’I feel overwhelmed at work’: possible causes and what to do

The feeling of being overwhelmed at work is a form of discomfort that is as common as it is problematic.

Many people develop a conflictive relationship with their job, or with the environment or company in which they work.or with the environment or company in which they work.

Sometimes, the main cause of this has to do with problems in the work context: simply too much pressure is put on workers or responsibilities are not well assigned, for example. But in other cases, this kind of discomfort has more to do with the worker's tendency to self-sabotage.

The need to combine work with emotional well-being.

There are companies and even workers who assume a very harmful idea for our health: that in our work, it is normal to be constantly subjected to a strong stress that makes us suffer for prolonged periods of time. that makes us suffer for prolonged periods of time. While it is true that this is unfortunately a common situation due to precariousness, this does not mean that we should normalize it or forget that it is a problem to be solved.

It is clear that where there is paid work, there are certain demands and objectives to be achieved according to productivity criteria, but to focus solely on this is to have a totally biased and partial view of the matter. Without a worker there is no job, and it has been shown that in the medium and long term it is necessary to find a balance between the skills and potential of the individual, on the one hand, and the production goals to which he or she aspires, on the other. And beyond the logic of production and the provision of services, the well-being of people has value regardless of the economic mechanism in which they participate.

These two facts, that the happiness and well-being of the worker has a positive impact on long-term performance and that it is also an objective in itself, make it essential to know ways to manage stress and emotions at work.These two facts, that employee happiness and well-being have a positive impact on long-term performance and that it is a goal in itself, make it essential to know ways to manage stress and emotions at work, as well as to know how to improve working conditions so that they do not just "burn out" employees, freelancers, etc. This makes the most functional and leading companies always dedicate part of their efforts to offer courses and training programs in emotional management for their workers, and conduct research to find out if there is something in the workspaces or in the "workflow" that gives rise to discomfort.

"I feel overwhelmed at work": possible causes

When a feeling of "I feel overwhelmed at work" crosses our minds, we are usually referring to excessive work stress.. Stress is a normal phenomenon present in all healthy people, and it is almost always a resource that helps us to adapt to the challenges of everyday life, making us quicker to act when faced with problems.

However, sometimes it leads to "vicious circle" situations, generating a problem that feeds this predisposition to stress. This often occurs at work, where the worker himself participates in the creation of the work pressure that affects him. For example, by not managing distractions well, leaving their responsibilities for later because they are afraid to face them, etc.

In this way, more often than it seems, the experience of being overwhelmed by our work is the consequence of this tendency to self-sabotage ourselvesThis contributes to the accumulation of responsibilities and our discomfort increases as a result, and vice versa.

Some of the possible causes that give rise to this are the following.

1. Fear of communicating errors

The avoidance of uncomfortable situations with colleagues or superiors leads some people not to report faults that affect production, which generates a problem that snowballs into a bigger and bigger problem. In cases like this, it is clear that good anxiety management can make all the difference.

Poor management of distracting elements.

Working with one eye on social networks, leaving the radio on, getting up every ten minutes to have a drink or a snack... These are some of the most common distractions. habits that not only lead us to waste time, but also make us feel physically bad, and then psychologically bad because of the wear and tear on our own body.and then also psychologically bad because of the wear and tear of our own body.

3. Time chaos

This is a problem that especially affects those who work from home. The fact of not having a fixed schedule means that sometimes they are tempted to do nothing for many minutes or even hours, and they find themselves in the situation of having to do nothing at all.The fact of not having a fixed schedule means that they are sometimes tempted to do nothing for many minutes or even hours, and that they find themselves in the situation of having to take care of many things in the last hours of the day, which causes stress and even makes it difficult to fall asleep.

4. Dysfunctional perfectionism

It is also possible to be overwhelmed at work by having unrealistic expectations as a reference point. having unrealistic expectations as a reference point..

This generates stress and even feelings of guilt and frustration when we see small imperfections in many of the phases of the work process.

What to do in the face of excessive work stress?

Of course, not all solutions to work stress have to do with managing emotions: material working conditions matter a lot. That's why part of the ways to overcome these kinds of problems go beyond the individual and have to do with improving the work environment and the way in which goals are set and laid out in the schedule.

But it is also true that the way we handle stress and anxiety has a big influence on how we feel at work. In this sense, you can always make use of useful tools such as you can always make use of useful tools such as Gurumindan app full of meditation and Mindfulness content designed so that you can apply them in a wide variety of situations and for which you do not need previous training in psychology. You will find more information about Gurumind on this page.