January 25, 2020

Anxiety at Work

We all have anxiety at work. Its normal, our jobs are demanding and changing. Priorities change, reorganizations happen and new management changes goals.

We work with new people, customers and supervisors regularly. They have different needs, demand and ways of communicating. Adjusting and accommodating are stressful.

New assignments will use new or rusty skills.  Expect you will do lots of things in life you never anticipated. Leading teams with poorly defined goals. Having to make public reports. Helping coworkers.

We have anxiety at home too. Being a parent may be number one example of changes forced on us. Teenagers anyone? Don’t think we don’t bring those anxieties to work with us.

What can we do? 

Take a deep breathe. Accept life and we are not perfect. Stuff happens, from bad to horrible. We all make mistakes. Break stuff. Mishear other people. Say the wrong thing (good thing have a big mouth, have put both feet in my mouth). Grateful no or few videos exist of my mistakes.

Talk with friends or advisors. Experienced coworkers can provide guidance. You are not alone.

Look at incidences over a long term. Will this matter in … 30 seconds, 10 minutes, an hour, day, a week, a month, a year, or a decade from now? Those questions have kept my red headed Irish temper in check over years (Rarely get past hour now). You have conquered many trials in the past and will overcome more in your life.

Even if it is serious, you can make the best of changes. In a year or two, you will look back and be grateful you handled it as well as you did. If not handled well, you learned what not to do next time.

Anxieties will hit us, maybe daily. If anxieties are overwhelming you, cannot emphasis how valuable talking to a professional counselor is.  Make an appointment.

Anxieties usually respond to a little self care, conversation, humor and time


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