Are You "Holding Your Breath" at Work?
We’ve all been there... your manager moves a deadline forward -again. You nod and act like everything is fine, after all, that’s what professionals are supposed to do, right?
Well, in Chapter 4 of RISEUP: Your Career Reclaimed, we meet Neal, who describes this feeling perfectly: "It’s like holding my breath underwater and trying to breathe at the same time."
Meaning, if you constantly feel exhausted even when you aren't "doing" much, it’s likely because the act of staying composed has become its own full-time job.
Your Body is an Early Warning System
You see, in the workplace, we are taught to treat emotions as distractions. As a result, we ignore the chronic tension in our shoulders and normalize the constant urge to check our phones as just “part of the job.”
But science tells a different story. These aren't character flaws, they are Professional Emotional Patterns.
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The Signal: That tightness in your chest isn't just stress; it’s your system flagging a contradiction, for example, promising a "sustainable" timeline while working under unsustainable pressure.
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The Cost: When you disconnect from these signals, you stop solving the real problems and start "managing the symptoms" instead.
The HALT Framework: Your Emotional Circuit Breaker
Before you send that reactive email or agree to another impossible task, you need a "Mindful Pause." Chapter 4 introduces the HALT method to help you identify if your reaction is a professional crisis or a physical need:
- Hungry: Is low blood sugar distorting your reaction?
- Angry: Is a cloud of judgment fueling an impulsive action?
- Lonely: Is isolation amplifying the negative feelings?
- Tired: Is fatigue lowering your patience and clarity?
By naming the state, you calm the brain's alarm system. And Research shows that professionals who acknowledge these feelings bounce back faster than those who push through them.
Moving from "Suppression" to "Information"
As humans, our feelings don’t stop at the workplace door. And that’s because the smart switch treats these feelings as Data. So the next time you feel that "underwater" sensation, ask yourself the question Georgia asked Neal (in pg75 of the book):
"What is this feeling trying to tell me about what is wrong with the situation, not what is wrong with me?"
When you treat your emotions as vital Info, you stop drowning and start navigating.
Join the April Resilience Challenge
Speaking of navigating, this month, we are practicing the "Mindful Pause." And the aim is to help you move from "Suppressing" to "Succeeding" without losing yourself in the process.
To support your journey, we are keeping the 1-year Free Builder Tier open, plus, it includes the COACH Framework worksheet from Chapter 4 to help you turn overwhelming feelings into useful professional insights. What’s more, you can read all the remaining chapters of RISEUP: Your Career Reclaimed for free.
But that’s going to only happen if you join the challenge.