Anxious About Returning to Work Amid COVID-19?
Critical Thinking, Emotional Intelligence, Emotional Regulation, Self Awareness, Self Management
COVID-19, Critical Thinking, Decision Making, Returning To Work
By Starla
May 8, 2020
Minute Read
When seeking to understand the risks involved with returning to work and interacting with the masses…
01 Seek out and place far more emphasis on the facts.
Scrutinize what you see and hear to discern between fact, opinion, and speculation. Keep opinions and speculation in their proper perspective, and allow the facts to weigh more heavily on your decision making.
02 Beware of anecdotal stories.
ANECDOTAL: (of an account) not necessarily true or reliable, because based on personal accounts rather than facts or research
Keep stories and personal experiences shared by family, friends, and the media in their proper perspective. Although these stories may be the "truth" for a singular person, environment, or situation, it is incredibly irresponsible to assume them as "truths" on a much larger scale. You have the choice to choose not to do that. Choose wisely.
03 Resist the urge to worry.
Worry = Negative Visualization. It is a misuse of your imagination. When you worry, you are meditating on the negative and increasing the likelihood you'll get the negative outcomes you are worried about.
04 Get real about what's within your control and what isn't.
Then, productively use your time and energy to stay laser-focused and take action on the things you can control while letting go of the things you can't. This includes the decisions and actions of others. Don't fool yourself into believing you can force others to fall in line with what you believe is the right way to do things.
05 Adopt a "The Buck Stops Here" mentality.
Accept full responsibility for protecting your health and resist the urge to "pass the buck" to anyone or anything else. Where you go, what you do, how you do it, and with whom you do it are daily choices you make that can potentially impact the state of your mental and physical health, and with every choice you make, there are risks and rewards that must be weighed. Know what those are so that you can choose to engage in daily behaviors that are in the best of interest of protecting your mental and physical health.
Ask yourself, "Which daily decisions and choices ultimately reside with me?"
Then...
- Become more aware of those decisions,
- own full responsibility for them, and
- be thoughtful and intentional when making them.
06 Leverage your Theta States.
THETA STATES: your 'barely conscious' states just before sleeping and just after awakening.
As you enter and exit your subconscious world, your brain is in theta – a mid-length pattern associated with daydreaming. This is when your relaxed mind has extraordinary access to its subconscious realms and is most capable of deep and profound learning, healing, and growth.
This makes your theta state ideal for meditation, visualization, and intention-setting practices and unideal for interacting with electronic devices and anything else that might present you with the outside world's agenda for you.
At the beginning and end of each day, leverage your theta states to put yourself in a positive frame of mind by reminding yourself of everything for which you have to be grateful.
07 Surround yourself with individuals who engage in all the behaviors above.
BONUS
Be grateful you have the option to return to work.
Right now, there are others who are not that fortunate.
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