Change and managing our emotions

Many of us like things to remain the same. Consistency helps us to feel comfortable, relaxed and in control. But change occurs in all areas of life and a change at work can have a big effect on day-to-day life. Below are just some examples of change in the workplace that you may experience:

• Team restructure
• Changes in role
• Technology changes
• Culture changes
• Hybrid working
• New management
• New goals
• Redundancy

When things do change, we can feel stressed, unsettled and quite simply, scared.

So, why is this and what can we do about it?

Given that we are all different, any change will of course have a unique impact on each of us. Whilst one person may feel upbeat and happy about the change, another may feel scared and vulnerable.

During and after change, we can experience a range of emotions, so it can be helpful if we simplify these into the following:

• Fear
• Anger
• Confusion
• Sadness
• Loneliness

Fear and anger can be an immediate stress response to a change in situation. When we feel stressed, we don’t necessarily see the reality of the situation and start to catastrophise. You may feel frustrated that you are being forced to do things differently or scared of the outcome of the change.

Confusion, sadness and loneliness are brought about by feeling longer term, negative effects of a change in situation. This can lead to you developing negative thought patterns which could have a significant impact on your everyday mental and physical health. It can be easy to feel lonely or isolated in this situation. If you do find yourself feeling this way, seek help. Talk to your manager or colleagues, reach out to a friend or seek professional support.

So how can we look to manage our emotions when it comes to change?

The first thing we need to understand and accept, is that all these emotions are perfectly normal and valid. Acknowledging your feelings is a great first step in managing the change.

The second is to appreciate that our emotional response to change, isn’t fixed. As we go through the process of change, it’s likely that our feelings and emotions will alter, and this is perfectly normal. Just because you feel OK about things to begin with, doesn’t mean you will remain this way, and vice versa.

Listen to the ‘Changing the way we view Change’ podcast on the Sovereign Resource Hub to understand a bit more about our feelings towards change and how you can learn to navigate challenging situations more effectively.

Plus you can go to the ‘Stand up to Stress’ topic on the Resource Hub and learn ways to manage stress more effectively and not become hijacked by the situation. The ’Overcoming Vulnerability’ topic also has some useful tools and techniques that could help.