The World Health Organisation has described stress as 'the global health epidemic of the 21st century,’ with work-related issues often cited as the primary cause. If you experience anxiety due to work, there are many ways to build your resilience and reduce its effects. Here are some of them:
- Take a ten-minute break every hour and a half to clear your head. - Allocate blocks of hours each week when you’ll avoid working altogether. - Foster a growth mindset (see Section 1.4) to help you avoid dwelling on perceived failures. - Stay close to friends and family - the people you can rely on for emotional support when you need it. -Practise mindfulness. When you feel anxiety building up, you can use the mindfulness techniques summarised here. Start by taking slow, deep breaths and focusing on your breathing. Try saying in your heard: 'breathing in... breathing out’ or even on each in-breath 'a new beginning', and on each out-breath 'a letting go, a letting be’ and focus on the present moment. Then spend a few minutes in your 'mental oasis': OBSERVE what thoughts and feelings you are having moment by moment. Label each one (e.g. 'that’s a memory’, 'that’s a worry about the future’, 'that’s a feeling of sadness’, 'that’s a judgement’) ACCEPT that you are having these thoughts and feelings. Everyone has these, When you notice a thought or feeling, don’t worry about having it or wish that you hadn't had it. Just accept it and see what else is going on in your mind & body right now. Then move your focus to what you can SENSE around you right now. Scan your body to detect the sensations in all the different parts of your body (e.g. pressure where your body is supported by the chair, tightness in the muscles, tingles etc.). It can be helpful to IMAGINE yourself in a relaxing, safe place (e.g. in nature with sun, fields, trees, running water) to help you let go of each thought once you’ve noticed it (e.g. leaves falling and being taken away downstream). Stress and sadness can come from giving yourself a hard time. Give yourself a break by SYMPATHISING with yourself and others. Say positive things about yourself and others and repeat them in your head even if you’re not fully convinced they are true. A repeated thought becomes a habit, a belief and this belief makes it come true! What to learn more? Try asking Virtual Dan White. |