Stress

NAS75725 said:

I'm wondering if anyone has tried any natural remedies for anxiety

1 - get a biggish paper notepad and dump everything you are thinking about in as much detail as you can manage onto the page(s). Don't worry about getting it 100%, just dump the info.

2 - go for a long walk to clear your head. Keep off stimulants (booze, nicotine and anything stronger) and let your body begin to find its own pace.

3 - look at the page - add anything else you can think of and have a cup of tea or mild coffee - then start to look through it and rationalise what is an issue and what isn't.

4 - for each issue, get a new page, write the issue in the centre and write around it all the things that relate to it directly - get all that info out of your head and lock it onto the page - take its power away and freeze it where you can treat it like a logic puzzle.

5 - have another brisk walk and ideally a nights sleep - see if the stress levels are any different.

6 - go back to the pages and start to think what can you reasonably do about them - start writing up thoughts on a way forward in a rough form - no need to be complete now.

7 - Revisit this a few times and feel if your stress levels are lower - hopefully you are getting there now you have it locked down with solutions appearing. You have taken its power and are starting to exert your own.

8 - With a road map under way, try to relax, replenish your energy by doing things you like and take time to enjoy life.

9 - Go back and finish the road map, put things in motion to get the steps happening and plan when is a suitable time to head back to work. If you can afford to, have a few more days off just to recharge.

10 - Go back to work, have a meeting with HR if needed and with your manager to talk about how you plan to tackle the stress and how they can help you. Be sensible with your ask (ie 100% work from home probably isn't realistic) and work on a plan to take the stress out of the things that cause most of an issue for you.

I've had 32 years of experience with customer facing support and with the help of others here we can come up with some suggestions you can consider if you let us know what triggers you the most.

It takes you to step up and do the work here but this builds confidence so is worthwhile in my opinion.

NAS75725 said:

I'm wondering if anyone has tried any natural remedies for anxiety

1 - get a biggish paper notepad and dump everything you are thinking about in as much detail as you can manage onto the page(s). Don't worry about getting it 100%, just dump the info.

2 - go for a long walk to clear your head. Keep off stimulants (booze, nicotine and anything stronger) and let your body begin to find its own pace.

3 - look at the page - add anything else you can think of and have a cup of tea or mild coffee - then start to look through it and rationalise what is an issue and what isn't.

4 - for each issue, get a new page, write the issue in the centre and write around it all the things that relate to it directly - get all that info out of your head and lock it onto the page - take its power away and freeze it where you can treat it like a logic puzzle.

5 - have another brisk walk and ideally a nights sleep - see if the stress levels are any different.

6 - go back to the pages and start to think what can you reasonably do about them - start writing up thoughts on a way forward in a rough form - no need to be complete now.

7 - Revisit this a few times and feel if your stress levels are lower - hopefully you are getting there now you have it locked down with solutions appearing. You have taken its power and are starting to exert your own.

8 - With a road map under way, try to relax, replenish your energy by doing things you like and take time to enjoy life.

9 - Go back and finish the road map, put things in motion to get the steps happening and plan when is a suitable time to head back to work. If you can afford to, have a few more days off just to recharge.

10 - Go back to work, have a meeting with HR if needed and with your manager to talk about how you plan to tackle the stress and how they can help you. Be sensible with your ask (ie 100% work from home probably isn't realistic) and work on a plan to take the stress out of the things that cause most of an issue for you.

I've had 32 years of experience with customer facing support and with the help of others here we can come up with some suggestions you can consider if you let us know what triggers you the most.

It takes you to step up and do the work here but this builds confidence so is worthwhile in my opinion.

Thank you Iain for your detailed reply. I will work through your suggestions. Have arranged a meeting with my boss for next week to discuss my support needs and my return to work.