4 Ways To Deal With Work Frustration

It’s time to help our mental health in hard times.

I’ve heard many people telling me that when work frustration happens, it affects their mental health. We’ve seen how work stress affects countries like Japan, there are many suicidal rates due to overwork mental-illness.

Have you ever those days where you just hated everything in your office? Colleagues you get upset about? Multiple tasks are given with a short period of deadline? Stressed out? I cried when that happened.

The point is, you are unhappy with your work. Not satisfied at all.

And it all leads to the conclusion that you just want to leave the company, however, you can’t because circumstances aren’t allowing you to do so yet. So you must ensure the bullsh*t that they gave you.

Yea, been there done that.

As a young person new in the job field, I used to complain a lot. I think I still do. I would rant it on my Mom nearly every week, and she got fed up hearing me whining so I knew I had to shut up and learn to deal with it. I had to learn to cope with this myself to keep me sane.

So in this article, I want to show you how I deal with those work frustration. I am working as a coordinator and doing my best to cope with the pressure until the right time I can leave the company to work full time on my business. I hope this will help you:

1) Stop everything first

Pause. Breathe. Take yourself off from work and let it all sink in first. Let all your frustrations out. Bottling it up won’t make anything better, so it’s best to feel what you want to feel. Take at least 15 minutes away from work but if you need more time, it’s alright.

When work frustration happens, I immediately stopped whatever I was doing. I didn’t want to see my work again, and I marched out of my office to take a break. I walked outside the building a couple of times to cool off, it was just too overwhelming.

If you are frustrated at home, still at the work from home, there is a better strategy for this. Sleep. Take a nap. Play some video games first or watch some silly videos on Youtube.

The point is: pretend like you are not responsible to do anything first. Just relax because our minds are not at the best when frustrated. That’s why the best way when we first received the ‘bad’ news is to stop first.

2) Talk to someone

This actually similar to the first one to let out the frustration If you have a close co-worker who is willing to listen for your rant for a while, tell them about your frustration.

If you are a religious person, talking to God about your frustration helps as well. You might think it’s silly, but telling Him that you needed help is also a great way to let out your frustrations. Remember that our lives are in His hands and He knows what’s best for us.

Recently, my leader shared with us that he is also feeling overwhelmed with all the tasks given lately. So instead of the usual meeting where we talk about work stuff, we spoke about what we are feeling and some silly things we found on the internet. It was a fun conversation.

For the next half an hour, it feels like the harsh things that we find impossible seem to be piecing together. The first bad feeling I had when I heard the news suddenly became a little lighter. One thing for sure is that we are not alone.

After that, I was able to face the work I needed to do.

3) Write it down

This is another way to release the emotion if we don’t have anyone to talk to. I was feeling after it was suggested by friends and the internet. In a way, yes, when I am frustrated, I write it down. Kind of like now, I wrote it here:

After I wrote that and published it, the anxiety I had began to fade a little. It’s still there, but it didn't weigh me down like the first time I heard the news. The best feeling is when we write it down in a piece of paper, then we crumple it and throw it into the bin. For me, it felt like I was able to land a blow to that negativity in my mind.

With all the emotions out, my mind was able to be a little clearer. It used to be hazy, and now there’s a little light coming in. I just needed to remember that I can do this in these dark times.

“Happiness can be found in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.” — Albus Dumbledore.

Leading to my last point….

4) Think through it

Once you have cooled off, try to go back to that work and think about what you can do to solve it.

At first, I find this dumb. Why would I want to work on something that I deem impossible? But really, there are solutions to this. Our minds weren’t at its best when we are angry.

So after letting out all my emotions, I was able to think properly again. I began to think about what the problem is at hand, where can I get the sources, and what can I do about it. Then I was able to write down how can I solve the problem.

Once I found the solution, that anxiety feeling became even lighter. It felt good to find away from a harsh situation. Then, I just needed to do it.

The takeaway

One thing I realize while working is that pressure is everywhere. It’s real, and it sucks. Some of us can’t escape it yet sadly, and it affects our minds badly.

I think I speak for us all when I say that the pressure that we are feeling is crushing our mental health to the point that we want to resign from the company. Some were able to, but some couldn’t just yet.

That’s why I want to share you my way to deal with this inevitable pressure:

1. Stop everything first
2. Talk to someone
3. Write it down
4. Think through it

I hope this helps you all out there.