‘Be gentle with yourself’

When the world shut down in March 2020, a lot of people shifted to working from home, causing anxious feelings for some. Now, a return to the office may be doing the same. It's a paradox that may leave you asking, "Is this normal? I was OK working outside my home before, why am I not now?"

Katie Mahon, PhD, a psychologist with Baptist Behavioral Health, said this response is completely normal. "It reminds some people of the feeling they may have had as a kid when it was time to go back to school after the summer break. You're excited and you want to see your friends, but you're a little nervous. With the pandemic, we've gone through something we've never been through before. Someone who may have never had anxiety about being in the office may have it now. It's perfectly reasonable given what we've all been through."

Dr. Mahon offered five tips for adjusting back to the life we had before.

1. Be gentle with yourself, and give yourself time to adjust. "We need to have some compassion for ourselves. Try to talk to yourself as you would a friend. If someone you cared about said they were nervous about going back, you wouldn't say, 'that's dumb.' You would say, 'I understand. That makes sense.'"

2. Identify what parts seem most difficult, and problem-solve around those. "Think about the things that are worrying you. Anxiety may feel overwhelming, so it can help to break it down. Is it, 'I'm worried about getting COVID-19?' If so, think about, 'Have I done everything I can do? Am I vaccinated? Will my coworkers and I be wearing masks?' Talk to your employer about their plans to keep things safe. Additionally, some anxiety may come from being back in social situations. For that, go back to being easy on yourself. It's OK if you're rusty on chitchat skills after more than a year of near-isolation. Give yourself time to hang back if you need it."

3. Recognize the changes in your relationships. "After so much time surrounded by the people in your home, we may now have some separation anxiety. One idea to ease the transition is to check in with your roommate or partner with a text throughout the day during the first few weeks. It could just be, 'Hey, this is weird. I miss you.' You might discover it's nice to be away, then come home and talk about things that happened during the day." As for work relationships, Dr. Mahon said, "In an odd way, work-from-home may have brought us closer together because we got to see into each other's homes. We've met coworkers' children or pets during virtual calls, and we had a shared mentality of 'getting through this together.' So, when we see each other in the office, instead of thinking 'I haven't seen this person in forever,' it may feel more natural than you expect."

4. If allowed, go in before your start date to get reacquainted with your workspace. "When we left our workspaces, a lot of us did so not knowing we'd be gone so long. Go in and clean things up. Remove the dead plants and bring in new ones. Get new, fun office supplies, if possible. Have some things to get excited about."

5. Pay attention to work-life balance. "Some people have jobs where you only work when you're physically at your place of employment. When people were working from home, those lines got blurred, and we had to make an effort to create boundaries. Try to maintain them. If your job doesn't allow for that, try to have set times, whether it's days of the week or hours in the day, that you are definitely working or not working, and enforce it. If there's anything that shifted or changed, or any flexibility you found while working from home, see if you can work with your employer to maintain that balance."

So, try not to stress too much; everything will get better.

"Exposure to a situation can help ease anxiety over time," Dr. Mahon said. "Eventually, it will feel normal to be in the office again."

If you're struggling with changes in your working environment, the mental health professionals at Baptist Behavioral Health are ready to help. Call 904.376.3800 for more information or to schedule an appointment.