The work from home frustration antidote
Are you working from home? I love it, but working from home can be so frustrating! Nothing soothes my frustration at what isn’t working, what I don’t have, what isn’t going my way faster than gratitude. Here’s why, and how. This is blog #11 in the Soothing Series: Gentle ways to regain your composure and find some inner peace
Frustration versus gratitude
Frustration is generally due to a hindrance, obstruction, something getting in the way of what you want to do. Often our response is irritation, annoyance, disappointment, and getting stuck in not being able to do what we want. Gratitude, on the other hand, focuses us on what is good and what IS working. Gratitude makes us feel good, see that things can work, and open our minds to possibilities.
You have a much greater chance of accomplishing what you want from a place of gratitude.
Am I grateful for my frustration?
Maybe. I’m not there yet.
I am grateful, rather, for the things I have. Is my computer not cooperating? I am grateful to have an office, electricity, a desk, an expert I can call when fixing the computer is beyond my skill. I’m grateful that I can work from home. Maybe I can even get to a place where I can be grateful for the computer, even if it isn’t working.
To see if gratitude works for you, start with something less consequential than your work computer. Perhaps you are frustrated because you can’t decide what to wear? Try feeling grateful for your socks, undergarments, closet. Grateful to be living so large that you have more than one outfit of clothes from which to choose.
When I am sick and cold symptoms keep me from my agenda, I quickly get frustrated. I shift to gratitude for my snuggly bed, for chicken soup, for fresh, clean drinking water. If I am centered enough to be truthful to myself, I consider feeling grateful for the cold that keeps me from an agenda I didn’t want to do.
Working from home
Sometimes it helps to take a moment to get centered before you can even consider becoming grateful. Click here for a blog describing six ways to get centered. Get centered, be grateful!
Your degree of frustration dictates just how basic your gratitude needs to be. If you are ready to drop kick your computer out the window, you can’t bring yourself to be grateful that you can afford a computer. You might say the words, but do you feel them? That’s important. Find something for which you are profoundly grateful.
If you are frustrated about your job, or your boss, or your computer and really can’t find something which you can appreciate, consider these expressions of gratitude. “I am grateful to work in a building with electricity and plumbing.” “I am grateful that I do not work in a war zone.” I am grateful for my paycheck.” “I am grateful to have a desk.” I didn’t have a desk at one time. The office was so crowded that I was given the top shelf of a bookcase on which to do my paperwork, standing up. Gratitude led me to see a possibility. Without a desk, it was quite easy to convince my manager to let me work from home!
Be grateful. It will sooth you.
Give up on feeling disappointed or blocked from what you want to do. Instead, enjoy shifting to a place of gratitude, where accomplishment, success, satisfaction, and contentment are possible. For me, some days are harder than others. But the days I remember to shift to gratitude are the better days. Give it a try! Let us know how it works!
In peace,
Gale
Sometimes, attaining a state of relaxation seems impossible. Even if you know the benefits – quality sleep, resistance to infection, less muscle pain, better problem solving – you cannot get to a relaxed state from your stressed state. Fortunately, even if relaxing seems unattainable, soothing yourself can reduce your stress level by a degree or perhaps two.
Sometimes simple soothing strategies are not going to meet your needs. At those times, get expert help. Call your doctor, your therapist, your pastor, or get yourself to an emergency room. Be safe.
Soothe yourself when you have had a difficult day, have too much on your plate, or perhaps are experiencing a period of intense change. You deserve it.