Stress Awareness Month (April 1 – 30) is the perfect time to share tips and open up about workplace stress
Stress Awareness Month can pass by unnoticed, but it’s so important to regularly check in with your team and share tips!
But this April brings more than just Stress Awareness Month. It also marks just over one year since we packed up the office and began working from home. We all know that remote working can be isolating and bad for mental health, so it’s vital that we take every opportunity to check-in with our team.
I asked my lovely colleagues for their remote working stress management tips and they had a lot to say!
How do you manage stress?
1 – Make a list but don’t stick to it!
“I’m big on writing to-do lists to manage my thoughts and I make sure that I take the time to cross off every task at the end of the day.
“But I also give myself permission to push a task to tomorrow if I need to.”
– Daisy Hanson, Content Marketing Executive
2 – Put it in perspective
“Remember that your stress is temporary. One day, you’ll wake up and you’ll realise that whatever you were stressing about has resolved – for better or for worse – but probably much better than you feared.
“You might no longer think about it. You’ll have done the best you can and life will go on.
“I try to remember that when the stress is hitting in the hope of skipping that predictable pattern.
“And I always try to remember to give myself permission to accept things in their current state and to turn my attention to the things in my life that are within my control.”
– Michael Mulqueen, CTO
3 – Stretch out the tension
“I do a free YouTube yoga class every day. I usually do a 10 minute class in the morning and other 5-10 minute classes during my breaks.
“When I’m stressed my shoulders feel tight. Having a good ole’ stretch out helps me physically relieve some of that tension.”
– Kristina Chapman, Marketing Executive
4 – Slow down and weigh up
“It’s easy to react instead of considering and then acting, but the quality of that decision is much lower. Being able to defer action is one of the differences that separates adults from children, but adults aren’t as consistent with it as they might think.
“If I’m frustrated, going around in circles, or feeling rushed I take it as a sign that it’s better to step back and return to it later – even if only for a few minutes.
“Things are often easier to solve the next day. And it’s much easier to take the high road if you’re in a better mood.
“Doing too much can be just as bad as doing too little.”
– Michael Mulqueen, CTO
5 – Take a break and a breath
“Taking a break from the screen helps to diffuse my workplace stress and prevents a kneejerk angry email!
“I walk around the block if I can or I will just take a breath in for 4 seconds, hold it for 3 seconds and then breathe it out for 4 seconds.”
– Anne Campbell, Business Development Manager
6 – Life goes on!
“Make time for everything else in your life.
“Life goes on, but it’s all too common to let stresses crowd out the things that make life rich and fulfilling.
“Don’t let work be an excuse to absent from your own life, it won’t wait.”
– Michael Mulqueen, CTO
7 – Fun relieves stress
“Before we began working from home I would go out and let my hair down to blow off steam.
“This no doubt involved going to the pub, drinking too much, chatting to friends, laughing and then dancing the night away.
“Doing this instantly elevated my mood because it had nothing to do with work. I was around happy people, and laughing is a great stress reliever and dancing is aerobic!
“It’s hard to find an equivalent in lockdown, but sometimes I have a few drinks and put the music on really loud in the kitchen and dance around like a teenager. I let go of my inhibitions and let myself be stupid for a while.
“I think enjoying play, dance and music and having fun is my answer. And all the better if you can do it without a drink.”
– Lucy Smith, Founder and CEO
8 – Find your routine
“It’s really important to come to a routine that is comfortable for you. This helps you to be more productive and relieve unnecessarily stress.
“If you’re working from home like me, it’s so important to make getting out of your workspace part of that routine. Go for a walk, grocery shopping or just get away from your work table during break hours.”
– Vidhi Bhavsar, Platform Manager
I hope that my team’s tips can help you manage your stress this Stress Awareness Month!
If you want to get better at helping your team manage their stress, we have another article with more DigitalGrads team tips here!