Worried about returning to the office? I get it.
As you return to the office (or public transport, for example), you may experience not only positive feelings of life returning to pre-COVID norms, but also feel the more difficult feelings arise, too. You, too, may feel more on edge generally and have specific moments or events that can repeatedly cause you to become hyper-alert. You may recognise yourself being more irritable, defensive or being more guarded. You may also find it harder to engage with tasks or people, places, or spaces.
Be compassionate to yourself. As you know, I'm pretty big on allowing our emotions space. It’s okay to feel how you’re feeling. Challenging things are happening currently and have happened in the world over the past few years. Research shows that when we try to suppress our emotions or inhibit them the social impacts are wide.
Recognise your triggers and your reactions. Be specific about tuning into what you are feeling. Noticing the patterns will help you identify areas you want to work on and may even highlight what you need to push further faster with. It enables us to think about what might serve us in the long term as we reintegrate.
Behaviourally we are out of practice. Sometimes fear will control us into doing an action that won’t help us in the longer term. For example, we may want to avoid people because it still feels unusual or uncomfortable, and that will satisfy your fear response in this moment, but it will also feed that fear more in the long run, making it harder for us to re-integrate. Remember that the avoidance of fear, makes us fear the feeling of fear itself -- a vicious loop of ever-increasing fear rather than progressing towards the thing that will serve us best. See if you can design a plan where you can start small.
Look for the lessons As we learn to manage our emotions, there is a huge reflection piece to understand what we have learned and how we have moved forward alongside our emotions. If we track how we are doing, we will have a reference point for future times.
Each step we take in our re-integration may make us feel uncomfortable at first, but we will be moving incrementally closer to our goal of reengaging with life at work and experiencing the excitement and joy of being together again!
The original article I wrote on this subject was included in the top favourite reads on HBR for returning to work (click here to read)
Reconnected Leader
I'm so excited to share with you that Alessandra Edwards and I are collaborating again and we are launching soon!
I'm sure we already know by now the importance and power of human connection; this is why we decided to have this retreat in-person and just at the heart of Melbourne CBD. We aim to help leaders, professionals, executives to re-charge, relax and refresh the mind and the body. Reach out to us if you want to know more!
Number 1 Best Seller again this week in Business Health & Stress Amazon AU. So conscious that so many people are feeling fearful, this book was written with the intent to help us negotiate with our fear voice to make sure what we do in response to our fear voice is not just abstain, avoid and attack. Check it out on Amazon or speak to us if you want to buy with bulk discounts for your colleagues
So lovely to guest on the episode 9 of LEAN IN VOICES, New Zealand. We talked about how important it is to have a connection with yourself and others.
TAKING BOOKINGS FOR KEYNOTE SPEAKING FOR 2022/2023 (virtual/physical) Email Ellen via support@dramysilver.com to check dates for your event if you want your audience to understand how to stop fear interfering (with us as individuals or groups) so we head safely into our most powerful future together.