Stress in the corporate workplace is a serious problem. When people feel stressed, this can have a direct impact on their emotional wellness and wellbeing. Stress leads to physical problems too, and can cause absenteeism, which costs companies millions of pounds each year.
Feeling anxious about work is never a normal response. It’s natural to get keyed up before big events, presentations, interviews and so on, but if you are finding that you feel anxious about going into work on a day-to-day basis, then something is wrong, and you need to look at making a change.
You may find yourself worrying obsessively that people are noticing your nerves, or you may have physical symptoms such as shaking, racing pulse, feeling short of breath, gastrointestinal upsets, cold hands, blushing, stammering, sweating and feeling faint. This can lead to you habitually avoiding situations that cause you stress, which can actually have a very serious impact on your job and, indeed, your future career.
The key to managing stress is to find a balance inside your own head. Throw away any idea that you have to be perfect, or that people are looking at you or that you are somehow not good enough. Instead, think about the words you would say to a friend in your situation and actually say them (whether out loud or just in your head) to yourself. Say things like ‘You are really good at your job’, and ‘You have done this before and it went well’, and you will find that you start to believe yourself.
Provide constructive criticism to yourself. So instead of saying ‘I’m useless at this’, instead feedback to yourself in a positive manner, such as ‘I did ABC very well but I need to work on XYZ’