Talking You Through Work Related Stress & Anxiety

Help establish stronger boundaries, hold space for what is causing you stress, and remember that you can support yourself through feelings of overwhelm. This talk/meditation is perfect to listen to after work, before bed - especially if you are finding yourself consumed with overthinking and are unable to protect your peace.

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Transcript

Hello,

You must have found yourself here because you're struggling with some anxiety and stress around work.

Since we spend the majority of our lives working it's no surprise that it is such a big contributor to our overall mental health and mindset.

However the important thing is that we find opportunities to calm down our nervous system and restore some balance to our emotions when these work-related worries become too overwhelming.

So first of all I want you to know that you aren't alone.

If there is no one for you to call or speak to right now,

The sound of my voice and the heartfelt intention behind this recording is for you to feel supported and held through this stress that you're experiencing.

I am going to be the voice of compassion for you,

Especially if you're struggling to be compassionate towards yourself.

So let's begin by taking a beautifully deep breath and just sighing that breath out on your next exhale.

Maybe you even want to make a small sound when you let that breath leave your body.

You'll be surprised at how good it can feel just taking a deep breath.

I can imagine if you found yourself here today that you've reached a point where your body is feeling very tense.

You're holding on to a lot,

Maybe not just in a work-related sense but in an emotional sense.

So let that sigh be the gift your body's asking for.

Good job.

I'm proud of you for looking out for yourself.

Now given that you're listening to this recording,

I can imagine that you're either preparing to go to work or you've finished your day and you're ready to go to sleep.

Maybe you just want to calm down on your lunch break.

Now whatever state you're in,

Whatever time of day it is,

Right now we aren't going to focus on the tasks that need to be done,

On the problems that need to be faced.

All we are doing is being present with my voice and in how you are feeling in this moment.

And so whether you're lying down or you're in a comfortable seat,

Just make sure that your back is supported,

That you're going to feel comfortable for the duration.

Let's just roll those shoulders back,

Maybe turn the head from side to side,

Noticing if there's any tension that's being held,

Any stiffness.

And placing one hand on the belly.

On your next inhale,

Focus on your belly rising and filling up with oxygen.

And then on your inhale,

Allowing it to deflate as though you have a balloon that you're blowing up and then you're allowing the air to leave.

It might sound like an oversimplification but breath is the most powerful tool that we have to help regulate our nervous system,

Work with a stressed state.

It is something that you can use at any time,

Even when you're back at work and you're confronted by stress again.

Your breath is always there.

So it's safe to say if you're feeling particularly anxious and stressed right now,

You've been neglecting your breathing.

Don't be hard on yourself.

You're only human and because you've been feeling stressed,

Your breath has become shallow.

You're engaged with your sympathetic nervous system and you're pretty much getting ready to run away or fight.

But we don't need to be in that place right now and we don't need to be in that place when we're at work.

So try a few of those deep belly breaths for me.

Nice and slow,

Maybe breathing in for one,

Two,

Three,

Four and exhaling eight,

Seven,

Six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One and just continuing on that pattern of that deep inhale,

That slow exhale,

That slowness is what communicates with our body that we're safe.

We haven't got anything to run away from.

You're safe,

You're safe,

You're safe and I'm here for you even if you feel like no one else is.

Now as you focus on your breathing,

I'm just going to talk to you for a little bit.

Your worries or your stresses that you're experiencing right now.

A lot of meditation practices,

Affirmations can actually be very invalidating when it comes to the acknowledgement of our fears and our concerns.

Almost as though we're gaslighting ourselves into being positive,

When really we are searching for acknowledgement and validation.

We want to be seen and we want to be heard.

Well I am seeing you and I'm hearing you.

So just for me,

If you're alone and if you feel safe enough to do so,

Whilst you focus on that breathing,

Don't forget the breathing,

I'd like for you to voice your biggest worry in relation to your work right now.

I am feeling worried.

I am stressing about it and just voicing it out loud.

