Why eliminating 'mental clutter' can help manage return-to-work stress during pandemic
It’s time to get rid of mental clutter. That’s what mental health professionals call the thoughts that become overwhelming and can lead to anxiety.
Nearly 70 percent of American adults say stress increased during the pandemic. That figure isn’t a total surprise but there’s one more issue being added to our daily to-dos: heading back to work. That means stressing about child care, traffic and leaving the home office for a traditional workspace.
Clinical psychologist Dr. Amy Bowers suggest creating a more relaxing mindset, list the things you must do by writing them down on paper or typing them on a screen. This isn’t just for chores or tasks, Dr. Bowers says this could be a space to write down things that are bothering you and ways you might cope.
During a Zoom interview with 7NEWS Health Reporter Victoria Sanchez, Dr. Bowers says we didn’t have time to prepare for the pandemic, but we can prepare for getting out of it.
“It does feel like the opposite side of the coin. Before we were like, ‘How are we going to work from home?’ And now it’s, ‘How are we going to work at work?’” said Sanchez.
“Yes, that’s right. How do we leave home? How do we see people that we care about and love again? It’s ambiguous and when there is greater ambiguity, it’s pretty common that anxiety tends to go up. So, it’s just natural to know that being uncertain, maybe anxious and not sure how to navigate what was familiar, is natural given what we’ve been through – all of the uncertainty, all of the transition, all of the adapting we’ve had to do in the past year plus. We’re still reeling from that,” Dr. Bowers said.
When it comes to the list, make sure it doesn’t become overwhelming.
“Some of us can naturally get caught up in a cycle of doing and doing and doing, trying to get so much done in the hopes of elevating stress could actually create it,” she said.
