How to Get Over a Workday When the World Seems to Be in Turmoil
I don’t need to remind you of everything that happens in the world. It’s not about right or wrong, weapons or borders, and certainly not politics or which politician tweets what. It’s about you.
This article originally appeared on Muse .
When the severity of what you’ve seen and heard threatens to rip your heart in two, how can you get enthusiastic before meeting at 10am or expect to be puzzled over completing this report by the end of the day?
Doesn’t it seem silly to dive into the little things of your day-to-day work after such a serious tragedy? Those hundreds of tiny things on your to-do list suddenly seem so much smaller when the shadow of something terrible looms large. But you can’t just stop working. You are not going to quit your job or give up the career you have built. So what are you doing?
Here are three thoughts to help you cope.
1. Love your responsibilities
Cannons. The crime. War. Disease. Terror. Drought. Refugees. And so on and so forth. There are many soul-stirring things going on there. They are happening right now, they happened yesterday, and they will probably happen tomorrow too. Focusing on your day-to-day responsibilities when there is a lot of loss and sadness around you is difficult.
You may feel unsettled. All that you can see – this is a larger landscape, and from this point of view it is easy to feel that what you are doing, in fact, does not matter, or if you’re still all-bend and begin to celebrate something your to-do list, then you are somehow missing the point or doing people a disservice.
But having a job and a set of responsibilities is not incompatible with being a caring person.
Need to attend a meeting at 5:00 pm? Fine. I love the fact that you come and do a great job. Have you just been asked to take on a new project? Awesome. Now dive into it and enjoy the opportunity. Forced to hold a colleague in your arms during a common assignment? Ideally. It’s great that you can help someone and influence their work.
Feelings, caring, and memory do not require you to stop everything else, and the decision to accept and love your responsibilities rather than disconnect from them can have a transformative effect.
2. “Feed the Angels”
Fear, pain and anger are like locomotives racing through you. These powerful emotions, overwhelming, hitting and shattering, take your attention away from the task at hand.
Applying yourself to work, with a steam train rolling through your head and through your heart, is not easy, and buckling up to complete the deck probably seems downright trivial. Before long, you are struggling to maintain a balanced and calm demeanor.
Maybe you are angry with a coworker who asks you a question you think is stupid. You may be thinking, “Okay, I’ll do it myself,” when something is not completed as you expected. And maybe you will roll your eyes and object to the small talk you hear in the booths and corridors.
But you don’t need to feed these things. You don’t need to heat a stove that causes bitterness, misunderstanding, or condemnation. What if, instead, you performed your best in response to a terrible event?
Think of generosity with time or spirit rather than donning armor. Empathy is greater than division. Compassion over judgment. Your best work experience was when you were at your best, and don’t think for a moment that choosing to be like that now is an inappropriate reaction to something terrible.
Feed angels, not demons.
3. Breathe and carry on
When all is said and done, you still have work to do. I know, I know that moving numbers in a spreadsheet or holding a marketing strategy meeting seems ridiculous compared to what’s out there. But this is something. And having something solid to focus on in a world that seems to be changing can help provide the balance you’re so desperately seeking.
So breathe.
Breathe in and realize how lucky you are to have a job, to be alive and well, to sit in an office, get paid for a job you care about (or at least hopefully don’t hate it). At best, you are surrounded by people who are good, decent people, and at worst, you have a work friend or someone with whom you can have a cup of afternoon tea. Take a look around, take a deep breath and think how lucky you are.
On some days, it will still be difficult for you to take care of the work ahead when you have more to think about. You may even (temporarily) consider your work to be insignificant depending on what is happening in the world, and that’s okay too. Allowing yourself to feel things and processes is part of getting back on track. Remember: you are allowed to slow down until you are ready for more. And doing your job is not incompatible with being a caring person who is worried about what is happening in the world.
How to get over a working day when the world is crumbling | Muse