deserve moments of joy. We can always be kind to ourselves, your heart and mind will thank you for that.

Authored by: Valerie S

We thank our blog contributors and applaud their strength in finding the words to share their lived experience, not only as part of the personal recovery journey but to inspire and bring hope to others who might be facing mental health challenges.