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Breathing – it's something we all do without even thinking about it, keeping us alive and kicking....
Have you ever felt crushed by a toxic environment at work and frustrated with difficult stakeholders? We all experience moments in life that can be emotionally intense and difficult to manage. However, for working women, toxic environments have the incredible ability to make you feel unable to control your emotional response in a tense scenario.
No one wants to shed a tear at work work or wake up at 3am replaying a conversation in your mind - and it doesn’t have to be that way! With the right mindset and tools, you can take back your power and learn how to manage your emotional landscape without being overwhelmed by it.
In this article, I’ll explore how to recognise external factors that trigger internal response, how to manage your emotional landscape and steps to better control your response in stressful situations.
What are common external factors that trigger challenging emotions?
Triggers can come in the form of events such as arguments, reminders of painful memories, or stressful interactions. Although these triggers are out of our control, it is important to understand that we can always control our internal response to them.
Triggers can come in the form of events such as arguments, reminders of painful memories, or stressful interactions. Although these triggers are out of our control, it is important to understand that we can always control our internal response to them.
To do this, we must first recognise our triggers and learn to separate them from our reactions. This creates an opportunity to identify our thoughts and feelings and view them in an objective way. Once we understand our reaction to the trigger, we can make informed decisions about how best to manage our emotions.
It is possible to control how you respond to triggers and learn to look beyond the stimulus of the moment, stepping back and reflecting on your situation before you react. You can use this reflected response to choose what actions to take in any given moment and choose how to best shape your environment, reacting to potential challenges. It’s vital to remember you have the power to oversee your own destiny and to control your own emotional landscape.
How can I better control my emotional response?
Controlling your emotional response starts with understanding it. Once you gain an understanding of your own emotional landscape and what triggers your responses, you can begin to develop a plan to better manage them. This might include practicing calming and grounding techniques such as mindfulness, deep breathing, and progressive muscle relaxation. You can also work on developing positive coping strategies such as journaling, listening to music, or talking to a coach or therapist. Experimenting with different approaches to emotional regulation can help you identify which ones are most effective for you and your emotional regulation goals.
Top tips to deal with stressful stimulus in the short term:
- Take a deep breath - taking a slow, deep breath can help to reduce the physical effects of stress on the body and allow you to better assess the challenge ahead. Check out my breath work video here.
- Enforce a pause with a statement such as 'I'd like to reflect on this' to allow yourself to think and get calm before letting your reaction get the better of you and remain composed.
- Reach out to your support network - lean on your support network of friends and family to help you overcome stressful situations. Reach out to a coach or therapist.
- Get Curious - take a moment to get super curious in these situations. Question yourself - what is happening within me? Deep breathing combined with curiosity is a powerful antidote, as the first brings us back to the parasympathetic nervous system and the second engages the clever, rational part of our brain. Together they can help us avoid going into fight/flight mode.
It is common to feel overwhelmed in the face of emotionally taxing situations but learning to understand and control our emotional response can help us to manage these scenarios more effectively. History has never seen rates of turnover as high as they are now. The impact of stress, heavy workloads, and toxic work cultures are taking their toll.
If you're tired of working with difficult stakeholders and never feeling good enough or want to learn how to remain composed during 'high tension' situations specific to your own working environment, then please get in touch with The Success Smith team to book in for a complimentary Discovery Call. Feel free to sign up to our newsletter to hear about our latest events and free resources on this and other topics.
