Returning to the Office: Tips for Managing Your Mental Health

After a year of uncertainty and with life now returning to some kind of normality, many of us are starting to head back to the workplace. Whether you’re going back for good or only a couple of days a week, it’s normal to feel anxious about leaving the comfort of your home and interacting with colleagues you haven’t seen face-to-face in a while.

While returning to the office can produce feelings of uncertainty, you can manage them with a series of natural remedies that can help you feel more confident. We’ve pulled together a selection of our organic remedies available to support you in managing your mental health.

If you’re experiencing return to work anxiety, it’s easy to stop looking after yourself. As a result, negative thoughts are likely to start clouding your mind, making things seem much worse than they really are. That’s why it’s important to take some time out each day – either before work or at the end of the day (or both) – to practice self-care.

Whether this is through an hour of reading before bed, treating your skin to a full skincare routine or watching your favourite film, allow yourself to unwind and forget about your work worries for a short while. Doing the things you enjoy will help you feel more empowered and ready to tackle the challenges ahead.

Incorporating our natural and organic Bush and Bach flower essences into your daily routine can help balance your thoughts and emotions in a kind and gentle way. Ecologically grown and gathered, they’re an effective and powerful tool to help you live life to the fullest – which means you’ll feel confident and strong with a newfound sense of enthusiasm before you head back to the office.

If you’re looking for a pre-returning-to-work boost, try the following essences and see which one works best for you:

  Calm and Clear Bush Flower Essence / Bach Unwind Flower Essence Blend

If you find it hard to stop, relax and wind down, these essences help you have breathing space when life is full-on and you feel you have to do something all the time. They’re also good to take when you feel under pressure.

Dynamis Bush Flower Essence / Bach Revitalise Flower Essence Blend

These essences help during energy and mood flags caused by stress. They give you a gentle lift, like someone supporting you in their hands. Dynamis is specific for adrenal fatigue and burnout.

Bach Optimism Flower Essence Blend 

When you’re feeling low and life feels black and white, this essence helps to bring the colour back by renewing your optimism and faith. It also uplifts your spirits into the light.

Emergency Bush Flower Essence / Bach SOS Flower Essence Blend

These essences are designed for moments when it just gets too much. They can help with feelings of panic, distress, fear and extreme stress. Take one every few minutes either under the tongue or in a drink either before work or when you’re at the office until you start to feel calmer. You can also use a few drops in the bath.

In the days leading up to your return to the office, you may find yourself struggling to sleep due to the nerves and anxiety that comes with facing the unknown. But when you’re tired, you become snappier, more agitated and less patient, making life much more difficult to deal with. That’s why you may need the help of our natural and organic sleep remedies to help you sleep better.

There’s also a thing called revenge bedtime procrastination. This is where you stay up later than you should to prevent the morning from rolling around too quickly, essentially getting ‘revenge’ against daytime hours filled with work. In many cases, you probably don’t even realise you’re doing this.

A great way to help you sleep better is to brew a dreamy cup of Night Time Tea right before you hit the hay. This 100% organic floral tea is beautifully blended with honey notes of comforting chamomile, aromatic lavender and gentle lemon balm, perfect for sipping before bed.

Another top tip is to spritz your pillow with our award-winning Goodnight Pillow Mist on your pillow before you head to bed and let the tranquil blend of organic lavender, vetiver and mandarin essential oils soothe you to sleep.

Get more hints and tips and discover 7 ways to sleep better, naturally, in our handy blog post.

Meditation can help you enter a state of deep relaxation. The process clarifies your thoughts, enhancing your physical and emotional wellbeing. There is no right or wrong way to meditate, but the purpose is to pay attention to your breathing to stay in the present moment, clearing your mind from worries and negative thoughts.

Getting started with meditation needn’t be difficult with these steps…

1. Find a quiet, comfortable place to sit.
2. Set a time limit of 5 or 10 minutes to start with.
3. Notice the sensation of your breath as you breathe in and out repeatedly.
4. When you become more relaxed, your mind will start to wander. Whenever you feel this happening, bring your attention back to your breathing.
5. If you find yourself getting lost in your thoughts, be kind to yourself.
6. Once you’re ready to end the session, gently open your eyes and allow yourself a few seconds to notice how your body feels.

Whenever you feel overwhelmed by stress and anxiety at work, find a private, quiet spot and take 5 minutes to meditate. No one in the office even needs to know what you’re doing.

When you’re at home, you can enhance your session by using your favourite organic essential oils alongside our aromatherapy diffusers and burners . When used together, they’ll enhance your wellbeing naturally while enhancing your mood – regardless of how you’re feeling. In particular, our Frankincense Organic Essential Oil is perfect for moments of nerves and anxiety. It will bring you down to earth and make you feel more focused.

Another top tip is to have a Remedies to Roll in your bag for whenever you need a calming moment. Overall, these herbal remedies for anxiety are powerful returning-to-work tools.

Massages can help reduce feelings of stress by releasing feel-good endorphins and lowering your heart rate. Taking a few quiet moments to breathe and relax also helps life to feel more manageable.

Whether you book a massage through our Therapy Rooms or enjoy one in the comfort of your own home using our expertly blended massage oils, feel your worries and tensions melt away as your massage stimulates, soothes and relaxes your mind and body.

You don’t have to deal with these thoughts and feelings alone. Chances are, many of your colleagues are experiencing the same anxieties about returning to work. Keep communicating with your peers and colleagues you can trust (such as HR staff) about how you’re feeling, and make sure your workplace offers you the support you need to manage your stress.

You can also book a counselling session through our Therapy Rooms. Counselling is a form of talking therapy, which helps you work through difficulties and troubling thoughts in a safe and confidential space. Our qualified therapists will listen to you and identify your thought patterns before suggesting positive coping mechanisms to help you overcome the emotional challenges of returning to the office.

It’s normal to develop anxiety about returning to work after Covid, but trying some of these tips can help you take back control of your emotions. Discover our natural, organic remedies to support your wellbeing and help you find a sense of calm.