Relax & Reclaim

Let's be honest. There's a coworker in every office. They complain about everything , they are the office gossip, constantly disappearing when the real work needs to be done, or they act like they are always in a competition with someone. If you've been frustrated by these types of people at work, then this is for you. You don't need to change them to have a better day. In my previous article The Workplace Choir, I wrote about how you should focus on your "part" instead of what others are doing wrong. That still holds true, but here is some advice that might help you as well. Don't Take Everything Personally People can come into the workplace with all kinds of burdens to bare. Things could have gone bad at home, they could be stressed about money, not enough sleep or even poor health. Whatever the reason is, it doesn't change the fact that they are rude to you. It helps to put things in perspective because sometimes an unpleasant coworke...

Last time, we talked about cayenne pepper as a digestive powerhouse.  The exact kind of thing you'd sprinkle into soup and forget was doing quiet, unglamorous work in your gut.  Good stuff.  But it turns out that's only half of cayenne's resume. Here's the other half: this pepper also moonlights as a topical pain reliever. Not "drink some tea and hope" pain relief...actual, studied, rubbed-on-your-skin pain relief that shows up in real clinical trials. So let's turn up the heat again, this time for your joints, your muscles, and whatever's been barking at you since you slept wrong. In case you missed it, here's the original article. 🌶️ How Does Spicy Become Soothing? Quick refresher: capsaicin is the compound that makes cayenne (and pepper spray, and your regrettable Tuesday-night wing order) hot.  When capsaicin touches your skin, it locks onto something called a TRPV1 ( Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid 1 )  receptor — the ...

This was from a reader named Ike: " Stress shows up in many different ways. For me it's usually while I'm working. I work remotely in cybersecurity.    We deal with midsize to larger businesses who panic VERY easily. That's stressful enough, but what makes it more challenging is the sheer amount of chaos every time someone contacts our team for suspected breaches, data leaks, and the occasional DDOS attacks. We're supposed to be calm and calculated during these times, but it just seems like the office thrives on chaos.  I get emails and Slack messages every five minutes from senior and middle management who over promise results to our clients and then pressure the team downstream to keep those promises! What's worse is we have some team members who are expert blame shifters who know no accountability. Makes me want to pull my hair out! Here's my question Blog Squad: How does one stay focused   while in the middle of chaos central? " Thanks, Ike.  It se...