You can’t choose when you will experience severe stress or mental illness, and these symptoms may occur when you are at work.
The activities below were created to help you when experiencing mild to moderate side-effects of stress, anxiety or depression. The goal is to take a break from a stressful situation and develop self-regulation techniques to observe and learn from negative or stressful thoughts.
The activity selection below includes video or audio clips that will walk you through various exercises, a guided writing activity, or a hands-on activity created to help you self-regulate. All of the activities were created using evidence-based practices and have been reviewed by a clinical expert.
Build self-compassion
These activities can help you build or work on your self-compassion. They can help you overcome feelings of anxiety, negative thoughts, or negative feelings towards yourself by practicing confidence-boosting poses, working on creating more kind and supportive self-talk, and using positive visualizations.
Learn from challenging thoughts
This is a guided writing activity that takes you through the process of exploring and learning from a challenging thought. This can help to avoid being overwhelmed by negative thoughts and feelings.
Separate you from your thoughts
This activity will walk you through an example of how to practice viewing a thought through positive, negative, and objective lenses. Objective observation when experiencing a negative thought or self-talk can help to create some safe emotional distance between you and your thoughts.
Calming techniques
These activities are designed to help you find a moment of calm during a busy day. The hope is that you will leave the exercises feeling more relaxed and in the present moment, and ready to approach whatever you do next with a calmer mind.
Movement to help reduce anxiety
These activities will help you be attentive in the moment while doing physical activity. This can help reduce feelings of anxiety by taking your attention away from stressful thoughts.
Bring kindness to your day
This activity will focus on choosing to perform – and then reflect on – acts of kindness. Doing and reflecting on positive acts can elicit positive emotions such as joy and gratitude, which play protective roles in mental health.
Disclaimer
These activities are designed to help reduce feelings of stress, depression or anxiety. If, after trying one or more of the self-help activities for a while, you find yourself still struggling, or you feel the activities won’t be helpful for your situation, please reach out to your physician, health care provider, or Employee Assistance Program (EAP) services.
Share this resource with anyone who is managing side-effects of stress, anxiety, or depression.