February 9th, 2012 
topping 
While it may seem ideal to some to hold a position where you’re seated in front of a computer all day, it holds as many opportunities for stress as you would find in other, more active, careers. With the recession still looming, the potential of showing up to work to find yourself without a chair to sit in one day is stressful enough to drive you crazy.
One of the largest, stress-inducing moments of a desk job during the week is Monday morning. That moment when you open your email and watch a flood of messages fill your screen can be overwhelming. You just have to remember that you’re not superhuman, and despite what management might be trying to drill in your head, you’re not supposed to be. The best way to avoid stressing out in this situation is to graze through the emails and prioritize. Go ahead and delete any junk mail, and then tackle the small things first. While you may want to jump right into a huge issue or the email that involves your biggest account first, it will help you manage your stress level to tackle a few small things first. This will help you clear out your inbox and make you feel better to clean up the visual clutter. What you will be left with are the bigger tasks and you will have an easier time establishing goals for what you need to do. There are some people that prefer to check email from home on a Sunday night to do a little bit of this cleanup to avoid this Monday morning panic – but this can also cause more problems than solve them. You’re leaving your open to your work at home, and unless you work from home on a regular basis you’ve just left yourself in a position that would be hard to refute when management asks you to take care of something on your off time. Chances are you won’t be getting paid extra for this time, and you’ll just be dragging your work stress home with you and that can lead to a long list of other problems. If you can avoid it, don’t check your email from home and leave it for the next day you’re in the office.
A key factor to coping with workplace stress is to have a support group in your office. The benefits to having good friends in the office that you can vent to can have a huge impact on your happiness in the workplace. You hear the terms “work husband” and “work wife” a lot these days. While you have to be certain you don’t cross any lines of inappropriateness, it can be good to have that person in the office you know you can go to with a problem or to run an idea by. Depending on how close you’ve become, they might even know how you take your coffee and be able to bring you one on a day that they can sense you have been stressing out and haven’t taken the time yourself to go grab a cup. Little moments like that can really break up your day and help you relax, however brief it may be. There are a lot of people that like to send around cheerful “forward” emails to their friends in the office as a quick moment of relaxation as well. While it might not seem that significant at the time, just the gesture of including you in that person’s email chain means they thought of you and thought you could use a laugh out of that daily Dilbert comic.
Another great reason to maintain friendships in the workplace extends beyond the bounds of just maintaining a civil existence with the person in the cube next to – having someone to go to lunch with. Even if you bring your lunch to work to save money, it’s still good to have people you can get out of the office with to take a break. Go sit on a bench, drive to a nearby park or pull up a couple chairs at a coffee shop with someone you work with. You can vent to each other about the things that you might not be able to explain to a spouse at the end of the day, and you can enjoy someone else’s company that isn’t your computer. Developing friendships with co-workers outside of the workplace is a great way to get to know them better – you’re not under the stress of workplace policies that can limit your interactions. The biggest mistake a lot of office workers make during the day is that they don’t walk away from their desk. They work through lunch and eat at their desk and don’t take a moment for a quick walk. This can wreak havoc on your mental state and cause you to stress out even more. Without having that time during the day where you step away from your desk and clear your head to think about something other than that report you have to submit to your boss, you’ll find yourself becoming irritated and more frustrated. It can even cause you physical problems, such as headaches and an elevated blood pressure. Utilize your free moments for some brief relaxation – and if you don’t have any free moments that just fall into your lap, create some. Push that call from 3 to 3:15 and take 15 minutes to yourself. The long term benefits of creating this time for yourself are tremendous.
Clutter in your workspace can also cause you undue stress without you even realizing it. Having papers strewn about and miscellaneous notes tacked up all around you can really effect your mental state. Try to maintain a clean and tidy workspace as well as ensure it is as comfortable as possible. Your chair is the biggest source of discomfort – many employers will provide you with a more comfortable chair if you explain to them that it is causing you to be less productive. The same goes for obtaining an ergonomic keyboard and mouse. These are all little things you can change to make your workday a little bit more pleasant.
At the end of the day, it is essential to leave work were it belongs – at work. Unless your profession requires you be on call once you’ve left the office, find a way to unwind after hours. Go to the gym, do yoga, read a book on the train ride home – anything that appeals to you and allows you to release the workday stress and enjoy your own time. Taking the appropriate steps throughout your day can have a huge impact on your workplace happiness and make it a little bit easier to survive the workday.
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