5 Tips For Handling Anxiety At Work

If you suffer from anxiety, the workplace can be a trigger. From deadlines to office politics, there are many things that can cause your anxiety to flare up. Here are five ways to handle anxiety at work.

1. Understand What Activates You

   One of the best things you can do to manage your anxiety is to understand what activates you. In other words, what gets under your skin, makes you feel anxious, overwhelmed, irritated?  If you know what situations or environments make you feel anxious, you can better prepare for them. In addition, it can be helpful to develop a coping mechanism for when you are faced with a trigger. This might involve deep breathing exercises, visualization, or positive self-talk. By taking the time to understand your anxiety, and develop a plan for coping with it, you can feel a greater need of control in your emotional responses.

2. Take Time For Yourself

   When you’re feeling anxious, it’s important to take some time for yourself to relax and rejuvenate. That might mean taking a few minutes to yourself in the restroom to breathe deeply and calm down or going for a walk outside during your lunch break. It’s also important to make sure you’re taking care of yourself outside of work by getting enough sleep, eating a balanced diet, and exercising regularly.

3. Create A Support System

   Having a support system at work can make a world of difference when it comes to managing your anxiety. Consider who in your work space are your “go to people” Who are the colleagues that don’t judge you, are supportive, and empathetic to what’s happening in your life, and want to help you? If it feels safe, letting your employer know that you struggle with anxiety, perhaps they have some accommodations/resources or suggestions they can suggest to better support you in your role. 

4. Practice Relaxation Techniques

   There are many different relaxation techniques that can be effective in managing anxiety, such as yoga, meditation, and aromatherapy. Experiment with different techniques and find the ones that work best for you so that you can use them when you’re feeling anxious at work. For example, keep a bottle of lavender oil on your desk and take a few deep whiffs when you start feeling overwhelmed, or have an “anchor” item that you can look at, touch, and take in all its senses to bring you to the here and now when feeling overwhelmed. An anchor could be something like a pocket rock or fidget toy. Learning how to calm your body when activated is a big one! Consider what your body might need to support it in a stressful moment. Perhaps grounding yourself by placing your feet on the floor, holding your hand over your heart (or wherever you feel the anxiety the most), holding a pillow on your stomach, or moving your body in a certain way (stretching, walking, laying on the floor). These are called somatic techniques to help your body calm. If you could rationalized yourself out of it, you would! That’s not necessarily going to work. We need to experiment with body soothing techniques because anxiety is physical. Match a physical response with a physical response - not a rational one. 

5. Seek Professional Help

   If self-help techniques aren’t enough, don’t be afraid to seek professional help. A therapist can help you understand and manage your anxiety disorder with therapies such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), EMDR, IFS, TA, Somatic therapy and much more. A therapist may also suggest other treatment options. In severe cases, it may also be necessary to take a leave of absence from work so that you can focus on getting better without the added stress of a job, especially if the job is causing the anxiety or trauma to begin with. We can’t necessarily heal while staying in the environment that is causing the harm in the first place.

Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.

Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.

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