When asked to point out that one problem people encounter the most during these challenging times, it would be their inability to cope with so many challenges at once. I don’t blame you all for this, considering the uncertainty and anxiety associated with this global pandemic looming considerable over our heads. The constant pressure of being productive and being financially stable is too overwhelming. In this digital age, when our world revolves around our smartphones, laptops, and most importantly, active internet connections, it is tough to switch off and focus on yourself and your well-being.
This always-on culture that we have gotten ourselves into is taking a toll on us in ways that are beyond our comprehension. Considering the COVID-19 scenario, we cannot do anything but put up with the new norms that include working from home, communicating with our team and colleagues through digital platforms, and being there all the time. Today, the line that separated personal and work life has been blurred out and is inevitably sucking people’s lives. The problem becomes more serious when we start pushing people with different personality types into the same group and expect them to comply with our expectations. According to psychological experts, there can be four aspects of personality, and individuals can sway towards any one of them:
- Emphasize more on external elements and people (extraversion), or remain caught up in their world of feelings and thoughts (introversion)
- Prefer an organized and structured way (judging), or like being spontaneous (perceiving).
- Being logical, (thinking), or being emotional (feeling).
- Depending on the five senses (sensing), or focusing on the bigger picture (intuition).
Spot the personality type you can identify yourself the most and then work your way to reduce the stress by following these four strategies.
- Give yourself enough space to switch off.
Regardless of responsibilities that are still incomplete, create time and space to switch off from all of those. If you have extraversion preferences, engage in things that would keep your mind, body, and soul activities such as running, listening to loud music, and taking a long walk. For introverts, I would suggest you choose something that lets you be with yourself and register the things that have happened so far. Choose a quiet room in your house, leave your electronic devices behind or, limit your online engagements and retreat. In both cases, ensure that you have some contact with others.
- Create a work/life balance
If you are of the judging type, set clear boundaries through which both you and the people around will know when you want to keep up with your commitments and when you want to steal some time for yourself. However, be flexible if anything urgent comes up. On days you are not working, switch off your phone and laptop completely so that much like an office, you don’t work during specific days when you are home. In contrast to this, if you have perceiving preferences, get the chores done in your own sweet time. But, because everyone around you might not be comfortable with your routine, respect their expectations, and formulate a way that would formidably satisfy both parties’ anticipations.
- Set limits
If you relate yourself with the thinking type, pay heed on the impact of your actions on others. Dissect your thoughts well before making a move because, currently, without the privilege of face-to-face interactions, people might end up misinterpreting your intentions. For those of you who like feeling things intensely, strike a balance between others’ needs and those of your own. Look for the areas where you need support and make conscious efforts to attain them.
- Beware of information overload.
If you have sensing preferences, take a break from everything and ponder on the things that are going on around you. Do not let your mind trick you into believing that every little detail is vital and treat it as imperatives. As opposed to this, if you have intuition preferences, refrain yourself from analyzing all the recourses available at hand. Concentrate on one thing at a time and move to the other only when you are done with the first one.
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