Welcome back to another edition of #MimosasAtWork where I break down everything about working at a PR/Marketing Agency, office life, interacting with colleagues, you name it! This week we are talking all about ~stress~.
With any job, there are stresses and anxieties that comes with it. It has been critical to my mental well-being to learn ways to cope with stress when things just completely feel out of my control. Since I work at an agency, I am client-facing which means that there can be a lot of unforeseen circumstances that can arise – that’s just the nature of the game! For someone like myself who doesn’t work well under pressure and loves to have a clear plan, living in limbo or having to quickly adjust with last minute deadlines or asks that arise can be extremely stress inducing. In the beginning of my career, I let this stress takeover and it was truly debilitating. My only form of relief was running to the beauty product closet and crying on the phone to my mom – we’ve all been there in our early 20’s.
As I have progressed in my career, I know that stress and anxiety directly negatively effects the work that I produce. I have found specific ways and formed habits that help reduce stress during the day to help keep myself grounded and not sweat the small stuff!
Don’t Look At Your Phone for the First Hour
You probably hear this a lot but honestly this is something that has been life changing for me. I start my mornings on my own terms and allow myself to level-set before I start my day. You guys know I LOVE my morning routine (check it out here) and cutting the habit of immediately picking up the phone and being on someone else’s terms completely changes my mindset for the rest of the day. I usually get to my office around 7am and immediately focus in, but allowing myself that hour to be alone and think is truly a game changer.
Drink a Glass of Water
For me, drinking a cold glass of water immediately helps me calm down. Being dehydrated leads to higher cortisol levels, so staying hydrated during the day is key. TMI but if you are drinking water throughout the day, it also forces you to get up, move around and go to the bathroom. Also I just love my cute water bottle.
Just Breathe
I have learned most of my breathing techniques doing yoga and it is so tremendously helpful. When you take deep breaths, you are basically tricking your brain into thinking that you are calm and relaxed. This helps to calm the nervous system and help with heart rate, sweating, ya know all of the weird physical effects that stress can do to ya. Say an email were to come in that totally makes me freak out, I take a few deep breathes and collect myself before reacting to anything. This helps me 1) have time to think 2) remind myself it’s not the end of the world.
Leave the Screen + Do Something Active
Whenever I am feeling completely overwhelmed in the middle of the day, I take 10-15 minutes and don’t look at a screen. No computer, no phone, nada. I like to move to try and wake up my body and get my mind off of whatever is stressing me out. I will usually take a walk around the block and then just sit outside in the sun. Sun makes me happy. As an office, we also do “squat breaks” which is exactly what it sounds like. We will get up from our desks and take a few minutes to do squats and get those endorphins going. It feels great!
So there ya have it, a few tips I have picked up over the years that help me immensely. And guess what? It’s all free!
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