When we work in a fast paced environment we are going to have a response to that, because we're a human being with a body (and we're not a robot!)
The degree to which we are taken out by stress at work though, is directly related to how well we can understand the unique ways our body responds and how well we can support ourselves through that.
In this episode I’m sharing:
Links:
Join me inside my mastermind program Elevate.
Applications are open for a limited time. All the info is here: https://www.annabellematson.com/mastermind
Work With Me:
Elevate The Mastermind
The 4 Step Process To Release Emotional Stress Digital Course:
Visit my website: annabellematson.com
Social Media
Find me on:
If this podcast serves you, I’d really appreciate it if you could leave a rating and review.
Share this episode with a friend who may enjoy it too.
When we work in a fast paced environment we are going to have a response to that, because we're a human being with a body (and we're not a robot!)
The degree to which we are taken out by stress at work though, is directly related to how well we can understand the unique ways our body responds and how well we can support ourselves through that.
In this episode I’m sharing:
Links:
Join me inside my mastermind program Elevate.
Applications are open for a limited time. All the info is here: https://www.annabellematson.com/mastermind
Work With Me:
Elevate The Mastermind
The 4 Step Process To Release Emotional Stress Digital Course:
Visit my website: annabellematson.com
Social Media
Find me on:
If this podcast serves you, I’d really appreciate it if you could leave a rating and review.
Share this episode with a friend who may enjoy it too.
Hello and welcome back to the podcast. It's Annabelle Mattson here. And in this episode, we're going to be talking about navigating stress responses at work. So identifying the unique ways that your body responds to stress and how you can support yourself to move through those so that you can experience work in a lighter way. You can feel more calm, more grounded and more empowered at work. Even if the environment that you work in is quite fast paced and demanding. And when we do work in environments like that, that are fast paced, they can be quite exciting because they move quickly. But what comes with that is pressure. And we're going to have a response to that as a human being. Because we're not a robot, we're a human with a body and a nervous system. So our body is going to respond to that pressure because that's part of being human, even if we're really capable and we're good at what we do. So we want to be able to minimize the impact that stress has on you so that you can actually enjoy your work for a start, but also importantly, have a really fruitful and enjoyable life outside of work. And to me, that is what true success is. It's not about. It's not just what we're achieving inside the working day or how quickly we're progressing in our career. It's also about the level of enjoyment that we get from what we do and how much we can actually enjoy ourselves outside of work and how much life we can have outside of work. And the degree to which we are aware of our stress responses and know how to navigate them and move through them really impacts. Really impacts that how much we're firstly enjoying our work, but also how much we're enjoying ourselves outside of work So the environment you might be working in at the moment might be challenging at times But the way you experience it doesn't have to be and the degree to which these challenges Impact you or perhaps really impact you like take you out Sometimes is directly related to how well we can understand and respond to our stress responses So that's what we're going to be talking about today In this episode, I'm going to be taking you through the different. Stress responses that we often have at work and see if you can spot one or several of these that show up for you. How we can navigate and move through these and support ourselves to move through these stress responses. So that we can feel more settled, more relaxed at work, more grounded, and as I said, enjoy ourselves outside of work as well. Before we jump into this, I wanted to take a moment to share a little bit more about my mastermind elevate. This is my mastermind program that's beginning on the 27th of July and we roll for three months. So in this program, you're going to change the relationship you have with work. So where once work felt heavy and hard. It's now going to feel much lighter and more enjoyable. You're going to learn how to reach new heights of your potential and advance your career in a way that feels really good to you and to your body. If you'd love to wave goodbye to hustle culture and approach work in a way that just feels lighter on your body and mind while you're still reaching for your next level of success. Then this program would be great for you because I believe we don't actually have to choose between creating more success for ourselves and our own well being. We can step into new levels of our potential. We can call in and create expansive opportunities for ourselves in our work, but do it in a way that feels good to us and to our nervous system. And in the mastermind, I'm going to be teaching you how to stand in and radiate out. Deep belief in yourself and your skills so that you can work from this place of