You’ve finally realized how toxic your old job was, you’ve left, and maybe even found a new place to work. So, now what? Not many people will consider it, but experiencing a hostile work environment can be traumatic. Maybe you were intimidated, verbally abused, or even harassed.
Going somewhere that makes you severely stressed or afraid is absolutely grounds for trauma. How can you recover after leaving a hostile work environment? Here are a few tips that may help.
Acknowledgment and Acceptance
Being in a hostile work environment can seriously affect your well-being and leave you with doubts and questions you may not have had before. When people find themselves in a bad situation, they’ll question whether it’s their own fault or if they’re overreacting.
The bottom line is, if you felt it, that’s what matters. It doesn’t matter if the comments or actions didn’t bother anyone else. It bothered you. It made you uncomfortable. You need to allow yourself to acknowledge that it really did happen, and it wasn’t your fault. When you give yourself that space, you put yourself on the path to healing.
Allow Yourself Time To Recover
Don’t expect yourself to feel better overnight. Trauma is trauma, and yes, it’s okay to say that your work environment was traumatic. Take your time and allow yourself to process what happened. You can even try therapy; therapists can help you understand why you feel the way you do, how to handle it, and how to move past an event. However, any form of healing takes time, no matter how big or small it may seem.
In addition, healing is not linear. You’ll go back and forth and have better days than others. That’s completely okay and normal.
Prioritize Yourself
If you stayed in a hostile work environment for very long, it may be because you’re a people-pleaser, or you prioritize everyone else’s needs over your own. Now may be the best moment to start learning how to be a little bit more selfish with your energy and time. Sometimes, saying no and setting boundaries are the hardest lessons to learn.
With these tips, you too can recover from being in a hostile work environment. Taking care of yourself shouldn’t be a luxury, it should be a necessity.