Feeling frazzled? Here's how to beat back-to-work anxiety

Kick your dread to the curb

If your post-holiday blues are on steroids, it’s time to work out why. We spoke to leading psychologists about how to max your job satisfaction, fast!

It starts with the slight tug of worry in the pit of your stomach. A realisation that these are your last lazy days of holiday for the foreseeable future. Then, you remember you never quite got to finishing that project that’s been hanging around for months. 

Before long you’re thinking about how many emails will be waiting (unread) in your inbox, what will happen about that difficult client, and whether your colleague will finally start to pull their weight. 

If this type of spiralling sounds familiar, you’re not alone. Seventy-eight per cent of us find returning to work after a holiday stressful, with 37 per cent feeling dread and anxiety the day before returning to our usual routines, according to a survey by BUPA. Yep, not ideal.

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It's more than just post-holiday blues

While it appears post-holiday blues are normal, there’s a difference between feeling wistful about the unstructured pleasure of daily G&T’s by the pool at 5 PM and feeling all-consuming anxiety about returning to your job. “Post-holiday blues are usually temporary and often dissipate once you’ve caught up with colleagues and settled back into a routine,” according to Director of Psychology at the Workplace Mental Health Institute, Emi Golding. “Anxiety is a normal human emotion, so feeling a bit nervous about a change or transition is natural.”

“True anxiety about going back to work is more intense and persists,” explains mental health expert and strategist in mental well-being at work Mark Butler. “It can affect your sleep, and cause you to become sad or disinterested in work, or life in general. It’s normally a sign that something isn’t right; either you’re burnt out or there’s something significant in your role that isn’t working for you.” 

Before you decide you hate your job, it’s worth considering whether your holiday has allowed you to ‘rest’ or ‘recover,’ advises Butler. “This can be indicative of whether you’ve been experiencing burnout and can be a good way of assessing why you might be feeling anxious about returning to work. Think of a flickering candle,” he continues. 

The first step is to identify what aspect of your job is causing you anxiety. Image: Pexels

“Resting is equivalent to protecting the flame until it comes back in full force. Recovery usually means blowing out the candle, then having the energy to light it again in the same windy environment. If you’re not truly recovered from the previous year, it can be hard to feel positive about returning to that same environment.”

An extended break is the ideal time to reflect on how we feel about our work outside of our to-do list and small daily frustrations. The other bonus? Being out of our day-to-day routine can provide the space to think about how our job truly makes us feel, and pinpoint any areas that cause increased anxiety.

“Think about a regular work day and see if you can identify anything specific that’s making you anxious,” suggests Golding. “This often helps people realise it’s not everything about work that’s making them feel worried, but just one thing. Then you can create an action plan to deal with it. For example, if you feel nervous about doing presentations, make time to research, practice and get feedback before you stand up in front of people. Knowing it’s just one aspect of your job that’s causing you worry can help diminish the enormity of the anxiety.”

And this kind of self check-in definitely isn’t a once-and-done thing. “Sometimes we can’t always pinpoint where the anxiety is coming from, so our brains start digging around for things. This can be unhelpful. It might mean you blame one person for the cause of all your problems, or fixate on something that happened years ago that you can’t undo. Try and set limits around your anxiety so you can create positive, actionable ways to deal with it.” 

Carve out time to organise your upcoming schedule and workspace. Image: iStock

The day before you return to work, give yourself some preparation time. “Plan what you’re going to wear on your first day back, and make sure your desk is tidy,” Golding advises. “This stops you having to think about basic organisational tasks on day one.” 

While it’s great to get organised, it’s equally as important not to overthink this step. “Don’t let thinking about returning to work impact your enjoyment of your holiday,” says Golding. “Make a conscious effort to say: ‘I’m going to think about this on the day before I go back to work, but right now I’m going to enjoy the beautiful beach I’m sitting on. Letting your work worries consume your holiday means you don’t get a proper break.”

When you’re back at work, there are ways to deal with the initial overwhelm. “I used to work with someone who deleted all his new emails whenever he returned from holiday,” says Butler. “Then he’d send a blanket email asking people to resend anything important. The urgent ones came back to him and everything else was immediately taken off his to-do list.”

It's worth taking a look at how your workplace culture may be affecting you day-to-day. Image: Pexels

Now is also the time to think longer term, and make some plans for the year ahead. “Anxiety and excitement are actually very similar emotions,” says Golding. “If you can re-frame your worries and turn them into anticipation about what’s to come, this can be very helpful. Consider what you’d like to achieve this year and how you’re going to hold yourself accountable to that. This can help remove anxiety and give you a purpose to being at work.”

If reframing your back-to-work anxiety doesn’t help, it could be worth looking at how your workplace culture is impacting you. “’Belonging’ to a team might feel abstract, but it’s really important,” says Butler. “A feeling of belonging at work means you can be your authentic self. It allows you to have differing opinions to your colleagues, while feeling you won’t be pushed out of the nest for expressing them. There’s a psychological safety in that. When that doesn’t exist, it can be anxiety-inducing.”

‘Mattering’ is also important. “’Mattering’ is about feeling valued,” says Butler. “Others rely on your opinion and the work you do, and you’d be missed if you weren’t there. It’s more than being part of a team; ‘mattering’ solidifies your own self-esteem and your positioning within the group.” 

If you feel like you don’t belong or matter at the place you clock into daily, now might be the time to consider if this role is right for you, and what would truly give you joy from a career perspective. “January can be a good time to take stock and be really honest with yourself,” says Golding. “Is this really the right place for you at this time in your life or career?” If not, don’t be afraid to leap straight out of your comfort zone and start exploring other options. As a new year kicks off, it’s definite food for life happiness thought.

Originally published as Feeling frazzled? Here's how to beat back-to-work anxiety