Articulate Your Feelings when Under High Amounts of Stress in the Professional World

In a professional environment, stressful situations are inevitable.

Whether it be disputes with co-workers, a misunderstanding with your boss, or a current project that is weighing on you, the workplace can bring forth a lot of anxiety.

Learning how to deal with this stress, and manage it in an astute manner, can help increase your overall happiness and job proficiency.

Through taking a step back, analyzing the situation, and ultimately addressing the situation, you can efficiently find the words to get your point across to your peers.

The ability to articulate your thoughts is crucial to the professional world, and will help you immensely in other aspects of your life as well.

Take a Step Back

 * 1) Refrain from acting immediately. When a stressor initially strikes in the professional world, it is highly likely that you will be surrounded by important people such as your co-workers, classmates, professors or employers. This is why the important thing to do is to not act immediately. The reason for this is that in the moment, you will likely be experiencing a mixture of anxiety, panic and very high stress levels that will definitely overwhelm you. These feelings can potentially be accompanied with sudden bursts of anger, irritation and impatience. If you react immediately, you will risk saying something non-professional driven by emotions that the stressor put on you which could potentially risk your position at said job or university as well as hurt your professional reputation.
 * 2) Leave the room. In order to avoid saying something that you will regret, politely excuse yourself from the situation. If it is an important meeting that requires your attendance, it may be wise to request to use the bathroom or to get some water in order to gather yourself and spend some time away from what stressed you out. If only for just a moment. People do not realize what a quick moment of fresh air and clear thought can do to the mind when they are feeling extremely overwhelmed. It is also important to notice that the amount of time you are permitted to take away from the situation is the same amount of time that you will be allotting to focussing on the following steps. If you do not have much time, you will need to be quick and efficient in the practice of these steps in order to gain as much as you can from them before returning.
 * 3) Practice breathing. Once you have successfully been able to excuse yourself from the situation, the first thing that you should practice doing is to control your breathing. This will allow you to think more clearly and not be clouded with the emotions that were forced upon you by the stressor. If you do not have a solid foundation on breathing techniques, you may benefit from reading up on the wikiHow article: “How to Breathe”. This article provides three different methods on how to breathe properly which can help you in different types of stressful situations or in your everyday life. https://www.wikihow.com/Breathe Proper breathing techniques should not only need to be implemented during signs of stress, you may benefit from practicing your breathing regularly which could help you avoid certain stresses altogether.

Analyze the Stressor

 * 1) Assess the situation. Now that you have practiced breathing and you are calmly tucked away from the initial stressor, you can begin to assess the entire situation. Being able to process the situation a little more calmly will allow you to realize what you are actually feeling versus what your stress was making you feel. Think about what exactly happened that made you stressed as well as everything that happened before and after it struck. Were you already on edge that day? Did you not get enough sleep? Did you miss breakfast? Do you have to get your car fixed later? This will allow you to narrow in on what happened that caused your emotions to become frantic as well as assess where your stress initiated that day.
 * 2) Determine if it’s valid. After you have had time to assess what is stressing you out, as well as rule out any other possible causes, you can now determine if your stress is valid. Is it something that must be solved immediately? Or is it something simple that is not worth all the strain on your emotions? If you have decided that the stress has not completely subsided and it must be addressed, move on to the next steps. However if you have completed all the prior steps and feel better, it was probably something minor that you can now move past and carry on with your day.
 * 3) Make a list. If you have determined that the stressor is valid and is still bothering you, it helps to start making a list. On this list you can either include all of the things that are stressing you out, or any tasks that you have to complete. The goal of this step is to help you write down anything that’s on your mind. Excessive stress can sometimes occur when you feel out of touch with reality, writing down how you feel or what you feel can help bring your conscious back to reality. In a professional environment, the pressure of getting work done can get to some people. Writing down a list of tasks can help you visualize what you have to do and it gives you clarity on how much work you need to get done. Being able to visualize the work or stress from an outside perspective will help you articulate your feelings more calmly and ultimately in a more professional manner.
 * 4) Categorize. After you have made a list of what is stressing you out and/or of the tasks that you need to get done, the next step is to categorize or separate your list. Some examples of categories could include: “Worry About this Later”, “Things I Need to Tackle Today”, “Out of My Control”, “Tasks”, “Feelings”, or “Potential Issues”. The most important thing about categorizing your list is that you essentially lessen the burden inside of your head. Instead of having a million things to worry about, you now only have 4 or 5 categories, which helps you stay focused and in control. The biggest problem with not being able to articulate your feelings is that your head seems to be moving at one hundred miles per hour. Many thoughts and scenarios are going through your mind that you have trouble narrowing it down and focusing on what you want to say. Creating the list and categorizing it helps you focus on what is important and it allows you to visually see the things that are bothering you.
 * 5) Clear your mind. Creating a list and categorizing it can be a lot of work and afterwards you might end up feeling extremely tired and emotionally drained. This is why it is important to take another step back and relax. Even though it might not feel like you have accomplished much, you have just finished the most important steps to being able to articulate your feelings and emotions. The hardest part is always understanding what you are stressed out about and why you feel overwhelmed when you are still in that state of panic. However, at this step you know know exactly what you are stressed about and it is all organized right in front of you. Now all you need to focus on is clearing your mind and imagining how you would tackle these listed obstacles if you were not stressed out. Just like tackling any major problem, it is important to take breaks, look at it from the outside-in and ultimately maintain your sanity.

