No matter how we all love our jobs, nearly everybody feels stress and exhaustion from work. Some of us experience it sporadically, while others would feel the pressure more intensely or in more often (or both!) – each person’s experience is different, but at the same time everyone knows how much that weird phase can affect our productivity and work-life balance.
How do you manage the stress and get back on your feet? Here are a few ideas in keeping your cool during days when things are especially trying:
Focus On What You Can Actually Control
There are a lot of things that happen in a day, but only a handful of these are actually under our control – anything else is out of our hands. Here’s a tip: take a bunch of sticky notes or small pieces of paper. List the things that stress you out – one on each piece of paper. Once you are done, go through these and evaluate each one, checking if it’s something you can control or is way beyond it. If you can’t control that situation or stressor, crumple that piece of paper and toss it in the trash. If it is, however, within your control, ask yourself what you can do to change or positively impact that issue.
Accentuate the Positive
Yes, it does sound a bit cliché, but hear us out. There are a lot of things in life that barely anyone of us notices is actually negative influences in our daily lives. Even the most optimistic person may not realize how certain thoughts release negative energy, especially in the workplace where we (let’s be honest) spend most of our waking lives. If we’re not conscious, these looming thoughts may affect us more than we realize! Take a bit of effort and let things sink in – for each negative experience or thought, there is bound to be at least a few positives.
Be Thankful
Being grateful is highly related to the previous point. Creating a conscious effort of changing your negative thoughts will also allow you to naturally be thankful of things. See all the accomplishments and other things to be grateful for – a good job, a good boss, good coworkers, and even what the money you have saved has allowed you to pay for. Once you start to put things into perspective, stressful things suddenly don’t feel so bad.
Rest
They say that feeling ill is a sign your body needs to reset or detox from something. Most people have not just themselves but other people to take care of as well. For example, a busy parent will have to take care of their children, so most of their time outside of work is spent on household chores and spending time or helping out with their kids’ school and extracurricular activities. It ends up that most people don’t have enough “me time” (or worse, none at all). As a result, we feel exhausted and more stressed out than we should be. A good idea is to create a rough schedule – it doesn’t have to be too precise, but doing something simple as getting 6-8 hours of sleep a night (which we know is near impossible sometimes) or taking a spa day once every few weeks actually helps. It’s interesting how even just an hour of relaxation can do so much to relieve stress and help you recharge your energy to get back into the workflow.