Sweaty hands, heart beating so fast that you feel it will explode any moment, feeling the lips trembling. Quick and shallow breathing, shaking hands, confused in speaking. Wanting to just get away from the place. Does all this sound familiar? Getting worried and anxious at work happens a lot more than what we think. I hate anxiety and I hate it, even more, when it messes up with my work life. My work is my passion and I don’t want it to be destroyed with the feeling of getting anxious. In today’s post, I am talking about Anxiety at Work and How I try to overcome it.
How anxiety affects my Work (and how I overcome it)
There are a lot of times at work that I have been anxious at the workplace. With time I am learning to keep my work-life out of it or at least preventing it to be so obvious at work. I have even failed a lot of times but as they say practices makes perfect. I work really hard to develop method to control my anxiety at work because
- It can hamper my work and thus cause damage to my career.
- I am really passionate about my work.
So today I am listing down a few things which has helped me Overcome Anxiety at work.
Taking breaks
I understand that taking a lot of breaks is not much possible at work. But I think it is always better to take a break rather than keep doing your task with half confidence and half interest.
For me, if the situation is too overwhelming, I get up from my work desk and go to refill some water in my bottle, or get a cup of coffee or divert myself to call up someone I know would listen to me. It does not take much time for me, a couple of minutes away and my anxiety levels come down a bit.
Also, to avoid any kind of anxious bouts I try to avoid doing any kind of work or work discussions during lunch breaks. I utilize that time to socialize or to check on my daughters who are at the daycare( This is before the COVID-19 Lockdown situation).
Relax and Unwind
We unwind and relax during the weekends. Not opening the laptop, cooking, spending time with my kids and a hour long bath during the weekends are somethings which help me unwind.
We do plan our vacations and weekends because I feel it is important to go for a vacation.
Writing down strengths and skills
When anxiety strikes, one tends to forget their strengths. Everything about self looks negative and you go into a self doubt mode. I often get insecure about something at my work and it causes me to start doubting everything about myself.
Writing down my strong points, things I know, things I do or revisiting my previous achievements have been very helpful in the situation of self-doubt.
Learning to say no
I find it really hard to say NO, especially in a professional environment. It is however, really important to say NO when you know something is not possible technically or because you don’t have the time or skill to complete it.
Accepting help from others
There is no harm in asking for help and accepting help at work or outside work. That way we feel less alone, the more people I have around me, it becomes easier for me to manage negative emotions.
My therapy sessions with Dr. Priyanka Yadav have been really helpful for me. Therapies have taught me more about myself, things which I knew but somehow was forgetting or not understanding.
Making a plan
I am a person who likes to have a plan in place. If my tasks, work is all over the place I get really anxious and lose control of my mind. Not knowing what is next, not being able to decide whether I would be able to do something or not worsens the situation.
To keep myself sane, I try to track what’s going on in my life, at work or any of my hobby projects. I like to have a calendar and planner with me always. This assures me that I don’t have too many things in my plate and I am less stressed.
Having a hobby outside of work
My work is my pasisons. But having a passion outside my work is my way of relaxing and feeling fulfilled. Taking some hobbies into consideration helps taking away the work pressure which keeps nagging you.
Figuring out the best way of working
While I love people around, when it comes to some serious work, I like to do it alone. That is how I perform better and get my tasks done faster. A lot of noise and talking around me makes me anxious and hence I started using noise-canceling headphones at work.
There are people who love listening to music while working.
TO EACH ONE HIS/HER OWN.
What are your ways of dealing or overcoming your anxiety? Do let me know in the comments below.
This post is written as part of the BlogchatterA2Z challenge.
