You spend eight hours at your job daily feeling stressed and overwhelmed by difficult colleagues, a heavy workload, and being overseen as if you’ve done something wrong. With mass layoffs becoming more prevalent, it’s normal to feel a sense of tension at work. However, it’s essential to understand the difference between stress that challenges you to grow and stress that deteriorates you. So, if you’ve concluded that work gives me anxiety, you’ll want to continue reading this article to find your way out of this feeling, so you can enjoy doing your work with as little drama as possible.
Identifying work anxiety
Workplace anxiety has several symptoms that you should identify and then resolve for the sake of your mental health. In general terms, a job anxiety disorder manifests itself through nervousness. You may feel a deep fear for your future. You repeat to yourself: “work gives me anxiety,” but you can’t get out of this situation. Job anxiety negatively affects your physical, mental, and emotional health while worsening your job satisfaction. You might start sleeping poorly. You maintain poor nutritional quality, and you are unwilling to exercise. You think you will lose your job and damage your financial situation. You avoid social interaction and don’t even want to communicate with your closest friends or family.
Work anxiety sufferers don’t enjoy their jobs and aren’t as enthusiastic about their daily tasks as they used to be. Worst of all, work performance begins to drop and they begin to distrust their ability. As a result, your relationship with your boss becomes strained, and you experience job competition with sadness, whereas in the past, it used to excite you. So if you are experiencing these factors, you should know that you can overcome this circumstance. The first thing you must do is to be aware of this situation and trust yourself to make the necessary positive changes.
1. Overcome work anxiety by working on yourself
You can overcome work anxiety if you work on yourself. Try to be comfortable and calm in the privacy of your home to start feeling good about yourself. Whether you need to stop panic attacks, deal with things in your personal life, or learn to handle so much stress to improve your anxiety disorder, making changes in your life to improve your well being will help you get back to feeling completely normal. You can start applying the following strategies to eliminate work anxiety to improve your mental health.
2. Breathe well
Try to do breathing exercises before and after work. First, lie down on your bed and take five deep breaths. Then, inhale through your nose, hold your breath and then exhale through your mouth. Guided meditation for anxiety can be a game-changer for you, but you don’t need to find a meditation that exactly matches your problem. For example, it’s possible that a loving-kindness meditation can help you practice the self care you need to heal from your anxiety disorder. A body scan meditation might help you become aware of where anxiety sits in your body when you’re feeling like “work gives me anxiety.” You can check out the Declutter The Mind app for countless meditations for you to try out.
Declutter The Mind is a meditation app for your workplace to help make your team happier and culture healthier. In an average 9-to-5 work day, just 5 minutes of mindfulness meditation can release stress, improve focus, and boost creativity. For your company, a more mindful team means better workplace culture and teamwork.
3. Listen to good quality music
Sometimes, you’re not ready to talk to a mental health professional. Maybe you think the anxiety disorders you’re developing from your job aren’t a big enough deal yet. Fortunately, you can turn to music to alleviate some of your mental health problems. High-quality music such as classical music positively influences your mood and can deeply relax you. You can also choose genres such as jazz or bossa nova. Alternatively, you can listen to a list of positive songs or even songs about anxiety to help you find music you relate to or allows you to just enjoy life again. Listening to positive music at work can also help you get through a stressful job.
4. Organize your activities
One of the reasons for work anxiety is feeling overwhelmed by the number of activities to do. You can solve this by organizing your tasks. So sit down quietly and start writing down your work priorities in a new document on your computer, or if you prefer, you can write them down in a notebook. This simple exercise will control your activities, preventing you from being overwhelmed by circumstances. You can also use a free tool like Google Keep to organize all your tasks, so you can stop feeling anxiety at work.
5. Make the most of your spare time
You should dedicate your free time after work, during vacations, or on weekends to your enjoyment. Don’t think about anything related to your anxiety at work. Instead, you can entertain yourself on social networks, talk to a friend, read a favorite genre novel, go hiking, etc. Your workplace doesn’t pay you to think about your job after hours. So, use your free time to focus on your mental health, recharge your batteries, improve your physical symptoms, and combat any work-related stress.
6. Do activities that give you pleasure
Remember all the things you like to do and put them into practice. Cooking, doing crossword puzzles, and going out with your friends are activities that are good for your soul. So prioritize your well-being, which will reflect a good quality of life. Your mental health will always worsen when you put your own interests in second place. Whether you have a mental illness or simply begin feeling anxious at work, you need to invest in things that lift you up and make you happy.
Focus on your overall health
Positively address your work anxiety by focusing your attention on your overall health. Once your health is balanced, your relationship with work will improve significantly.
