Emotional turbulence can cause a long-lasting impact on our lives. People just don’t realize it as they go about their day to life, juggling multiple priorities, tackling multiple challenges both at the personal and professional front. There could be various instances that can throw light on the fact that an emotional outbreak is real. Sharing real-life case studies As stated by Sonica Aron, Founder & Managing Partner, Marching Sheep, “A young and dynamic professional who showed great promise joined a new organization. On joining, he was informed that the organization had gone through some recent restructuring and as a result, the role he had been interviewed for no longer existed. Instead, he was given a role for which he had to travel for two hours every day, one side. Left with no choice, he took the role, but it took a toll on him and his physical health. Additionally, from the very beginning, it created a trust deficit with the organization. His wife was expecting their second child, and very often he could not be there to support her in times of need. It impacted their relationship and personal life. Within a few months, he was looking for a change, he was distracted and not his own self. One day he had an unprofessional outburst in a team get together and eventually left the organization. He went on to join another organization where things were ok for a while but the impact of the emotional turmoil he went through continued and the trust deficit with the leadership he had experienced coloured a lot of his thought processes. Since he never voiced them or took help, his tenure with the next organization also did not end well.”
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This and more such instances can be seen around. And we see them every day. May be in the office, or in virtual meetings. We just don’t know what’s happening behind that smiling face, until one day, something happens, and then too, we might never really know the whole story. Both the above people eventually sought the help that they needed and went on to have successful careers. So the point here is that emotional problems are real, and all around us, and all of us, at some stage or the other face them. What can we do about them? There are certain signs of emotional wellness, read here:
Tips To Manage Emotional Fallout (Tips To Manage Emotional Wellbeing)
Know how emotional turmoil be handled by these simple tips share by Sonica Aron, Founder & Managing Partner, Marching Sheep:
Self-awareness and acknowledgement
If something does not feel right, it is not. Take a moment, pause and reflect. Every emotion has a role to play. No emotion is bad…. anger, frustration, sadness, helplessness…. they are all telling us that something needs to be done. And it’s up to us to take cognizance of them. Don’t brush them under the carpet and treat them symptomatically- binge eating, shopping spree, catching up with friends. They might alleviate the symptoms, but the problem won’t go away.
Don’t get caught in well-meaning but meaningless comfort
‘It’s a phase”, “All will be well”, “Give it Time”. Every person has different stress triggers, different stress responses and coping mechanisms. Find yours. It’s a journey the individual has to take, with the help of people they trust and can lean on, sometimes professionals.
To hell with the Taboo
Unfortunately, in our society, there is a taboo around mental and emotional wellness. People proudly wear a batch of honor if they have recovered from a physical ailment but will hide about their emotional traumas. The fact is emotional and mental illness is just that- an illness, which can be cured. And now with telemedicine, accessibility to therapists, counsellors or psychiatrists is that much easier.
Organizations have a strong role to play
With a large working population spending majority of their waking hours at work, organizations need to take cognizance of this issue. And they have to some extent. Many organizations have deployed EAP (Employee assistance Programs) where employees can reach out to counsellors confidentially. But that should be the last resort. Why not create an environment where employees do not feel the need to go for counselling. Along the employee lifecycle, create policies, practices and safety nets where employee wellbeing is taken care of. Why not sensitize people managers on how to build psychological safety and emotional resilience in teams? An employee who was laid off during the pandemic, did not have issues because she was laid off. She understood the issues the organization was having. Her anger and frustration was on the fact that her manager of 5 years, had not called her once during her 3 months’ notice period to check on her wellbeing.
This pandemic has been a wake-up call on several matters, and emotional wellbeing is one of them. As individuals, managers and leaders, organizations, and society, it’s time we mindfully took the stigma away from it and addressed it with real intent.