Working for a toxic workplace can crush your soul and make you feel like a shell of a human.

I always told myself I would never be in a toxic relationship. And, what do you know, I ended up in a toxic “relationship” with my employer for over 6 years. And not only that, but I became a toxic human myself. So layers upon layers of toxicity were built into my very human and (unfortunately) very common experience.

To be clear, toxic workplaces and toxic bosses can creep up on you. For the majority of us, we don’t notice it until years in. Because 90% of the days are happy, and fun, and you are making an impact and you love what you do. But those 10% days affect you more than you know. They are insidious. They slowly but surely take away your autonomy, your self-worth, your livelihood, and start messing with your mental health, physical health and relationships outside of work. And then one day, you wake up and don’t recognize yourself anymore.

But it’s not too late. I promise.

After experiencing a toxic workplace, it’s easy to hold on to the anger and resentment and guilt. Which is fine. Feel your feelings. But what if you could start healing slowly but surely? Because I promise you, what’s even easier is living your life once that anger and resentment and guilt have been released.

So, beautiful reader, here are 3 ways you can start healing from a workplace trauma:

1. Ground into your body: After years of a dysregulated nervous system, the first thing you should do is restore your mind-body connection. When your mind and body are in sync you are more connected to your thoughts, emotions, and intuition without judgement. And once you are more connected you can easily move through stress and anxiety.

   Start doing activities like tapping, movement, meditation, or breath work. These will help in clearing your mind, and just being more present and creative. 

2. Gratitude: Start practicing gratitude. And not in a morning or nightly list. Try practicing gratitude in small moments throughout the day. When you find yourself spiraling, how can you find some gratitude?

   I’ll use myself as an example. When I was healing from workplace trauma, I would state I’m grateful for the experience for all the skills I learned. I’m grateful for the experience because of the friends I met. And I’m grateful for myself for being so strong during that period of my life. 

   And this isn’t a way to toxic positivity. If you feel super emotional, use one of the grounding tools from #1 to to move the negative emotions, then practice gratitude. Gratitude is a way to not dwell on the negative. It’s taking your power back. 

3. Write a letter to your past self: After experiencing trauma, it’s important to forgive yourself. It’s so easy to blame ourselves for the actions we took (or didn’t take) and who we were and how we acted during our trauma. But we must move out of that shame and guilt, and it’s a true act of Self-Love to forgive yourself.

   And you can do this by writing a letter to your past self. Forgive her for the habits and belief systems she formed. Tell her that those habits are no longer serving you, and you are ready to release them now. Do this without judgement and just let it flow.

These are steps I took when I started healing and began practicing Self-Love. While some days are harder than others, I keep these practices in the back of my mind on the tough days and they help me be “me” again.

I was recently a guest on You Are Not Your Trauma Podcast where I talked more about my experience in traumatic workplaces and how I have began to heal. You can listen here. (Or wherever you get your podcasts. It’s Season 3, Episode 4.)

And if you want to dive deeper into self-love work to help you regain your sense of self after experiencing a toxic workplace - you can check out my self-love program using the button below.