We’ve all experienced them: a horrible day brought on by an unpleasant client or coworker. How can you deal with stress, and get rid of the emotion so it doesn’t follow you tomorrow?
The trick, according to experts, is to conclude the day doing something pleasurable and relaxing before going to bed so you can get a good night’s sleep.
For many individuals (including myself), awful days may feel like an avalanche of emotions: you could be furious, upset, confused, down on yourself, unhappy with your place in the world. For some, this makes it difficult to concentrate on work, while for others, it makes you frustrated enough to strike out at everyone around you.
Some people enjoy cleaning their desks before leaving the office because they don’t want to come back to a cluttered desk and it helps them clear their minds.
I’ve discovered that by guarding my morning hours, which are my peak production hours, I can reduce the stress I put on myself in the afternoon, making it more difficult for me to take and carry over that negativity into the evening. Some people keep a list. It turns out that what we do after hours is more essential than what we do during the day.
How to overcome a bad day at work
We are so busy sometimes that negative emotions can come closer to us. When we eventually realise them, we may dismiss them as a result of overall tension or a terrible mood, then try to get through the rest of the day without looking into what’s really going on.
However, identifying your emotions may be quite beneficial. Are you upset? Overloaded? Anxious? Are you disappointed or depressed? You’ve already made a significant step toward removing the emotion’s hold on your thoughts and mood by acknowledging it.
You’ll be in a lot better position to recognise what produced your feelings once you’ve found out how you’re feeling. Has your manager criticised your work or failed to recognise a triumph? Was it something your partner said that morning, or something you said that you later regretted? Do you have a stomach ache or a lack of sleep?
You’ll have a higher chance of resolving your gloomy mood once you’ve identified the cause(s). And fixing it doesn’t have to include tackling the problem head-on. Perhaps all you can do for now is vent your frustrations to a trusted friend — or formally delegate the problem to someone else until you have the tools to deal with it.
How to deal with stress after an awful work day
With so many emotions running through your mind, how can you possibly get through a bad start to the day and be productive? Do you hide under a rock and pray the next eight hours will go away?
The response is a resounding ‘no!’ You must gather yourself and find a means to get through the challenging start to your day. To assist you, we’ve come up with a list of the most effective techniques on how to deal with stress and to recover from a bad day.
Take a walk
Take a quick, energetic walking. Have you ever found that practicing workout makes you feel less stressed? This is due to the fact that exercise burns adrenaline and releases all of the feel-good endorphins.
Walking around your building during your lunch break or next break is a wonderful opportunity to do so.
When you take yourself out of the pressure of the situation and put yourself in a different environment, it frequently creates just enough psychological space for you to obtain a fresh perspective on the problem.
Furthermore, exercise boosts the synthesis of the neurotransmitter dopamine in our brains, which helps us feel motivated and cheerful and may completely change our mood
Pay much attention to your comfortable environment
Your work environment has an influence on your mood, motivation, mental health, and productivity. Employees who work in a depressing office environment with unpleasant coworkers are unlikely to speak up because they lack the confidence or job satisfaction to do so.
As a result, having a good work atmosphere is important to the success of your work.
Clear your thoughts by writing it down
Another tips on how to deal with stress, is to make a mental list of your emotions in a blank Word document.
Type as quickly as you can and put everything in one document. Read it through, consider what’s actually going on, and see if there’s anything you can do to improve the situation, then delete the text.
Speak with a friend about it
When you’re in a good mood, picking up the phone and talking to a buddy — or going down to speak with a coworker — is probably natural and easy to you. But what if you’re having a bad day? Then it becomes much more difficult.
A talk with a supportive friend may transform the entire nature of your day, yet wallowing in isolation is unlikely to help you feel any better. It can be difficult, but it is well worth the effort.
Play games, enjoy your time
Play video games or do anything else changes your mind. Video games require a lot of mental focus, so they’re a good way to get your mind off things.
Just don’t do it when you’re on the clock; instead, take out your phone and load your favourite game during a break.
