Victoria Scott here to talk about managing work stress. Today we're taking about things you can do in the moment when you're triggered to decrease your stress.
It's challenging to stop and remember to try new things when we're triggered. Look at the physical cues that your body gives you when the stress hits. Do you feel a tightness in your throat? in your chest? Do you feel your stomach drop?
As you become more aware of your cues, you can use them to cue you to try these techniques. When you're triggered try one of these:
Splash cold water on your face
Put an ice cube on your wrist
Put your hand on your heart
The cold water on your face is a shock to your system. It distracts you from whatever is causing you stress or anxiety and it instantly lowers your heart rate. The ice cube is similar. Placing your hand on your heart can help you feel safe, which is calming. Research shows it releases hormones that are similar to receiving a hug.
After trying one of these techniques, take a few deep breaths and repeat your new thought or belief that will serve you better. That should help to reduce the intensity of the stress you're feeling and it could even pull you out of it completely.
You can also try a bit of healthy detachment, just a bit of separation between the "real you" and "work you." "Work you" is going through this situation and they have to deal with it but it doesn't mean you need to internalize what's happening all the way back into "real you."
This mental separation can help remove us a bit from the situation at hand so that we can see it more objectively and stop taking it personally.
With practice, these techniques can help you take control of the situation when you're triggered versus your trigger overtaking you.
Practice makes progress!
Have you ever noticed that some days a bunch of stressful stuff can happen and it'll just roll off your back and other days anything happens and it sets off your stress? That means that you're less vulnerable to stress some days than you are others.
Think about the things that you're doing on the days that you're less vulnerable that you can repeat on other days to reduce your vulnerability. How are you sleeping and eating? How are you feeling physically, mentally, and emotionally? How's your self-talk? How's your support system? All of these factors and more can affect your vulnerability or resistance to stress.
Sometimes stress is like a delayed reaction and right when we're ready to log off for the day, it'll decide to show up! That can feel really draining after a long day and make it hard for you to disconnect and enjoy your time off of work. If this happens to you or if you have trouble disconnecting at the end of your work day, try taking a shower when you log off for the day.
Research shows that the physical act of washing the day away can actually have a psychological effect that refreshes us and kind of resets us.
Be sure to completely disconnect from work at the end of your work day. It is important to have separation and to take a break. If you absolutely have to check in, do it at scheduled intervals.
I'm curious, what's one tip you'll try out for yourself?
Comment below or message me privately to share.
Stay tuned for my next message.
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