As an individual, you can take action to keep any fear and anxiety you may experience under control. Consider doing the following actions. If these do not help you, you may need to seek professional assistance.
As an example, if you are still experiencing a tragic event over and over again in your dreams and as you day dream a year after the event has occurred, you may need help to get past it. A parent who loses a child will never completely recover from the loss. But, if the loss is still affecting the individual’s ability to perform work after six months, the individual needs assistance beyond what is generally available at work.
Recommended Actions During War
- Recognize that any feelings of fear, anxiety, or worry you may experience are normal.
- Spend as much of your time as possible going about your normal routine. Focus on the activities and events that are not changing.
- Maintain a heightened sense of awareness about your surroundings and the activities of others, but do not allow the increased watchfulness to paralyze your actions.
- Watch the media and stay informed about world events but do not focus on the television, radio, and Internet obsessively.
- Try to put world events in perspective. You didn’t cause them; you probably cannot fundamentally affect them.
- Talk about your fear, anger, or anxiety with close friends and family. If you feel overwhelmed, seek counseling and help through your employer’s employee assistance program or another source.
- Implement stress-reducing activities daily such as exercise, healthy eating and sleep, yoga, stretching, positive visualization, meditation, walking, gardening and prayer.
- Do something about your fears and concerns. Protest with a group that is pro-war or anti-war, based on your political position. Donate to causes you support. Circulate petitions. Participate in prayer services. Light a candle in your window. Participate in online debate at political websites. Find a way to express your deeply held beliefs.
You can take the feelings of fear and anxiety that you are experiencing and address them in these healthy ways. If you are effectively dealing with your personal feelings, you can help make the workplace remain fear-free, or at least, cause your employer to help mitigate fear and anxiety.
"Let the fear of danger be a spur to prevent it; he that fears not, gives advantage to the danger."
--Francis Quarles, English Poet (1592 - 1644)
Interested in the role of the employer and workplace in addressing fear and anxiety?
