Every day at work is often a battle, and at least once, we feel exhausted, anxious, stressed, or simply overwhelmed. Have you ever been in this situation, when a colleague asked “Are you okay?”, the answer was “It’s okay, I’m fine!” turned out like a habit?

But in reality, we are not good at all. We are in a difficult time. And it can be extremely difficult to talk about. Lying “I’m fine” when I’m not okay at all won’t improve the situation, but can make things worse.

Afraid to discuss mental health at work – a private matter

Mental health has been taken care of more now than before, but it’s never been easy to discuss mental health at work, but it’s time we need to be stronger to speak up .  “I am not fine” at work. In general, it is difficult for us to talk about our psychological problems because of three main obstacles.

The first is that most people think that psychology is a personal matter. We spend most of the day interacting with our co-workers. Some people even spend more time with colleagues than with family members. Therefore, sharing a personal issue such as mental health can create a sense of fear and apprehension in the general atmosphere. We do not want to share such a “secret” matter with colleagues who are not engaged enough. Or simply create anxiety or become a “burden” for close colleagues. Even when you’ve begun to want to talk about your situation, the fear of being “turned on” by a co-worker can make it feel like a risky decision.

The second obstacle is the anxiety of being “special”. Being the first to speak up when you’re not feeling well can set you apart from everyone else at work. If your workplace has an emotionally closed office culture, the fear of ostracism may increase. And since no one wants to be the first to break that line, the closed culture will continue to exist.

Ultimately, we don’t want to put our jobs in a precarious, dangerous position. We worry that acknowledging an unstable mental health condition means acknowledging impaired performance. If we work in highly competitive environments, we may be even more stigmatized because we may lose projects or no longer have the ability to advance in the future.

Why do we need to talk about this?

Whether we decide to share the truth or not, we need to be prepared to say this, because:

Hiding can make difficult experiences worse

Having to pretend that everything is going well at work when in reality it isn’t will always leave us under pressure and burn out in the long run. On the other hand, a workplace that allows people to be open about how they are feeling, whether good or not, creates a much more relaxed atmosphere, since we are not always in perfect condition. perfect. Besides, allowing ourselves to be honest with our feelings instead of trying to suppress them will make us more comfortable, happier, and have a better work experience.

Talking to the right person can make things better

It could be a conversation with the human resources department, the company leader, or simply a colleague from across the room. Talking openly with people can make a wonderful difference. Mental health problems are often “tolerable” individually, to the point that simply having someone listen can create surprisingly effective relief.

Help others be more open about their problems

Modern life with a lot of pressure makes feeling unwell at work a private matter. Who knows, the enthusiastic colleague sitting right next to us is also struggling to endure the same feeling? So when we bravely speak up about our feelings, others realize it’s not as hard as they think and they feel a deep encouragement. More and more people dare to speak out about their bad situation, soon, the stigma will be gone. This courage not only helps yourself, but also helps those around you.

The path towards the goal of comfortable discussion about mental health in the workplace is not easy, but it is totally worth it. It’s time for us to “normalize” our feelings of inadequacy and boldly share them.