Now as we say those words out loud,

I want you to imagine that we're moving that worry from inside of our body,

Inside of our brain and as we speak it,

As we exhale,

We're allowing that concern,

That stress,

That worry to almost evaporate,

Allowing it to shift from our internal world and surrendering it to the external.

I'd also like to acknowledge for you that your feelings are valid,

Your worries and concerns are valid and we might not be able to change the reality of those worries.

Maybe we can't change the feeling because maybe it isn't even a literal stress that you're experiencing,

But maybe you're feeling some imposter syndrome come up,

Maybe you don't feel good enough,

Maybe you feel like you're failing.

So they might not be true.

You might feel like you're failing,

But you might not actually be failing.

Does not negate the feeling because the feeling is still there even if it isn't true.

So how do we combat,

How do we work with a feeling without gaslighting ourselves,

Without trying to use a positive affirmation to find our way out of these feelings?

Well the first thing we do is we acknowledge them,

Which we have already done and there might not be just one thing,

There might be many,

But let's just focus on that one that you voiced a louder moment.

We're just going to give it space.

We're not going to dissect the feeling,

The worry or the stress.

We're going to be with it and when you are able to be with that feeling,

You're actually being there for yourself.

Now that might feel hard because yes it is a lot easier for you to switch off this and go put on the tv or scroll on your phone,

But instead you're choosing to sit with the feelings.

I'm overwhelmed,

I'm feeling afraid of my job security,

I'm feeling stressed by my workload,

I'm worried I won't get that promotion and as you sit with that feeling and you continue to breathe deep,

A wonderful job,

I want you to wrap your arms around yourself just like you would hug someone that you love very dearly and you're just going to rock slowly from side to side and it might bring back some memories of being a child and being rocked,

That soothing feeling just like when you fall asleep on a long car journey or a train ride or noticing how soothing that feeling is to be rocked,

To be held,

To be soothed.

You're soothing yourself here,

You're taking back some of the power that you have lost on the journey to becoming this overwhelmed and this caught up in your emotions and in your stresses and so as you rock yourself,

As you cuddle yourself in this moment with this feeling,

There is an affirmation that we can sit with that isn't going to deny what we're going through at the moment.

I can be there for myself,

I am supporting myself through this,

I am loving myself through this,

Breathing deep,

Maybe stopping the rocking and just coming to a place of stillness.

You might have noticed that the gentle rocking has allowed your body to relax a bit more and that the breathing has actually helped you relax.

I know it's surprising isn't it?

Something so simple.

Now the next step in this process of calming ourselves down from this heightened state is to set up some boundaries.

Now boundaries can be such a powerful and beautiful thing to establish in our lives and that's because they exist in order to keep us safe,

To protect us but often we don't think of protecting ourselves from our own.

However the mind likes to be busy,

It likes to sink its teeth into a topic and it doesn't like to let go of it,

Especially if we get into a habit of doing so and so we're going to set a beautiful boundary for ourselves in relation to our workplace stress.

This might look different for everyone because everyone's boundaries are different and what you might need is very specific to your situation.

For example,

Maybe you're terrible at reading your work emails long after you've logged off from work.

You read those emails compulsively before you go to bed when you get into bed,

That's a very poor boundary.

Are you getting paid to lie in bed and worry and read those emails and fuel your stress?

Even if you were it wouldn't be worth it.

So a boundary for you might be,

I turn off my work phone at six o'clock and I don't switch it back on until the morning.

That's a very tangible boundary.

Other boundaries can feel very emotional.

You might not have work to do when you leave work,

When you finish,

But you might find that your brain is still focusing on it,

Emotionally you're still caught up in your worries and concerns or maybe what you need to face the next day.

So on your way home from work or if you work from home,

This needs to be changed slightly,

Maybe you allow yourself to think just about work up to a certain point on your journey and then after that point that's where your boundary lies.

That's where we take off our work hat and we put on our self-care.

For some people that might still feel difficult.