Address the Situation

 * 1) Re-evaluate stressor. Now that you’ve been able to imagine potential solutions to your stress with a clear mind, it is time to re-evaluate it. Were you able to come up with a solution? If it is something that you have dealt with before, how did you manage it? Many people find relief in understanding what is stressing them out as it makes the problem seem less monumental, and more manageable. Sometimes, it may even make the stressor seem small and unimportant when it is sitting alone and not all jumbled up in the mind. Once you are able to see the cause of your stress in front of you, you can begin formulating the way you will address it. This re-evaluation is crucial to the remaining steps as it makes you determine for the final time exactly what the stress is, if a solution has been made or if you are still unable to articulate your feelings towards it. If you feel you are certain about your stressor but uncertain on how to verbalize your feelings towards it, that is where the remaining steps come into play.
 * 2) Research professional vocabulary. If the situation that initially stressed you out can only be resolved through communication with your co-workers, boss, or team members, it is important to research the proper vocabulary to use in order to get your point across in a professional manner. When addressing an issue to your peers you want to make sure you sound calm, intelligent and prepared to tackle the issue. It is important for them to know that you have analyzed the topic enough to have a professional discussion about it as well as make it known that a change needs to be made. This research can range from going on the internet to find useful tips, tricks and vocabulary, to going back and reviewing past assignments, memos, or emails with co-workers on this topic. If you can do this, your peers will know you are well-versed in the situation and will not think you are simply speaking out of panic and stress.
 * 3) Practice. After fully evaluating the entire situation, you should take a few minutes to practice what you are going to say. You can never truly know how a conversation like this is going to unfold, but you can still try imagining a few different scenarios and directions that the conversation could go in order to not get overly emotional if a specific response surprises you. It will also allow you to keep your composure and stay calm regardless of the responses that are thrown your way. You could even try practicing in front of a mirror as this may help you work on facial expressions, nervous habits and tone of voice.This is also a good time to practice dropping the use of words such as “um” and “like”, these are filler words that typically have no meaning, and they make a person sound ill prepared and nervous.
 * 4) Present your feelings. After extensive time spent breathing, clearing your mind and assessing the situation, you can finally bring it up to the proper individuals. While presenting your feelings it is imperative to remain calm and respectful. At this point you will be able to speak with complete confidence that you understand the issue and can either fight for your side of the story, or ask for help if the stressor involves guidance from your co-worker, boss, classmate, etc. Hopefully you will find relief in finally getting this stress out of your life, knowing that you handled it in the best possible way you could. Your peers will respect you for the time you spent learning how to articulate your feelings, and the courage to verbalize them in order to professionally find a solution that will not only benefit you but those you are working with around you.

Troubleshooting

 * Sometimes you are stuck in a situation that is causing you stress, but you are unable to leave the room and take a minute to simmer down. In these instances, it is important to still try and practice your breathing techniques. Focus on something else for a while until you have a chance to come back and address the situation.
 * These steps can take a person hours to fully accomplish, and sometimes people do not have hours to understand their stressor. In a fast paced situation, one can try their best to put the thing causing them stress on the back burner if possible. Try to go about your day as normal, and focus on following all of these steps later. Also, in order to prevent situations like this from occurring, you should practice following these steps with every small stress you encounter. It will make you well-versed in how to articulate your feelings, and hopefully give you the ability to find the words much faster in future situation.
 * There is a chance your emotions could get the best of you, and you are unable to keep yourself from reacting negatively to the issue. In times like this, it is crucial to find a chance to leave the room. Take a second to collect your thoughts, then go back and apologize for your actions. After this, you should still follow all of these steps in order to articulate what made you upset. Never let a situation that ended in a dispute go unresolved.