We have been living almost a year with demanding health measures. So demanding that it is in fact questionable whether the main peril of professionals right now is not… their irritability.
The pandemic has pushed us to the brink. It has prevented us from seeing our loved ones; it has restricted the social and sports activities of our children, forced us to communicate via virtual platforms that lack warmth and spontaneity.
We are in the depths of winter. Vaccine distribution is failing, and variants are compromising efficiency. Fatigue sets in.
On a daily basis, I find that people are less and less patient, both in public places and on social media. Personally, in recent weeks, I have responded sharply once or twice to an interlocutor who annoyed me, though email exchanges and on social media.
Collectively, it seems that we are all a little more on edge, a little more irritable than usual. A recent American survey reported that one in two Americans (47%) feel “anxious” and two in five Americans feel “angry”. Imagine a similar situation in Canada.
Do you not become a professional at risk of committing a forgery? Answering foolishly “to the wrong person”? Alienating a key person in your organization? Losing a mandate or an important client out of intransigence on your part?
Step back, listen to your emotions
Francesca Lungescu (credit Claudia Grégoire)
Francesca Lungescu, psychologist and professional coach, recognizes that the current pandemic context can create irritability among professionals.
When a person is subjected to multiple constraints, feels that their needs are not being taken into account, or is struck in their values, these are all factors that can increase irritability.”
The pandemic will have provided its share of daily constraints. It has also challenged us in our values; those who zealously apply health measures sometimes feel offended by those who ignore them, while those who oppose the measures feel “violated” in their freedom.
“If the person has not learned strategies to manage their irritability, they can get carried away by their emotions and show anger, warns the psychologist. They can raise their voice at a colleague or client and compromise their work relationship.”
One track: self-observation
The psychologist says that not all people who experience irritability will externalize them at work. Some people have developed mechanisms to manage their emotions on the one hand and reduce stress on the other.
“A strategy that works well is to write down your emotions on a daily basis. You then become more aware of your state of mind. You pay more attention when you know you’re irritable.”
For workers who would have the discipline to do so, Francesca Lungescu suggests broadening self-observation, noting your hours of sleep, physical exercises and diet, in order to see the impact on mood. One effective way to reduce stress and irritability is to adopt a good lifestyle, recalls the psychologist.
“We can also try to take a step back from our negative thoughts. This involves cognitive restructuring: we focus on alternative, more positive thoughts. The objective is to downplay the situation and put it in context.”
A difficult pandemic for everyone
Last tip: show empathy. Francesca Lungescu invites professionals who feel irritable to show empathy – to try to put themselves in the other person’s shoes, to see the problem from their perspective.
Let us remember that the pandemic is difficult for everyone. And that it is more important than ever – in the last stretch – to take care of one another!
