Whether you are working a 9-5 shift or any other shift, the battle to maintain your peace seems to always be on. Fighting the urge to be busy and work-focused can be mentally exhausting. I’ve found the five ways listed below as helpful in staying calm in a busy work environment.
1. Start your morning with a faith-filled mindset before you leave your home.
When I wake up in the morning I’m usually still extremely tired and my only focus is to make it out of bed on time for work. It can even feel tiring to pray or gather my thoughts. One way I’ve learned to improve this is by disciplining myself to meditate and pray as I walk around the house getting ready.
I find that in the mornings I don’t do this I’m usually bombarded with anxious thoughts about my workday. I’m left wondering how busy the day will be and if I’ll be able to meet specific deadlines. This leaves me feeling stressed and dreading work even before I walk through the door. However, if I get my mind still by meditating on the scripture or a song as I’m doing my hair or packing my lunch, the day ahead of me starts to seem less daunting.
2. Dig deeper in your morning commute
My commute to work is typically on the longer side (about an hour and twenty minutes). I find that this is the best time to read my devotional or scripture with the Bible App. (If your driving you can have your Bible read to you while you drive or worship in your car).I also try to listen to uplifting/worship songs on the train. This is another step to keep my mind positively focused. The morning commute can also be a tempting time to scroll through social media and catch up on what you missed while you were sleeping. Scrolling through social media at that moment always feels like a great distraction from the workday ahead of me, but I know it won’t fill me up with the peace I need for the day. If I do feel the need to go on social media at this point, I try to prioritize it after I’ve spent some time in the word.
I’ve noticed that when I spend more time in the scripture before work, I’m more encouraged and motivated to get through the challenges of the day. I find myself more secure even if I mess up on something. I’m already grounded in the fact that Jesus already justifies me and my identity is not in my work.
3. Head to the bathroom first
Every job is different. Sad to say, some work environments don’t even allow you a few moments to gather yourself when you first arrive. When I get to work I usually put my things down at my desk and head to the bathroom to put myself together (both physically and mentally lol). I whisper a prayer in the bathroom stall that my day goes smoothly or that even if it doesn’t, that I remember God is with me. This is something that can also be done of course at your desk or wherever throughout the day.
4. Avoid negative talk/gossip with co-workers.
I think this is the hardest action step. It can be one thing to control your thoughts and self-talk, however, it’s a huge challenge to control the talk of others. Work can be a great place to catch up with your coworkers when you have downtime, but as you know, sometimes office talk can become extremely negative and full of gossip. If a coworker comes to me to complain about another coworker, someone in leadership or the work itself I find that their negative emotions can be easily be thrown on me if I’m not careful. Whether or not the things mentioned in these conversations are true, it’s best to keep your mind positively focused. If I’m working at a great job and people are constantly bombarding me with what they hate about certain aspects of the job I might start to hate it too and grow critical. Even in a case where I was already unsatisfied with a job, this may lead me to quit. This a good time to slip on your headphones and listen to an uplifting podcast.
At work, and life, in general, it is impossible to operate successfully in isolation. We need to interact with the world around us. I’m not saying to ignore people when they bring negative conversations to you, but the more we don’t join in on the gossip and try to switch the conversation, the more at peace we will be.
5. Learn to leave work at work
Part of maintaining our peace while we’re at work is by maintaining that outside of work.
When we clock out of work physically, you should look at this as a mental clock out also. Whether or not the day was “successful”, work stays at work. One practical way that I have learned to master this is by not checking my email on my work phone outside of work. I used to think this was a great way to stay on top off all my email and be up to speed even before I walk through the door, especially if it was a Sunday night before work or I had just come back from vacation, but this strategy made me feel busier.
In reality, everyone’s work environment is different. Maybe you don’t work in an office setting and you’re a teacher who finds it difficult to disconnect from work because you have to grade papers or it’s hard to push away something personal that’s going on with a student. Or maybe you are working in the medical field and you can be on call at any moment. This is the reality that some of us face, the invisible tie to work that we can’t ever seem to cut. In situations like this, I believe it’s best to pray/meditate your way through the tasks at hand. As you grade the papers, as you bathe that patient, as you repair the equipment. We can be encouraged to know that we don’t have to feel anxious or pressured to go through each task or situation alone. Peace can be experienced with a simple change in mindset that God is right there with us, helping us get each task done (Matthew 28:20 )
If you have other ways to keep your peace throughout your workday, comment below.
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