Nairobi News

Anxiety can be a debilitating thing to have. It feels like you’re constantly trying to keep up with life events to no avail, and it only gets worse when you’re working a 9 to 5 job.

If you feel on edge these days, you’re not alone: most people have experienced an uptick in stress, depression, and anxiety over the past year due to the rapidly rising cost of living.

It’s been a seventh-inning stretch of curveballs, as we’ve all adjusted to remote working, endless Zoom calls, and attempting to find a work-life balance. However, being in a state of constant angst can be a productivity killer and career saboteur.

However, what does anxiety look like? It often causes easy-to-detect symptoms like a fast heart rate, sweating, rapid breathing, and bouts of fatigue, and if you have been diagnosed with any form of anxiety disorder, these intense feelings of nervousness, excessive worry, or fear can seemingly come out of nowhere, consuming your day and interfering with your work-life

Firstly, of course, if you feel as if you aren’t able to cope, it’s essential to seek help from a mental health professional. However, there are some self-coping mechanisms you can turn to, as recommended by career experts and psychologists. Here are some of the biggest ways anxiety can impact performance and frame of mind in a professional setting—and how to work through it.

Anxiety makes you less focused
Anxiety usually takes form in cyclical disruptive, negative thoughts that feel intrusive to our usual patterns. As you fret over something you can’t control, you lose the ability to concentrate on the task at hand, engage your creativity, or formulate new ideas. In short, your brain is all over the place, except where it needs to be in the present.

But this can be altered by utilizing mindfulness techniques by training your brain to become stronger at refocusing your attention to bring yourself back to the present moment.

Anxiety makes you irritable
When we’re feeling off balance, it shows. And often in not-so-pretty ways. Anxiety can cause us to become irritable, impatient, and, well, flat-out grumpy. Though you shouldn’t force yourself to put on a happy face when you’re really struggling with anxiety, it’s crucial to control your responses to others in a professional setting— particularly your colleagues and manager.

It’s vital to find a healthy way to decrease your anxiety before heading into the office (or opening up your laptop at home). One tried-and-true solution is exercising for 30 minutes in the morning—a ritual that can help mitigate anxiety in both the short- and long-term, and this makes your work performance and interactions with co-workers less likely to be problematic.

Anxiety makes you disengaged
People with anxiety are in a constant state of fight or flight and therefore have a hard time focusing on the day-to-day demands of work. This means you’re either lacing up your gloves to become defensive or you’re withdrawing from your responsibilities and colleagues.

If you feel left out or as if your voice goes unheard, resulting in more anxiety, don’t be afraid to express your concerns. Make a conscious effort to integrate yourself as part of the culture.

Anxiety can fuel an intense fear of failure
Since anxiety is often born out of an underlying sense of dread, it can make you doubt yourself and your capabilities. After all, if something in your head is always preaching scary things, it’s normal to be afraid.

Whether it manifests itself as writer’s block or severe procrastination, the best way to overcome this situation is to take a small step in the right direction. You can do this by channeling your nervous energy for good. This includes acknowledging your feelings rather than suppressing them and then finding the silver lining. Instead of stressing about your anxiety and wasting energy trying to manage it, look for ways to use this nervous energy to help accomplish your goal.

Anxiety can stagnate your career
Another form of professional-oriented anxiety is based on social interactions. This means when you attend a networking event, you stick to the corner, hoping to go unnoticed and then leave as soon as appropriate. Or when your team members are going out for lunch, you’re too nervous about joining them for a salad and chat. Unfortunately, when we give in to our social anxiety triggers, we can stagnate our careers, since we may avoid situations necessary for advancement.

As you may guess, the solution for this type of anxiety is to lean in to that discomfort. If you change your mindset to think of every presentation and conversation as a practice that will help you improve, it may help get you over the fear. As you do this, try not to judge the outcome. Even if you do something super awkward, it helps to remember that we’re all human. With more practice, standing in front of a crowd and chatting with others can feel like second nature.