So maybe we need a notebook that we just write down work worries and work concerns.

We get home from work and anything that's still taking up space,

Maybe there's something you forgot,

Maybe there's a task that feels really urgent and you want to get to it first thing tomorrow,

It goes in that notebook.

And just like how we voiced that worry,

That feeling earlier on where we moved it from our internal world to the external,

That's what that notebook does.

It tells us you don't need to hold that anymore because now is time for you.

It's time for you to rest.

So let's honor that,

Let's keep that sacred.

So let's take that worry,

Put it in the notebook and then it's moved on.

We've let it go,

We've given it space.

Now this practice doesn't mean it's going to stop any anxiety or stress overnight but it is a commitment to an ongoing process of boundary setting.

So as you focus on your breathing,

Maybe thinking about types of boundaries you can set in order to protect peace because that is what you deserve.

You deserve protection because your peace is so,

So important.

When you're at peace you're also happy.

When you're at peace you're able to heal.

When you're at peace you're able to make more well-rounded decisions or balanced decisions.

You might not be sure what a boundary looks like for you right now but hopefully we've just planted a gentle seed there for you to think what boundaries would work for you.

Now the last step of our process together here today of helping you come into a place of deeper respect for yourself in the sense that you deserve to have time and space away from work where you don't feel so encompassed by the stresses that it might contribute to your life.

That final step is for me to tell you what you already know on a deep level because sometimes we just need to hear it from someone else and when I say it you'll hear those echoes within you.

It might be very,

Very quiet because often that inner knowing is really overshadowed by the overarching worries that come up but here you go the things you already know that you need.

You have faced every challenge in your life to this point and you have overcome them to be where you are right now and I know that you can do it again.

You deserve to be happy,

Simple as that.

If your work is directly contributing to your unhappiness I believe in your ability to find something better.

I believe in your ability to calm down your nervous system yourself.

You have all the emotional support that you need in order to get through this.

Whether that is within you from loved ones,

Resources that you can find online,

You are supported.

You deserve better than to spend your free time worrying but there is also nothing wrong with you if that is what keeps cropping up.

It's just asking for some attention.

Anxiety is this part of us that often feels disliked,

Rejected,

Unpleasant when really it's this very sad,

Unkempt looking,

Concerned version of ourselves that's just asking for you to listen,

Asking for you to soothe yourself,

To come back to yourself because all of those worries are going to exist no matter what.

Maybe they're a reality.

What you can choose is whether or not you spend every waking moment thinking about it.

There is an element of taking accountability for what you think about and how you spend your mental energy on working with that.

And so being here today and listening to this recording you have taken accountability and you've reclaimed that sovereignty over your mental well-being to support yourself through these stressful situations that we experience in this day and age.

And so when you find yourself back in this situation,

If you do,

That's okay.

Have some compassion for yourself,

Remembering to bring yourself back to your breath,

Listening to the most dominant feeling that comes forward and sitting with the feeling,

Finding a way to release the feeling,

Your voice through writing,

Maybe through movement,

And then re-establishing the boundaries that you've set for yourself in order to keep yourself safe,

Keep your peace safe,

And trusting and knowing that you are capable of cultivating that peace,

Of nurturing that time,

That free time,

And that you deserve to not be consumed by these feelings.

I hope this talk,

This recording,

Was helpful in supporting you through this stressful experience.

Feel free to return whenever you have need or explore the other meditations and talks that are available on our channel.

And until next time,

Always here to support and hold space for you wherever you're at.

Much love and many blessings.

Reviews

Thank you for sharing ways to restore calm. It was very effective and i am very grateful to have found this session.

Really peaceful and confidence building, thank you!

Thank you so much. I had myself a good cry listening to you and now I feel so much better. Dedicating the merit of my practice to you 🙏🏻

I could listen to this angel in my ear every day. Thank you.

That was truly wonderful. I felt so accompanied. Thank you so much for devoting your time to making this.