How to Protect Yourself from Emotionally Draining Work

Yesterday was difficult.

Unfortunately, you have a sinking feeling that today will bring more of the same.

As you prepare for another emotionally charged day at work, the pit in your stomach grows deeper. Your mind is already racing with the challenging conversations ahead, the distressed people you'll need to support, the sensitive issues you'll have to navigate.

It's heavy.

And you're not sure how much more of this emotional weight you can carry.

Do you feel like your work puts you in emotionally disturbing situations?

This exposure to emotionally challenging situations isn't just draining – it's a recognised workplace issue known as emotional demand.

When your work regularly places you in disturbing situations, it can affect both your wellbeing and your ability to perform effectively.

What's Emotional Demand?

Emotional demand occurs when your work requires you to manage difficult feelings or deal with emotionally challenging situations. Managing these demands effectively is crucial for both your professional performance and personal wellbeing.

When emotional demands are manageable, you can handle challenging situations while maintaining your own emotional balance.

However, when these demands become overwhelming, you need strategies to protect yourself while still doing your job effectively.

Why It Matters

Here's why emotional demands need attention:

• It can lead to emotional exhaustion and burnout if not properly managed
• It often affects your ability to maintain professional boundaries
• It may impact your personal life and relationships outside work

But you don't have to let emotional demands overwhelm you. There are ways to protect yourself while still being effective in your role.

1. Create Boundaries

Establish clear emotional boundaries between work situations and your personal feelings.

2. Build Support

Develop a network of colleagues who understand and can provide emotional backup.

3. Practice Care

Implement regular self-care routines to help process and release work-related emotions.

Finding Emotional Balance

Constantly facing emotionally challenging situations can wear down even the strongest person. Yet developing emotional resilience isn’t just about surviving in the short term – it’s about thriving in the long term.

To flex your resilience muscle, you can use MOOD.ai to track how you feel about emotional demands each day. This intuitive tool helps you spot subtle changes in your mood and recognise when you might need extra support or self-care.

Emotions matter, and so does your wellbeing.

By protecting your emotional wellbeing, you’ll feel lighter and more capable of making a difference at work – without carrying unnecessary emotional baggage.