knowing that you're deeply capable So we roll for three months. We start on the 27th of july. The mastermind is a beautiful mix of a lot of different things You get weekly group coaching with me. So this is a mix of me teaching on certain concepts, there's Q& A sessions, we do energy clearing work. So you're going to feel really supported each week of the three month program, knowing that every single week you get to tap into the energy of this work through those sessions. It's an intimate group of other like minded women. We're a really small group, so we would be able to fit around a table together if we were in person, but we're on Zoom, so you can join from wherever you're based. And there's something really powerful that happens when you can join a space with women who have similar challenges to you, who speak the same language as you. Because suddenly you realize, oh, I'm not the only one that's got this going on and that's really healing in and of itself. You get access to some bonus programs, my breathwork course, my 4 step process to release emotional stress course. You get daily support in our Facebook group. There's also a beautiful private podcast feed. So this is where our weekly session recordings will be loaded up so you can catch up. Whenever you need to there'll be bonus trainings that I'll record on the private podcast feed as we move through the program and lots of other things as well. So if you're interested, check out the link in the description of this episode, you can apply for the program there. If you'd like to book a time to chat with me, I have complimentary 15 minute calls available where we can chat about where you're at and whether it's right for you. So feel free to contact me in the link below and I would love to hear from you. So, back to the episode. When we know how to identify our specific stress responses, and also move ourselves through them, you're going to find, firstly, that you feel better. So you feel more relaxed, there's less of that racy feeling in your body, you feel less on edge, and you're going to feel much more settled. So when those challenges show up at work, You can approach those from a more calm and grounded place. Also, when we're, we know how to support ourselves in this way, we have access to better, clearer, more creative thinking. We can problem solve more effectively. We're more present. We're able to enjoy life. We're also able to create that separation between work and life. That's going to feel a lot easier. Because when we're feeling stressed, and we're not processing it, We're going to be up in our heads a lot of the time, especially at home, like we might have left work physically, but we come home and we're just thinking about work all the time. And so it feels hard to like drop into that present state with that going on. So once we know how to create more of that separation, We have more energy to do things outside of work as well. So things that used to feel taxing on you are going to feel much less so, and you'll be able to hold work more lightly, and it's going to feel lighter on your body and mind. Also something that happens when we're good at being able to respond and navigate stress is we don't get hooked into the mind drama or the stories that our mind wants to draw us into. So like when we miss the mark or something doesn't go as planned, when we know how to process the stress that that brings up in us, We're more resilient. So when things don't go according to our plan, we don't get taken out by that. We have the ability to step up, to try again, to give it another go, to move forward with that self belief. So, let's talk about the unique ways that your body responds to stress and create some awareness around this. So first things first, let's talk about the nervous system. So our nervous system creates wellness in our body. It also helps us to deal with stresses in life. So you're probably familiar with the term fight or flight. So when we perceive or experience something stressful in our environment, our nervous system responds to that and it will activate and it will shift us into one of these four states that I'm going to be talking about in a minute. And when we're in this state of activation, our body is preparing to deal with the stress or threat. And then ideally, what we want to see happen is that our body then returns back to a peaceful, grounded baseline where our nervous system is no longer activated. So returning back to this healthy baseline is really important for the health of our bodies and also our ability to, to tolerate and, and deal with future stresses. It will also impact the way that we show up at work and our relationships and in life as well. So knowing how to move from that activated nervous system state, when we experience a stress, back to that healthy baseline, means that we can move through life from a more peaceful, calm, relaxed, trusting state. But, here's the issue. A lot of the time, we're experiencing stress and we're not returning back to that baseline. So we're in this ongoing activated state. And how we know that we're in that activated state is that we're having trouble sleeping, we're feeling overwhelmed a lot. Life's lacking joy. We've got big emotional ups and downs. Maybe we're withdrawing or distancing ourselves from other people. We're up in our mind a lot. We're struggling to be present. Creating