When you feel as if you can’t get enough air and your heart rate is rising, it’s time for you to step away from work to settle down. Work and life involve many elements of stress that you may feel like you can’t maintain. If you endure frequent bouts of overwhelming stress, learn helpful tips to calm down when you’re stressed at work.
Take Deep Breaths and Stay Grounded
When you feel out of control, your mind can race, making it difficult to form a clear, cohesive thought. Keeping yourself grounded is a helpful tactic that helps you focus on what you can control in your body.
Some actions that may help include clenching and unclenching your fists repeatedly or firmly placing your feet on the ground. During these activities, take deep breaths in through your nose, hold for a few seconds, then breathe out your mouth. This repetitive action helps reduce your heart rate and clear your mind.
Find a Space To Escape To
You may feel glued to your desk chair and incapable of separating yourself from that space. Leaving your desk when you feel overwhelmed is the best thing you can do. One place you can go to is the break room.
Every office needs a relaxing break room that accommodates employees when they feel at their worst. It’s a challenge to push through the struggles of everyday life and the stress from work. With a relaxing space to escape to, you can try to unwind and give yourself time to recover before returning to your workspace.
Take a Walk
People use exercise as an outlet to release stress. While you likely can’t hit the gym in the middle of the workday, you can typically find time to take a walk. Go outside to walk around the building or find a place to walk indoors. Listen to music and let your mind be at ease before you return to your desk.
Keep a Journal at Your Desk
Designate one journal as a space to house all your stressful, anxious thoughts. When you’re overwhelmed, write down everything that makes you feel that way. Not every stressor is work-related; there are typically outside factors that cause stress as well.
Write these thoughts down to stop any cyclical, anxious thinking that can overwhelm you. Take a few deep breaths and leave those thoughts in the past.
Life at work is rarely easy, but you’re incredibly strong and can fight whatever stressors come your way. Following these tips on how to calm down when you’re stressed at work will strengthen your ability to overcome these hardships.