How Does Your Work Life Affect You Emotionally?

People spend anywhere from eight to twelve hours in the work place each day. The work place isn’t just the place we do our work either. Many times, we work closely with others and develop close relationships that play an important role in life. For some, co-workers are seen more and interacted with more than family members. It is almost impossible for your work life to not affect you emotionally.

To understand how your work life may affect you emotionally, it is important to understand what emotional health really is. Emotionally healthy people feel good about themselves, where they are in life, where they are going, and the relationships they have along the way. They can also handle life and work stress with sensibility.

How you feel about your work environment and career affects you on an emotional level both inside the work place and outside the work place. For some, the work place is a hostile or intimidating environment. They may feel angry and frustrated with their current job and work place. They may even feel threatened by bosses or co-workers. If this is the kind of work life you experience, chances are you are feeling these feelings long after you clock out or pull out of the parking lot. These emotions do not subside as you leave for the day. They can and will eat away at your emotional health. You will notice over time that you feel that anger and frustration in your gut while you should be relishing family activities or having fun with friends. You will undoubtedly lash out or treat others how you are being treated at work. You may never intend on transferring these feelings to those who have nothing to do with your work place; but you will.

There are physical ways an emotionally unhealthy work environment can affect you. You may find yourself feeling drained; which will leave you more susceptible to illness. You may adopt coping mechanisms that are unhealthy and only add to your emotional troubles, such as smoking and drinking too much. If your work place is having a negative impact on your emotions, you will not exercise or eat like you should.

Stress in the work place can exhibit itself in ways that surely affect you emotionally. If overly stressed, you will not perform optimally and workplace harmony will be adversely affected. Lost work time and depression can follow when you let work place stress affect you emotionally.

If this is how your work place is affecting you emotionally, there are certain things you can do to make the situation better. Ideally, leaving any hostile environment and working somewhere that makes you ecstatically happy is the best option. However, that isn’t always possible. If you absolutely must remain employed in an environment that makes you feel emotionally unhealthy, you may want to explore these feelings with your employer. You can also take action to respond in a way that makes you feel better emotionally even if it is a temporary reprieve.

Other options include things you can do outside of work to remain emotionally healthy in your work place environment. There are proven relaxation techniques and practices which will help you combat stress and feel more in control of your emotions. Practices like yoga and meditation can calm the mind and how you feel in general. These will all have a positive impact on your emotions and help you remain healthy.

While you cannot always control every aspect of your work life, you can take many steps to control how it affects you emotionally. Finding a positive way to view your work environment and finding ways to avoid any negative impact can only serve to improve your emotional health in every aspect of your life.