that separation between work and life feels like a challenge. So let's talk a little bit more about your nervous system activating. As you go about your work, And every time you're moving outside of your comfort zone, which will be a lot, your nervous system is going to have a response to this. So you're going to find that you shift into one of these four states. So the first thing to realize is this is really normal and to be expected. So we talked about earlier, you're a human being, you're not a robot. You can't expect to go into Into a work environment where you're feeling like you're being stretched and challenged a lot and not have a response to that. You will have a response to that, even if you're really capable. And this happens to me every time I'm doing something new. So that's because the nervous system really wants in our mind, really wants us to stay where it's familiar. Because it feels like where's, what we know is safe. So when you go start a new job, or you join a new team, or you take on a new task or responsibility, or you're launching something new that, in my case in my business, or we're stepping into something that feels outside of our comfort zone, suddenly we're in an unfamiliar territory. And so the mind and the nervous system goes, Hmm, I don't really recognize this, this is not feeling safe to me. So it creates a response in the body. And that's when we see one of these four nervous system states showing up. So this is not something that happens just early on in your career. It happens every time we're doing something new. You know, when we're committing to growing and developing in our career we're going to see this happening. It's like an ongoing thing. So you'll kind of move through the cycle of Stretching beyond your comfort zone and moving into the unfamiliar and you'll have a response to that and then that, that will then become familiar and you'll feel that desire to grow again and move into something else, into a new role or a step up into new responsibilities or create something new. And then that unfamiliar feeling will come up again and you'll have that nervous system response. So you can see how it's like similar responses, but at a different level and we cycle upward through it. So throughout your career, you're going to have these responses. And it's about knowing how to manage them and how to support yourself through them. So how do we know when our nervous system is activated? If your nervous system is activated, if your body's responding to some kind of stress, you're going to see one of these four states. And as I take you through these, think about which one you notice. And you're likely to actually notice more than one of these showing up for you. So the first one is fight. So this feels like... Tension in the body this can be about getting angry either internally in your own mind or externally. So there's a stress that happens and then you start picking fights with people or it can be about like having those Arguments in your mind where you're like pulling other people down, or you know, let's say like a colleague did something that really triggered you and created a stress for you, and then you start noticing that for the rest of the day you're like having an argument with them in your mind. That's the fight response. The second one is flight. So this feels like, Anxiousness, this feels like raciness, this feels like overwhelm, looping thoughts, it looks like trying to leave the threat. So this can be like when you're in that state where you're jumping from task to task, that real racy feeling, you're in that busy energy, you're future tripping. I know when I'm in the flight response, I'm spending a lot of time in my head. And I'm like trying to control things in the future, like create a whole lot of future plans about things that I can't really control. That's, that's how that flight response shows up for me. The third one is freeze. So this looks like being frozen in place. So shutting down, withdrawing. It can look like going to sit down at your computer and not being able to do anything. So feeling like. You have no ideas, you don't know what to say, you don't know what to do a lot of procrastination. So you're scrolling on your phone a lot, or you're stuck in a lot of perfectionism, like wanting to do something, but feeling like it's not good enough, or trying to do it perfectly. That's the freeze response. The fourth one is fawn. So this is going along with what other people want to do. So you experience a stress, your body's like, ah, I feel overwhelmed. There's a stress here. And then you go into like people pleasing mode. So you become really polite and agreeable. You let other people make decisions or you're trying to make or keep other people happy or you take on too much to make other people feel better. So that's the foreign response So think about which one shows up for you the most like what's your most dominant one? You're likely to find that you might even play out elements of all of these. So there's the fight one. There's the flight There's the freeze, and then there's the fawn. So it's not that having these responses is a problem, because it happens to all of us, even if we're capable, even if you're doing great things in your career, it's not, it's not that it's a problem that they show up, it's not working through them that is. So when