Healthline: Your Guide to Managing Workplace Anxiety

"If your anxiety revolves around work, you might be experiencing workplace anxiety, also known as work stress. And you’re most certainly not alone.

Workplace anxiety vs. anxiety at work

Annia Palacios, a licensed professional counselor (LPC) with Tightrope Therapy, offers a few key signs of workplace anxiety:

• On your days off, you feel pretty good and your anxiety lowers.
• If you work Monday through Friday, feelings of anxiety and dread overshadow your weekend, especially when you think about work.
• You have a tough time talking with colleagues due to a competitive work culture, but you have no problem chatting with people outside of work.

The key difference between the two, explains Alexandra Finkel, LCSW, a licensed psychotherapist and co-founder of Kind Minds Therapy, is that workplace anxiety generally develops in response to stress at work. An anxiety disorder, on the other hand, tends to develop, and persist, regardless of your work circumstances.

What are the signs?

According to Palacios, you might:

• feel better at night but worse in the morning
• feel physically ill when thinking about work or receiving work emails or calls
• have a hard time focusing on work-specific tasks
• notice your motivation shrinking
• often procrastinate on work-related tasks
• avoid meetings, new projects, or work events

You might also experience a sense of dread when you think about going to work and feel overwhelmed once you get there, says Boone Christianson, a licensed marriage and family therapist (LMFT) and author of the book “101 Therapy Talks.”

Workplace anxiety can involve physical symptoms, too. These might include:

• head and neck pain
• tension in your body
• sweating palms
• consistent stomach pain or nausea

What causes workplace anxiety?

For example, says Palacios, work stress may stem from:

• needing to complete an urgent project or present at a meeting
• imposter syndrome, or a tendency to doubt yourself and feel deeply unqualified
• not having strong connections with colleagues
• dealing with a difficult boss
• lacking a sense of purpose around your work

According to Kimberly Wilson, PhD, LMFT, an organizational psychologist and therapist, you could also develop workplace anxiety if your job:

• has a toxic workplace culture
• comes with unrealistic expectations
• lacks enough staff
• is highly competitive
• didn’t provide proper training
• doesn’t compensate you for overtime
• doesn’t prioritize your health, wellness, or safety

Consequently, your workplace might become a significant source of stress if you (mistakenly) assume:

• you’ll miss key deadlines
• your supervisor thinks you’re doing a terrible job
• you’ll always fall short of expectations

What can you do to manage workplace anxiety?

Pinpoint your triggers

The triggers of work stress aren’t always obvious. “Writing out moments when you feel nervous throughout the day will help you find patterns or triggers,” says Smith.

Zero in on your core fear

How do you know you’ve found your core fear?

Typically, it’s “when you can no longer ask ‘Why is this a bad thing?’ or you feel a gut sense that you hit on something viscerally important,” says Maisel.

When you’ve reached that place, he suggests acknowledging the story without assuming it’s true and then thanking your mind for trying to protect you.

From there, you can gently challenge the fear by asking yourself:

• What’s the evidence for and against this?
• What would I say to a loved one who told me something similar?
• If the worst-case scenario happens, how would I cope?
• What’s actually most likely to happen?

Be gentle with yourself

When you get anxious and stress levels soar, your natural inclination might be to respond with self-criticism.

Instead, try to be patient and understanding with your reactions.

Take micro-breaks

You can recalibrate your emotions by taking small, short breaks throughout the day, according to Palacios. For instance, she suggests:

• walking away from your desk or task to recenter yourself
• practicing box breathing, where you inhale for a count of 4, hold for a count of 4, exhale for a count of 4, and hold for a count of 4

When anxiety pulls your mind elsewhere, you can also try the 54321 technique to ground yourself in the present moment, says Finkel.

To practice, she says, simply name:

• 5 things you see
• 4 things you hear
• 3 things you feel
• 2 things you smell
• 1 thing you taste

Get moving

During and after exercise, the body releases calming neurotransmitters that create an overall feeling of well-being, says Karlene Kerfoot, chief nursing officer at symplr.

Get organized

When big projects and presentations produce anxiety, getting organized can help reduce feelings of overwhelm, says Finkel.

She suggests:

• breaking down large tasks into smaller steps
• assigning each step a completion date and time

Set boundaries

• setting a specific time to start and end your workday
• engaging in one or two activities each week that honor your physical, emotional, and mental well-being
• identifying specific behaviors and tasks you will or won’t accept and communicating these boundaries to colleagues and clients

Laugh it up

To give yourself a good laugh:

• talk or text with your funniest friend
• watch a comedy special or funny film
• take yourself to an in-person comedy show
• reminisce about silly memories

Create a safe, soothing space

If you have a workspace, you can create a mini sanctuary or retreat that offers solace during stressful or anxiety-provoking situations, says Smith.

For example, she says, you might:

• hang family photos
• keep a few fidget toys
• add a diffuser with essential oils, like calming lavender

Bring along a comfort kit

If you don’t have a designated workspace, you can assemble a kit that provides a “quick shot of relief during stressful moments at work,” says Wilson.

Your kit can include items that soothe your senses and help you move.

Boost your time away from work

Strive to create a life filled with relationships, events, and activities outside of work that bring you joy, peace, and happiness, Kerfoot recommends. She goes on to explain that a fulfilling life outside of work can:

• minimize the impact of that work-related stress
• build up your resilience in times of stress
• crowd out work-related thoughts

If you’re dealing with workplace anxiety, professional support can be incredibly helpful.

There’s no right or wrong time to connect with a therapist, Palacios says, so this decision will be unique to everyone.

Specifically, Palacios says, this could mean you:

• worry so much you can’t function, meet deadlines, or complete tasks
• find it difficult to fall or stay asleep
• feel nervous, edgy, and unlike yourself
• find your usual coping strategies no longer help
• need to take more time off than usual and begin planning your next days off as soon as you return to work

A therapist can offer support with:

• pinpointing triggers
• making value-based decisions
• exploring and practicing helpful coping skills
• determining when a new job might be a good option"

Read the full article here!

Reflection;

When you feel anxious at work, how do you cope?

#Anxiety #WorkplaceAnxiety #Stress #EmotionalRegulation