I stress all the time. I have anxiety. This also causes me to stress even more about the littlest things. I stress the most at work on a typical day to day basis. The first thing I try to do is drown out the panicky voices with Rationalised and logical voices but that doesn’t always work if I’m really stressed.
The first thing I do if I’m at work and I am really stressed I will take myself out of the situation, I do this by going to the toilet, locking the door and then have my back against the wall or the door. I then try to take deep breathes and do the 54321 mindfulness tool. This engages all five of your senses; Sight, Touch, Sound, Smell and Taste. To do this you have to look around you and the environment around you and pick out 5 different things that you can see. Then you find 4 things you can hear. After that you find 3 things you can feel that could be the floor, your socks, even you touching your arm. Also you have to find two things around you that you can smell. And lastly you have to find one thing you can taste, this could be your own mouth. This helps me calm down by distracting me and grounding myself in the now. It can also allow me the time to calm down when I need to quickly.
Sometimes I may even have a quick cry although I don’t recommend it because it’s hard to cover up and not look like you haven’t been crying. However, if things get overwhelming and you feel like you need to cry I would recommend going somewhere private like the toilets, your car or even go for a walk just to let it out. Remember it’s ok to cry, it’s ok to be stressed, it’s ok if you can’t always cope at work. You are not weak. You are a strong person even if you get stressed and overwhelmed sometimes. I believe in you and I believe you can do this.
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