Managing Your Anxiety During Stressful Situations at Work

So, you’ve started your day with the best intentions possible. Maybe you did some positive affirmations in the morning to help you set your goals for the day. Maybe you left your house feeling less anxious than usual, or maybe it’s just a regular day. You get to work and settle in for the long haul, but then you receive an email regarding upcoming layoffs in your department and begin to feel anxious. An hour later, an email pops up from your manager asking you to step into the meeting room. Upon entering the room you see your manager, their supervisor, and a representative from HR. You feel your heart palpitate, your palms sweat, and your body tremble. How do you handle yourself in a professional manner when you’re already on the brink of an anxiety attack?

When you have an anxiety attack, your body goes into fight or flight mode. It starts secreting stress hormones in order to prepare your body to either fight or flee. This is when you feel the physical, emotional and physiological changes happening in your body. This response is extremely useful if you ever find yourself in sudden dangerous or threatening situations, but it’s more of a hinderance in a corporate office setting.

An anxiety attack can happen during any situation in which you are apprehensive or fearful. In the above scenario, a domino effect of apprehension and fear of the unknown triggered an anxiety attack. The symptoms of an anxiety attack such as heart palpitations, tightness in the chest, and sweaty palms can cause a fearful reaction which worsens your anxiety attack. In order to manage your anxiety levels, you have to understand what your body is going through and know what to expect. It's important to go through the process of finding out what triggers your anxiety, what methods work best to calm you down, and recognizing when an anxiety attack is coming. Once you understand the process, you can mentally coach yourself through an anxiety attack.

Identify Anxiety Triggers

The first step is to identify your anxiety triggers. Once you start feeling nervous or notice that your palms are starting to sweat, write it down, and try to remember what you were doing right before you noticed those symptoms. Maybe you can carry around a notepad and a pen, or use your cell phone to record a verbal message for later. Try to catch yourself in the moment. Do this for a week and then review your notes for patterns. Try to notice where you were, what you were doing, and what symptoms you experienced. Is there an escalating order to your symptoms? For example, maybe you always notice your heartbeat increase first, and then notice that your hands are sweating followed by a tightness in your chest. Or maybe you notice that you always experience a nervous feeling while hearing loud noises or waiting in line for lunch.

Research Coping Methods

The second step is to research methods that can help calm you down during times of high anxiety. Try talking to your doctor about the anxiety triggers that you’ve already identified, they might have some good recommendations for anxiety relieving exercises. You can also conduct your own research by searching online, reading self-help books, or talking with others who also experience anxiety. Remember, you’re the only one who can tell if a specific exercise or routine works to relieve your anxiety, and you’re the only one who can tell if you’re getting overwhelmed at work. If you need to step away from your desk for five minutes to calm down, do it. If you need to count to ten or 20 before responding to a supervisor, do it. If you need to do a circular breathing exercise before your meeting, do it. If one method isn’t working, try something else. Keep switching it up until you find what works for you.

Recognize Attacks

The third step is to recognize when an anxiety attack is coming on and coach yourself through it. You’ve already taught yourself to identify your anxiety triggers and researched how to calm yourself down, now it’s time to implement what you’ve learned. With daily mindfulness and practice, you’ll eventually reach a point of anxiety management. Let’s look at the above scenario from a fresh perspective now that you know what the 3 steps are.

In the above scenario, you felt fine until you received the email regarding layoffs in your department. The content of the email was the anxiety trigger (step 1). News about upcoming layoffs can cause fear in any hard-working individual. We all need our jobs in order to take care of our families and support our lifestyles. It’s normal to feel apprehensive or nervous when you hear about layoffs in your company. Then you got called into a meeting with your boss, your boss’s boss, and someone from HR which increased your anxiety level. You started to notice your body’s responses to the anxiety, such as sweaty palms, so you calmed yourself down with a breathing exercise (step 2). Since you understood why you felt anxious and knew what exercises would calm you down, you were able to successfully coach yourself through the anxiety attack (step 3).

It’s important to realize that you can’t control everything. You’re not in control of the company you work for, and you can’t control what happens there. You can only control your own thoughts and actions. No, you can’t control the company’s decision to lay off workers, but you can control your reaction to the news. No, you can’t control the content of the meeting, but you can control your reaction to the content. You don’t know what the meeting is about, it could be about a promotion rather than a layoff. Don’t allow your anxiety to run around unchecked, remind yourself that you are in control of your own thoughts and actions. Instead of snapping at your boss or crying during the meeting, remember the 3 steps and work through them.

Learning to manage your anxiety is not an easy task and it doesn’t happen overnight. It takes a lot of personal work and growth. It can be a frustrating and tiresome experience, and it’s okay to stumble along the path to anxiety management. No matter how many times you have to go back to step one, or do a breathing exercise, remember that you’re worth it. You are worth putting work into, and you deserve to experience happiness outside of anxiety. You can do it.

**Disclaimer** I am not a doctor, and this blog is not meant to supersede directions given to you by your medical provider. These steps are not meant to replace any of the prescriptions you’ve been prescribed by your medical provider. Please consult with your doctor before changing any treatment plans that you’ve already made with them.