I cannot believe that I am saying this, but I have been a working girly for over a decade. It makes me feel incredibly old to admit that, but I got my first job in an office when I was just 19 years old. After finishing my degree early, I was given a choice of completing another degree, or getting into full time work. At that point in time, all I wanted was money to go on a girl’s holiday, so I opted for a job. Then as they say, the rest was history. I stayed put, worked hard and climbed the ladder. But it hasn’t always been smooth sailing. No career ever is. Which is why in this post, I want to share with you how I have overcome some of the hardships during my career.

Self-reflection.

I like to think that I am quite a strong person, but in reality, sometimes that isn’t the truth. I think part and parcel of my mental health is a tightness in my chest that often arises when I am going through hard periods at work. Sometimes though, I am guilty of building up these feelings and before I know it, they have gone from something quite small and trivial, to something that is overwhelming me. If I am feeling like this, it is important for me to spend some time looking inward. What is making me feel like this, do I have any control over it and what can I do to better my mental health?

Identify the issues.

After looking to yourself and validating how you are feeling, you should look to identify the issues. From personal experience, I went through a rough period a few years ago. I was going into work each morning and I was instantly overwhelmed with negative and rather angry thoughts. However, when I put those feelings to one side, I realised that my feelings boiled down to two things. Two things that I could potentially deal with. It just took some good thinking to identify those things in amongst all the noise of how I was feeling.

Set clear goals.

As I have mentioned above, often when you are going through a hard time it is easy to get lost in it. You can end up in a situation where you constantly overthink how you are feeling and sometimes it seems like there is no right way out of it. Because of that, it is important to have a clear goal. Based on where you currently are and how you are feeling in that moment, what is the end goal? How do you want to feel later down the line? What is a good outcome?

Develop an action plan.

After setting goals and recognising where I want to be, I think about drafting an action plan. What steps need to be taken in order to get to that end point. Sometimes the things on this action plan and take some time in order to finally achieve the objectives. However, I am the kind of person that relishes in achieving things and ticking something from my list and that is no different when I am going through a hard time at work. What tasks can I do, to get things back on the right path?

Seek support and guidance.

I feel incredibly grateful that I have amazing people around me. So many truly fantastic people. Whether they are mentors in the workplace, or professional friends and family. When I am going through a difficult period, I look to those people and try to get some help and guidance. I lay out what I am thinking, how I am feeling and perhaps specific situations. Then from there, with the guidance of others, I can usually get to a point of clarity and have a plan.

Be resilient.

During periods of difficulty, it can be hard to keep going. As I look back on my career, there have been so many moments where I have wanted to throw in the towel and call it a day. But I know that I am built differently to that. There was a huge part of me that was determined to keep going, work towards my goals, face the problems head on and deal with it. It isn’t easy, if it was, everybody would do it. Just don’t bow out without at least trying first.

Consider a change.

I stayed with my first company for an incredibly long time. Some may say that I was there for too long. I stuck it out, did all of the steps that I mentioned above and longed for the difficulties to right themselves. As I look back, in hindsight, there were probably occasions where I should have made a cutthroat decision, put myself first and moved on. All I am saying is don’t close that door. The utmost priority is yourself and your mental health. Protect it at all costs.