1. Eat properly
Good nutrition is essential for you to feel good both physically and mentally. If you are well nourished, it will be reflected in a balanced behavior. Eat lean meats, cereals, fruits, vegetables, and seeds. And drink plenty of water. Mindful eating will be particularly helpful for you. You can do this during your lunch break, especially if you have a social anxiety disorder when eating alone in a cafeteria. You can practice a mindful eating meditation using the Declutter The Mind app during your lunch break, so you can be mindful and enjoy your lunch time meal while separating your anxiety and depression association from your break.
2. Do physical activity
Physical activity is a powerful antidepressant, especially for those who experience anxiety at work. Choose a physical activity that you enjoy and stay consistent throughout the year. Any activity is valid: dancing, swimming, biking, running, walking. Consider playing a sport. Doing this will help you shake out an anxious feelings within you, so you can get a good night sleep or get ready for the day ahead of you. Those with anxiety disorders who regularly exercise can often minimize their symptoms (even though sometimes it doesn’t feel like it).
3. Sleep well
Get used to going to sleep at a particular time. Try to sleep between 7 and 8 hours every night. Maintain correct sleep hygiene throughout the year. Do not go to sleep with your cell phone, notebook, or tablet. Electronic devices interrupt the sleep cycle. If you notice you’ve been struggling with insomnia, cutting out carbohydrates might help you sleep better. A meditation for sleep can also help you wind down at night, by hearing a relaxing voice to guide you to sleep, especially if you struggle with anxious thoughts.
4. Avoid harmful habits
Harmful habits such as smoking, drinking alcohol in excess, and consuming illegal substances harm your psychological balance. The best thing you can do is never to start consuming any harmful substance or reach out to someone to help you quit. The good thing to know is that there are multiple ways to quit an addiction, it’s not a one size fits all sort of thing. So work with an addictions therapist who can educate you on different recovery methods, so you can pick one that works for you.
Get into the habit of hanging out with friends, talk openly about what is going on with people you trust, and care about others. This will make you feel useful and at peace with yourself.
Overcoming anxiety while at work
When you’re thinking “work gives me anxiety” it’s time to work with smart strategies to help you overcome it. When faced with a stressful situation at work, take control of yourself and feel capable of mastering any situation.
1. Adopt a contemplative attitude
When you start to feel anxious at work, start observing yourself and the situation you are facing. A difficult situation at work does not manifest itself through no fault of your own but through a set of factors completely unrelated to you. This attitude will keep you away from problems, and you will begin to focus positively on yourself.
2. Do stretching exercises.
Different stretching exercises for the neck, back, and shoulders do not require specific clothing. Go to the bathroom of your office or any other place where you are alone and stretch your muscles. You will feel balanced immediately.
3. Decrease your coffee consumption
Coffee is a delicious herbal tea, but it tends to make you too alert. Reduce your intake a little so you don’t feel so nervous when faced with insignificant situations. If you can, don’t drink coffee during working hours.
4. Talk to a co-worker
When you feel “work gives me anxiety”, start talking to a co-worker with whom you feel confident. Good communication with the other will make you feel good because you will feel accompanied.
5. Don’t trust your thoughts
Sometimes the mind can betray you by filling you with negative thoughts. When they appear, be aware that they do not deserve your attention. However, these thoughts do not express any objective truth as your stress and nervousness drive them. The best decision is to disqualify them and ignore them.
Change your perspective on work
Work is an essential part of life and deserves to be lived in the best possible way. If you feel that “work gives me anxiety,” it is time to change your belief system regarding this specific issue. Instead, apply the following strategies to have a good concept of work, in general, to reflect it in your daily well-being.
1. Work is important, but it is not everything
You feel that a problem in that area unbalances your whole life. A fulfilling life requires good health, satisfying interpersonal relationships, and high-quality leisure time. Try to take care of all aspects of your life, as good health and satisfying interpersonal relationships will support you in difficult times.
2. Work does not encompass your entire identity
You as a human being are valuable for multiple factors, not only for your job performance.
3. Work is also a source of happiness
Maybe you associate work with obligations, money, and the bills you must pay; that’s why you feel anxious about it. Work should be a source of personal satisfaction, where you can give the best of yourself.
4. Remember the good things your job has given you
When you have negative feelings about work, remember the good things it has given you: friends, personal fulfillment, goals achieved, etc.
5. Work is not the only source of income
You believe that work is the only source of income that exists. You think that if you have a job problem, you will lose your job and, therefore, your source of income. You can get money from other sources: sell objects you don’t use, monetize your social networks, etc. That does not mean you should quit your job, but understand that money can come from different sources.
Conclusion
When you feel “work gives me anxiety,” it is because you have lost control of yourself. The above strategies will help you control your behavior and life in general. You will be able to master your character and not allow external circumstances to affect your mood.
