How To Stop Wearing Your Work Stress

Stress is the biggest issue for most people in the workplace, because it’s not easy to leave it at the office. Deadlines, expectations, long hours, longer commutes, office politics, clashes with management; all of these contribute to a stressful working environment, and most of these are totally out of your control. With a lack of control on the situations that you’re coping with comes a huge heap of stress, which leads to anxiety, depression and even being signed off from work sick by your doctor. Ideally, you want to avoid stress in the workplace completely, but it’s naïve to think that this would ever be possible. A career and striving to be better always comes with stress, but it’s how you handle it and how you wear that stress that really matters.

If you’re starting to feel your stress physically, then you really need to begin addressing your environment – both at home and at work – and seeing whether you can stop wearing it to work. Someone who is aching in their muscles from being tense in the workplace wears their stress openly, because of the hunched shoulders and bad posture. A stressed individual tends to holds their shoulders up and finds it hard to relax. You need to cultivate an environment of peace at home, so that you can leave your stress and worry behind you when you shut the office door. There are a good few ways that you can make it easier for yourself, and here are some of them:

Sleep Well. A stressed person is one who doesn’t get much sleep at night, often sitting up to worry about the day ahead. However, if you have the right sleep environment and a consistent bedtime routine for yourself, you’re going to find it far simpler to sleep well at night. The better your mattress and the higher quality your bedding, the better you sleep at night and the easier you can find handling your worries.

Stop. Breathe. Sometimes, standing for a couple of minutes and focusing on your breathing is enough to bring down your heart rate and help your muscles to release some of that tension that they’re holding onto. You need to realise that your job is just a job; there are plenty of them, and if you are feeling attacked or bullied, then you need to seek help. Walking away from a situation that brings you grief is a sign of strength.

Talk Aloud. Set up a meeting with your direct management team and human resources and work out where the stress is coming from, then set up a plan with them to minimize it. You need to feel comfortable where you are working, which means you need to TELL the people that matter.

Don’t let your career shorten your life with stress; fix it quick and live happier.