Positive Vibes at Work

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By Adenike

Americans spend an average of eight hours at work each day. It would behoove each and every one of us to make our work environment a great space to work. Not all workplaces are the same, and not everyone has an office or a cubicle at work. We are chefs, drivers, teachers, doctors, correctional officers, social workers, but it doesn’t matter. In my last blog, Depression In The Workplace, I talked about just that. In this blog, I will show you ways you can keep positive vibes at work, no matter where you work.

Creating Positive Vibes at Work

Living with depression and having to interact with people can sometimes be a daunting work experience. Seriously, as I think most people who live with depression will agree, to be around people with all their expectations can drive you deeper into a hole. But rest assured, there are some steps to uplift your mood, create positive vibes and tranquility, and here are a few of them.

Music

I listen to music most of the day and it makes my day enjoyable and uplifts my mood tremendously. Each day my mood requires different nourishment. I feed it with gospel, R&B, country, and oh my goodness, I love, love, love a personal concert by Mariah Carey or Maxi Priest. No joke, it’s something about the tone and quality of their voices that soothes my heart. There are lots of free music platforms out there, but I mainly use YouTube and Amazon Music, which I pay for.

As well as music, let me suggest listening to comedy as well. Humor and negative thoughts cannot share the same emotional space, as noted in an article I read on WebMD. Personally, I love comedy and listen to replays of Stephen Colbert, Trevor Noah and Jimmy Kimmel on my commute home. Listening to comedy takes my mind off the traffic and helps me unwind before I get home.

Positive Images

Pictures of your loved ones, motivational quotes or artwork in a place where you can appreciate them all day, are a great reminder of reasons to live. I do not have pictures of my loved ones in my office but I do have a gratitude board, which is a huge whiteboard where my clients or coworkers write what they are most grateful for. The gratitude board is a constant inspiration to me, and others who experience reading the board have commented that they too want to start something like that in their home.

I have small encouraging notes to myself, or short prayers for my friends, written on yellow sticky notepaper on my bookshelf in my office. Having positive images to reflect on all day has a particularly powerful impact on enhancing positive emotions, as suggested in an article in ScienceDirect.

Unclutter Your Space

Now I don’t know about you, but I cannot think straight in a disorganized environment. As soon as I wake up I make my bed, which sets the tone for my day, PERIOD.

Anyway, back to work. Doesn’t matter where you work or what you do, make your environment one which is inviting to be in. Whether you are driving for Uber, sitting in an office or cubicle, working in a restaurant or retail, it is important to unclutter your space. Clutter has a profound effect on mood; the more stuff you have around you the more stress you feel.

So how do you unclutter? Check out my sister’s blog, How to Keep a Clean House While Depressed –she shares some awesome tips and tricks for your home, which can also be applied to your workspace.

Positive Mindset

It all starts with you. All the aforementioned ways I have listed on this blog to create positive vibes at work are achievable. To achieve positive vibes at work you have to approach them with a positive mindset. Yes, you can be positive and depressed simultaneously. It may not feel like it, because depression manifests differently for each person and everyone has their own experience. Clinical Depression, Major Depressive Disorder, and Mild Depression are just a few, but – ABSOLUTELY YES! – you can have a positive mindset even when you are depressed; it’s called hope.

Implement one thing at a time; start with a little music, or listen to comedy on your lunch break. Come back and share your experience, let me know what, if any, of these suggestions work for you. Depression is really hard to deal with alone, so please get professional help; you do not have to figure out how to feel normal again on your own.

You are irreplaceable, one of a kind, a true jewel.

Reproduced with permission, originally posted on coorelifestyle.com

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