Finding relief from Work Distress

Workplace suffering is something we all experience.

"When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us." - Helen Keller

Do any of these work experiences resonate with yours?

• Hopeless. The job applicant who has submitted a hundred applications and been through dozens of interviews but still no job offer.
• Deceived. The job that seemed perfect for you when you were hired, but you now realize is much lower than your skill level.
• Abused. The boss who has poor people skills and causes misunderstandings or is blatantly discriminatory.
• Ignored. The colleagues who ignore you and leave you out of every meaningful meeting contribution, social discussion and event.
• Targeted. The promotion that causes jealousy and gossip instead of support and pride in your accomplishments.
• Regret. The career that feels meaningless, and you wonder what you could have done differently.
• Vulnerable. The return to work after maternity, illness, or compassionate leave, that feels harsh and uncompromising.

Workplace upsets are emotional attachments to incidents around work and working when we felt incompetent, undermined, or underemployed. They come from disappointments looking for work or from interviews. They can be rejections or promotions gone wrong. Sometimes we experience interactions with colleagues, bosses, or during team meetings when we felt harassed or bullied. People experience work distress and suffering from being isolated, excluded or from working outside of their integrity, meaning and purpose.

We all have unpleasant emotions and triggering memories related to work. Typically, we brush them off and power through the pain, believing they are part of being an adult. Over time these emotions accumulate as wounds of self-worth, competence and moral integrity. They show up as unexplained feelings of sadness, self-isolation, procrastination, increased mistakes, and lack of focus. Productivity suffers and we question our competence.

The good news is that workplace wounds can heal, that you don’t need to go into a deep dark analysis or years of therapy to experience release, and that there are simple exercises you can learn to use daily for rebuilding hope, confidence, and self-worth.

One of these exercises is naming an unpleasant emotion around a recent event, measuring the intensity around it in the moment, and allowing it to move up and out so that pleasant feelings have space to take root. Of course there is a process and you need to experience it to understand how freeing it can be. But let me first explain how I came to learn this and many other tools to alleviate workplace distress.

I am a Conscious EFT Practitioner? and Emotional Success Coach? who specializes in relieving workplace, career, and management distress. Using a variety of gentle techniques and tapping into pieces of your recent work experience, I help professionals feel and act whole again. Whether you are in the process of transitioning into a new career or role, feel frustrated at your current level of employment, or can’t get past the blocks to productive work that never used to bother you in the past, I can help you reclaim your true “work self”.

When you are inside your own sense of goodness and competence, you become an attractive force. The change opens opportunities for good jobs, better compensation and healthier workplace behaviors. Instead of inciting gossip and jealousy, your confidence and integrity build a climate of expansiveness and inclusion that others love to be around.

You feel the difference, others feel the difference and the result is increased workplace happiness – in whatever way you desire to achieve it.

If you want to alleviate your workplace distress and experience both the joy of working – and more satisfying promotions and compensation - let’s chat about your situation and see what could help.

After all, as Mark Cuban once said, "Doesn’t matter if the glass is half-empty or half-full. All that matters is that you are the one pouring the water".

Want to be the one pouring the water? Let’s have a conversation. ?

About the author

Dr. Marie Gervais is the author of?“The Spirit of Work: Timeless Wisdom, Current Realities”. She holds a PhD in Culture and Learning in the Workplace. Through her work in leadership training, she has coached more than 500 supervisors, managers and business owners for career and business success. She hosts the Culture and Leadership Connections podcast, which features interviews with diverse leaders in a variety of professions. Her publications span industry and academic journals on topics including the future of work, workplace communication, productivity and psychological safety in the workplace. Her online courses and products are used by managers and career developers around the world.?