Remember to breathe
heck take a big breath right now
(and straighten your shoulders and back a little your posture is probably terrible)
and if you need to, put down the phone or get up from your desk for a minute.
Maybe just go ahead and do that anyway, “need to” or not.
Now find a window to look out of. Or if there isn’t a handy window, find the furthest point you can and deliberately adjust your focus away from the phone or desk and instead look into the distance.
Take a break, finish the thought, let it go.
…
…If need be take another big breath.
okay
Now ‘center’ yourself.
That could mean: reminding yourself of where you are, where you stand, who you are, who you love, what the plan is for the rest of the day, or none of that and a little quiet meditation instead (for those that meditate).
But find a center
and try to be there for a long second,
and hold onto as much of that as you can when you go back to the screen.
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Hey while we’re here: if you didn’t back up your data on 1 January (New Year’s Day is an excellent day for backing up important data) then take a minute to do that before you dive back into whatever terrible news is happening. You’ll feel better after.