Don’t Let Them Break Your Soul: 12 Ways to Practice Self-Care at Work
With Labor Day weekend now behind us, summer is basically over, and many will be returning back to “the grind”. What better time than to now to discuss self-care as you adjust to the busyness of the post-summer work flow or get back into the groove of commuting and spending more time in the office.
At the beginning of the pandemic, adjusting to remote work raised awareness of work-life boundaries but if we’re being real, most work environments were not respectful of personal boundaries to begin with. Professionalism or in some cases, “grind culture”, has long promoted ideals that support neglecting one’s self for the benefit of the team, client, and/or bottom line. Messages that promote unreasonable productivity, urgency, and unlimited access make the workplace one of the most challenging places to practice self-care. Ironically, we spend most of our time at work (or at least we did pre-pandemic), so it is no surprise that there has been a rise in rates of burn out and chronic stress in recent years.
While there is no amount of self-care that can cure damaging effects of a toxic work environment, self-care is an effective way to build protective barriers around your physical and mental health and respond to adverse situations. This list was created with a typical corporate or non-profit office employee in mind, but some of these tips may be applicable in different fields and environments, including working from home. If you're someone who was not ready to return to the office full-time, this may be particularly helpful in easing back into the transition by intentionally practicing self-care at work.
1. Use your calendar as a self-care tool
Schedule lunch & other break times on your calendar. When your colleague adds a meeting to your calendar, automatically add a 10-15 min buffer before or after the meeting. Treat your scheduled buffer as if it’s another meeting and honor that time. If you’re one to forget self-care throughout the work day, add recurring reminders to your phone or calendar to drink water, stand up, eat meals, etc. Block off time on your calendar for focused work so that people don’t assume "free" space on your calendar means that you are available. If appropriate, when taking time off, add your PTO to your calendar and share it with your team so that there are no excuses for last minute requests or confusion about deadlines.
2. Spruce up your space.
Add fresh flowers or plants, photos that bring you joy, and/or aromatherapy essential oils to your work space. Add visuals that remind you of your "why" and that keep you grounded. Include items that activate all of your 5 senses (i.e. photo of water, peppermint, white or brown noise or healthy, tasty snacks). Include at least one thing in your space that sparks joy.
3. Practice good hygiene
As you return to the office, remember to continue practicing good hygiene. Keep a bottle of sanitizer by your desk to use before touching your keyboard and when using common spaces. Keep wipes to clean off your space, pens, and keyboard. Keep a mask just in case co-workers are coughing, sneezing, etc. Although the spread of the common cold and other viruses has been normalized, you can continue to protect yourself by maintaining practices established during the height of the pandemic. Covid-19 is also still alive and well so these tips will serve as additional protection.
4. Use breaks to reset and restore
Between meetings or focused work sessions, use 10-15 min breaks to engage in restorative activities such as stretching, brisk walks, or meditation/mindful breathing. If you have 15 min, use 3 min to transition, 8 min to engage in restorative activity, and 3 min to transition back to work. Set timers to keep yourself on track & to avoid constantly looking at your phone to check the time. If you have even shorter periods and/or if you cant leave your workspace, meditation and mindfulness apps (or listening to calming music) are great ways to disconnect as well. While you may have established a habit of mindlessly scrolling, stimulating your mind with social media may not be the most helpful way to reset and keep feelings of overwhelm at bay. In fact, it may actually make you feel worse, particularly if you get sucked in and end up rushing to the next obligation.
5. Communicate boundaries: Part 1
When asked to take on one more thing when you’re already at or near capacity, try these statements: "I would love to help with this, but I fear that the quality of my work would suffer if I take on another project at this time". OR "Happy to take the lead on this, which of my other projects should I deprioritize?" OR "I would really like to avoid under delivering to the client, their expectations are xyz." Use your own words and use emotional intelligence, but it is important to manage your time and energy appropriately. If you are not able to push back on requests during busy seasons, particularly when you know things will be hectic, it will be even more imperative to employ boundaries with other non-urgent requests and demands on your time. When your co-worker stops by to chat unexpectedly or adds a meeting that you know should be an email, respectfully excuse yourself and/or decline. “I’m at capacity for the week, let’s try to put some time on the calendar for 1-2 weeks from now when I can give it my full attention.”
6. Communicate boundaries: Part 2
You can also clarify the team/company goals and reiterate how the new assignment may impact them: "I'm concerned that prioritizing xyz will jeopardize our ability to achieve abc (impact on bottom line)." While honoring your emotions are important, in professional settings, it is often best to practice a detached approach to keep yourself from taking things personally. Your manager will likely respond better to logical arguments about things that matter to them (i.e. bottom line or company goals), than to your feelings about taking on more work. Count yourself lucky if you can have a candid conversation with your manager/supervisor that avoids this “game”, but unfortunately this is the reality of many corporate work environments. You can also commuicate boundaries to clients: "I will get back to you on a timeline after assessing the scope of work and internal resources."
7. Ask for support
If you struggle to ask for help outside of work, this probably carries over into the work place. It is great to try to figure it out and use your resources, but do not be afraid to ask for help instead of spending excess time and/or stressing yourself out. Try this: "I have tried xyz to no avail, do you have another approach?" or “do you have any ideas about what may work better?” Asking for help is a reasonable thing to do, no one is expected to know it all. If others do not respond well to your questions (once you’ve tried and demonstrated effort), that says more about them than you.
8. Utilize professional development opportunities
If your employer has allotted funds for employee development, make sure to take advantage of trainings and other skill building opportunities on their dime. Many managers encourage it, so your initiative to learn and grow can both reflect well to your manager, while also boosting your development.
9. Protect your peace, pick your battles
Your work place may not be perfect, but be intentional about what battles are worth your time. Preserve your peace and your energy by only fighting for things that really matter to you. When you are known to be oppositional about everything, even the most reasonable colleagues will take you less seriously when it really matters. Being perpetually upset may be a good indicator that you need to consider another job.
10. Use your PTO and sick days
Plan your days off by the quarter instead of waiting until the end of the year. Try to avoid explaining why you're taking time off, you dont have to earn rest. Do not apologize in your away message and do not offer an alternative way to reach you. Unplug and be present.
11. Use auto-reply during busy seasons
To maintain focus and resist the urge to respond to emails immediately, add auto-reply to all messages and provide estimated response time (i.e. 2-3 business days). If it is urgent, ask them to call and leave a voicemail providing details of request. Make a point to listen to voicemail during designated breaks.
12. Use app blocker to disconnect
If you struggle with disconnecting after hours or during vacation, use app blocking software for phone and/or laptop to block email and other sites. In some apps you can set up recurring black out periods to automatically block specific applications during certain periods (i.e. after 8pm Mon-Fri).
For additional support in learning exactly how to practice self-care in the work place and beyond, check out my offerings and schedule time to chat, I would love to hear from you!