our nervous system is activated, it's really hard to access higher levels of thinking and to make clear decisions. Because if you think about that fight response, for example, or the freeze response where you're feeling so overwhelmed you can't even do anything, it's difficult to make clear decisions in that state. We're feeling quite reactive, we're working from a less confident state, we're responding from a less true version of ourselves. And another way of looking at this is, we're no longer in the driving seat of our life in the way we're making decisions. We've time travelled. So when we're in a stress response and we're playing out one of these nervous system responses, another way of looking at it is it's like your inner child is now the one driving the car of your life. So it's like you've time travelled, you're no longer operating from your logical adult mind, you're now responding. and thinking and behaving and making choices from the mind of your inner child. That scared inner child is now the one driving the car. And decisions made from that place really don't serve us. I know if my wounded inner child is the one driving things in my life, she would want me to stay small, to not be very visible. To stay small enough to avoid criticism or judgment from people. Or she would think that I didn't have anything valuable to share or would doubt my abilities. And if I let my inner child drive the car or lead me, I'm going to find that it's really hard to create what I want in my work and my life. So it's about knowing how to parent that child within us and essentially guide that inner child into the passenger seat. It's like saying to the little child, the little kid in me, the inner child in me, okay, I love you, but I'm the one that's going to drive the car now. It's time for you to get out of the driving seat and sit in the passenger seat. I'm going to take care of you. I'm going to help you feel safe. I'm going to love you. But. You're going to sit in the passenger seat. I'm going to drive because this, when you start to, when you can get back into the driving seat of the car, you step into much more of an empowered state. When you are responding to stress, responding to challenging things at work from the mind of like your logical adult mind. It's gonna serve you immeasurably more. Like, you're gonna find that things are a lot easier for you. So when we see these responses, we know, Okay, my nervous system is feeling activated. This is my cue to take care of myself before I do anything else. It can be so easy to get caught up in more doing, to keep pushing, to keep doing more things when we're feeling pressured. But it's only going to get us in more and more of a tangle. So it's almost a bit of a discipline to notice that stress response showing up and to say, okay, I need to stop. I need to pause. Yes, there's more things for me to do. But actually, the most important work for me to do is to tend to this response to guide myself back to a feeling of safety. And this is about returning to that baseline, returning to that rest and digest nervous system state. That, that rest and digest state, returning to that baseline is really important. We want to be able to exist from this state as much as we can. We want to be able to return to this state when we feel stressed. Because this is where we feel more calm. We feel more grounded. We feel more present to life. We're, we're more open. We feel more joy. We can make clear decisions. We're more creative in the way we solve problems. We're much less reactive. We can respond to situations from a higher level of thinking. We feel more safe, more settled, and more relaxed. So, a few questions to ask you. You might want to think about these or you could pause this and write them down. Which nervous system response is most familiar to you? And can you recall a recent situation? Where this state was activated. And then what physical sensations show up for you when you feel stressed? So how is your body telling you that you're stressed? We need to be able to guide ourselves back to that place of emotional safety. Because when we're in those states, there's a very real part of us that doesn't feel safe. And when we feel safe, we're able to do so much more work from a much more empowered state and in a way that feels lighter on our system. But firstly, awareness is huge. And the thing is, stress can show up in those sneaky ways. It can look like scrolling a lot on social media. I know for me, like when I feel stressed, I'm like scrolling on my phone. And when I notice myself and hooked into that pattern, I'm like, oh, what feeling am I not feeling here? What's the stress that I actually need to respond to that I'm trying to fix by scrolling on here? It can look like future planning a lot or being racy and busy, so it's not always showing up in the most obvious ways. Stress can kind of sneak around in in other ways too. So awareness is huge. And then secondly, doing something about that response. So moving through it. And there's lots of things you can do. You might even have things in your own toolbox that you find really helpful. This is a big part of what I'll be teaching in the Mastermind Elevate. So, how we can nurture the nervous system, how we can take care of it so that we're much less impacted by stress, we're less triggered by our challenges, and we can sail above