Survivors of toxic workplaces often say they knew they were in a hostile or abusive environment but didn’t realize until after a major stress-related health crisis, how bad the toxic situation actually was. This post is about how to trust your intuition at work and to listen to the wisdom of your central nervous system (aka Trusting Your Gut) to catch the problem before it destroys your health.
Risks of Prolonged Workplace Stress
Spending 40+ hours per week in a hostile work environment means being in a constant state of emergency and survival mode that often spills into the rest of one’s life. A high paced work flow coupled with having to constantly look over one’s shoulder in self-protection, wondering if the ambiguous comment that coworker made was a veiled slight, jab, or critique, becomes exhausting and quickly consumes non-work hours.
Over time, the extra energy required to decipher intent and decode meaning in conversation, emails, and even company-wide resource allocation decisions can deplete psychological and physical energy in a cascading snowball effect.
Stress can lead to eating foods that cause system-wide inflammation (sugar, fat, processed food, alcohol). Ruminating thoughts release stress hormones which lead to further inflammation and prevent one from falling or staying asleep. The combination of diet and lack of sleep compounds one another to reduce the body's ability to recover from stress.
How to Trust Your Intuition at Work
To catch the problem before the body is in an extreme state of prolonged inflammation that can lead to chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and cancer, listen to your gut in the following ways:
1. Listen to that "Bad Vibe"
If you sense that someone is not authentic, trustworthy, or acting in your best interest even though they say all the right things, trust that instinct! Oftentimes bullies and narcissists develop finely tuned strategies to manipulate their target’s emotions and thoughts. If you have a feeling in your gut that something is not right, it could be your nervous system sensing through a barely perceivable facial expression, lilt in vocal tone, or body movement that humans have “learned” on a subconscious level to read as a warning sign of danger. Do not override this instinctual message.
2. Does Your Stomachache?
The connection between the stomach and brain is extremely powerful in a bidirectional communication pathway. What we eat affects how we feel. How we feel affects how we eat and process food. Chronic stress leads to both loss of appetite and overeating as well as digestion problems like constipation and irritable bowels.
3. Prioritize Meals with Loved Ones
Don’t skip meals with friends and family. A friend recently described the love, emotional and psychosocial care put into Palestinian family meals as a form of nurturing connection. In many cultures, ingredients in comfort foods offer healing while food presentation and sharing practices pass on cultural post traumatic growth. Learn more about neuroscience and ancient diets of communities of color in the book The Mind Gut Connection https://lnkd.in/gTq3q5xE
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