To de-stress, most of us turn to video games. It’s extremely attractive to pick up the controller or switch on your computer after a long, hard day at work and play a few rounds of your favourite game.
However, video games may often be exhausting rather than relaxing. What is the reason behind this? Is it true that video games may help you relax?
Playing video games can help you relax in the ways listed below:
- Video games are fun and engaging to play, which helps to release stress.
- Dopamine is released as a result of gaming, which makes you feel happy.
- Video games provide a task and reward you for overcoming it, resulting in a sense of accomplishment.
- Gaming can promote a state of peace that is identical to meditation.
- Instant reward is provided by video games, which helps to alleviate the stress of reaching long-term goals.
- Gaming may be a creative and artistic hobby that can help you relax.
- After a hard day, video games may lead to important social interactions, which is a wonderful way to unwind.
Practice some brain exercises
When searching for ways to how to deal with stress, you’ve probably heard of, if not tried, some of the many brain training games, websites, and applications available. Many of these programs promise that digital brain workouts may improve mental flexibility, keep you emotionally sharp and even make you smarter.
While there is still much discussion about whether or not these claims are accurate, there is a possibility that playing these sorts of mental games is beneficial to your brain.
The exact amount is still up for discussion. If you think you’d enjoy such activities, there’s a good list of brain-training tools you might want to look into.
Physical exercise and mental exercises can both assist to calm the mind. Most of the time, this is talking things out with a sympathetic ear, which might be a friend, a priest, or a qualified counsellor or psychotherapist.
However, you may do it yourself by utilising the power of your mind to alleviate stress. Formal meditation techniques have helped many people relieve stress and gain perspective by simply jotting down their thoughts and feelings.
Meditation is a great example of mind-body integration. Meditation can actually counteract the physiological indications of stress by speeding up the heart and raising blood pressure.
Meditation may slow the heart rate, drop blood pressure, reduce breathing rate, decrease oxygen consumption, lower blood adrenaline levels, and adjust skin temperature, according to scientific research conducted by Indian yoga teachers.
Commit a random act of kindness
Kindness is defined as a compassionate behavioural reaction and unselfish actions, or an attitude that prioritises concern for others over one’s own interests.
Random acts of kindness boost a person’s happiness for a variety of reasons. Because gratitude is a result of kindness. You are kind to others in need, which enhances your appreciation of your own joy and happiness. Kindness generates empathy and respect, which leads to a sense of social connectivity.
Depressed people who feel alienated and different might be motivated to live by acts of kindness; this is why volunteering is so effective. When you feel linked to others, you feel less alone and more likely to believe that our experiences are more similar than diverse.
Rather than dividing us, feeling linked brings us closer together. Kindness has the power to foster a sense of belonging and community.
Using the power of music to relieve stress
Music has a significant emotional influence on us. We may be made happier by upbeat music, made sadder by sad music, and everything in between. According to studies, uplifting music can evoke joyful memories, allowing you to escape your terrible day and return to happier times.
So, if you’re having a bad day at work, turn on some of your favourite music to instantly change your attitude and wake you up.
However, If you want to think critically, keep to music you’re already familiar with or music that doesn’t have lyrics so you don’t get too caught up in it.
In Summary
Bad days are unavoidable considering the time we spend at work. Even the most well-prepared among us will not be able to avoid every obstacle we will face. As a result, we require tools to help us escape our pain and return to a state of pleasure, satisfaction, and efficiency.
We can handle everything the workweek throws at us if we have a few bad day “first-aid recommendations” in our pockets, so we know how to deal with stress.
All of the mentioned suggestions will undoubtedly assist you in recovering from a tough day or weeks at work. Allowing a single day to ruin your entire week is not a good idea. Relax and get on with it. Keep in mind that the darkest hour is just before dawn. So, stay upbeat and positive at all times.
About the Author
Arman Tovmasyan is a SEO expert and digital marketing guru. He writes articles about how traditional and digital marketing tactics may be implemented in combination to help businesses reach a larger audience and increase conversions. He has a Université Jean Moulin (Lyon III) Licentiate degree in Management.