those things. And feel more at ease as we do challenging things, as we work outside of our comfort zone. So that might be. Speaking or presenting or moving into a new area of work or taking on a new leadership role, we can do all of these things from a calm and settled place. And we know how to tend to the nervous system. So we go into specific things that we can do for the specific responses. So if you'd love to do a deep dive into all of this, come and work with me inside Elevate for three months. We begin at the end of July, link is below, but I want to leave you with some stuff here as well. So first thing, it's the awareness as we talked about, awareness of where your body is at work. So it can be really easy to get caught up in our mind because we're so busy doing things, attending meetings, and getting to the end of our to do list, that we don't even realize that we've been triggered until we get to the end of the day. So starting to create some awareness of where your body is at throughout the day. So checking into your body as you go and make a cup of tea or coffee in the kitchen. It's like, What's my breathing doing? How does my body feel? As you go to sit down in your chair or you turn your computer on in the morning, how am I feeling? And that's when you'll notice, oh, I'm feeling flighty. I've got that anxious feeling in my body. Or I'm feeling fighty. I'm having that argument in my mind with that co worker that annoyed me in that meeting. Or I'm feeling shut down. I'm not present. It's like, oh, okay, I'm in a response. So awareness is a big part, because then we can go into ways of like, nurturing that response. Because really what those responses are asking for is safety. So a great thing to do is to place your hand on your heart. What do I need to do in this moment to feel more safe? Maybe you need to ground. So you need to take yourself away at lunch and ground your body, go outside and do something that grounds you. Maybe it's going to the bathroom and taking some deep breaths. I love the breathing pattern in for four, out for six. When we make the exhale longer than the inhale, we activate the body's relaxation response, the vagus nerve. So that breathing response, that breathing pattern can be really helpful. Maybe you need to speak up. There's a truth that you need to speak. Maybe it's about taking some time to speak to that frightened part of you, that stressed part of you, to say, you've got this. You can do this. You're capable, I believe in you. Maybe you need to move your body. Perhaps it's gently guiding that stressed part of you to do something small, a small action that you've been putting off that will help you move you out of that freeze response. So it's, these are two really powerful questions to ask yourself. You may like to write these down. How can I support myself here? What do I need to do to feel more safe? Two great questions to ask yourself when you're feeling stressed. How can I support myself here? And what do I need to do to feel more safe? Because it's all here. It's all within us. We don't want to wait to feel safe when someone is finally approving of us. Someone has finally validated us in some way. Or we've finally completed X project. We often externalize our sense of safety and our sense of peace in all of these outside things. We can feel safe now. We can feel at ease now. We can feel peaceful now. And it's a gift that we can offer ourselves. So come and join us. Inside Elevate, if you'd love to do more of this work, this is the place to be if you're feeling burnt out or worn out with work, if you want to change your relationship with work, if you want it to feel easier and lighter on your body and mind, if you're in a space where you want to amp up your results, you want to step into your next level of success, whatever that looks like But you don't want it to put your nervous system into overdrive. If you want to learn how to call in more opportunities to do more expansive things in your work, but feel safe and settled as you do that, if you want to believe more deeply in yourself and to really know that you belong in the spaces that you're working in, then this program is for you. You might be in corporate and you're feeling the pressure of that. You might be in business, you're wanting to grow your business, work with more clients, and you know that this inner work is really key to be able to create that for yourself. You might be seeking a change in your career and you want to feel confident about making that step. You might have recently made a change and you're feeling some wobbles around your self belief. You might be in a leadership role and you want to show up in a more confident way. All of the details about Elevate are in the link below, so go and check that out. Applications are closing soon and we begin on the 27th of July. Feel free to get in touch with me if you have any questions. There's a link below to reach out to me or you can just reach out to me on Instagram or Facebook and chat with me that way. So I hope this has been helpful. Please share this with a friend that's feeling stressed out. If you know someone who's feeling challenged at work, who's feeling the burden of their responsibilities or feeling pressured by the demands of their work, send this episode to them. I hope it will help them as well. And I will see you in the next episode.