5 Ways to Reduce Work Stress

Work can be stressful. With demanding and oftentimes unrealistic expectations, it can feel like you’re running on a hamster wheel.

Need help managing the stress? Here are five things you can do to help your mental and emotional health:

1. The mindset shift

Our thoughts have a lot to do with the emotions we experience. While changing your mindset might not change that looming deadline, it can have a big impact on your overall happiness level. When you’re feeling overwhelmed, try actively thinking, “of course I feel overwhelmed, this is overwhelming. I’m doing the best I can do in a really overwhelming situation.”

2. Ground yourself

Slow down your racing thoughts and connect to the present moment using one of your senses. One of my favorite ways to do this is to grab a glass of ice water and take a drink while focusing on the cold sensation of both holding the glass and drinking the water. This technique tells your mind to stop spinning, slow down, and actively focus on what’s happening right here, right now, so you can think more clearly and calmly.

3. Get up and move

Take your eyes off the computer screen, stand up, and move your body. Bonus points if you go for a short walk outside. Changing your physical environment, even for 5-10 minutes, can make the world of a difference. When you take this time, try to soak up what is happening in your new environment. Tune into the things you can see and hear to help give your mind a mental break.

4. Develop a "leaving work" routine.

Pre-Covid, my leaving work routine was to roll down the windows on my drive home, take a few deep breaths, and play a few of my favorite songs or podcasts. Nowadays, it looks more like putting away all my work stuff, and getting outside for a walk or workout. When I am doing this, I tell myself that I am physically and mentally leaving work for the day. I then focus my attention on the things outside my work life, like my husband, friends, a yoga class, a good book, or a favorite tv show. ​

5. Change your mindset- part two.

If you are working overtime at home or staying late at the office, you may find yourself building resentment and thinking, “I can’t believe they’re making me do this.” Having these thoughts and feelings of frustrations are normal, but not always the most helpful.

Take a second and think about what would happen if you refused to stay late or bring your work home? Maybe you would be disciplined or fired, or maybe not much would change at all, and you would pick up where you left off tomorrow.

We don’t always like the options that are available to us, but it is really important for our mental health to realize the options we do have. Making a choice to take your work home with you because it is the better option feels very different from believing you have no choice in the matter at all. It is empowering to recognize the control we do have, even when we wish we had more control.

Work can be incredibly overwhelming. And sometimes, I believe there is too much emphasis placed on how we can learn to tolerate a stressful situation rather than what we can do to change it.

By incorporating a few of these techniques into your daily routine, you may not change the demands of your job. You will however, perhaps more importantly, be investing in your emotional health. And only when you are at your best physically and emotionally, can you offer your best work or make the best decisions for yourself. The point is to not lose yourself in the burnout cycle which has become so commonplace.