by Edna Reis
Have you ever stopped to think about how work relationships end up having a huge impact on the way we experience the workday, the way we look at work, the way we motivate ourselves with work and the way we leave work back to home, or from home to work?
Whether we like it or not, we spend most of our waking hours at work and everything that happens during those hours has a huge impact on our lives. Challenges and pressures inherent to work are factors that are part of it, and we can even look at this with some understanding. But when the questions go beyond what the stress of work is itself, to the stress and toxicity that arises from interacting with the people who work with us, it causes risks associated with the rise of disengagement with work, anxiety, chronic stress and even burnout putting our stay at work at constant risk.
Nobody wants to work in sick environments, in fact, no one should work in sick environments. Unfortunately, nowadays many people think that we should wear an armour when we enter the workplace until the end of the workday, something that is completely impossible due to our human condition. We are beings who, despite being in environments considered impersonal (such as work), cannot leave our humanity aside.
As people, we are bio – psycho – social beings, therefore, even within work, from what is part of our biological composition, to what we eat, hear, speak, and feel, will accompany us every day, whether at work or outside it. We cannot stop the emergence of emotions. We can react when we notice their appearance, but it is difficult to adopt a robotic posture, pretending that we do not feel it in ourselves, in our humanity, when we perceive ourselves in an environment that affects us.
So, what to do? I believe we can start by understanding our role in the toxic work environment, are we not contributing to this? And even if we aren't, isn't it time to work better on our self-knowledge, our view of the world and limits to start dealing better with the setbacks of work relationships?
If you see yourself as one of the people who encourages or contributes to toxicity in the company, try to change, because as much as we consider ourselves to be arrogant people who mistreat others, and make other people feel bad, deep down we are sicker than we think.
If you find yourself in an environment that makes you feel bad, try to understand what you can change about yourself first to get as far away from confusion as possible, and try to find ways to bring lightness to your daily life at work. Seek help outside of work too if you need to learn ways to better deal with these issues, but my goal here is to make you realize that we shouldn't just feel-good outside of work, bear the brunt and then find relief in the things in our personal life. We should and have the right to have fun, enjoy and love our work and to be at our work. This is how it is supposed to be, and this is how it should be.
Edna Reis is a Psychologist and the Founder & Chief Wellbeing Officer of Active Wellness, a company whose aim is to help organizations to have a workforce with good mental health. As a psychologist, I consider it crucial to talk and make efforts to take care of our mental health, because this is a comprehensive part of the general well-being of the individual and society in general. The stability of the psyche of each and every person enables the stability of society as a whole.
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