“It’s Not My Job To Prevent The Catastrophe”: People Share 30 Tips That Help Them Get Through The Day At Their Toxic Jobs

First thing when you get home, shower and put on different clothes. It draws a firm line between work and home.

I was working at a place like this. Great pay, lots of perks, but very high pressure. I tried a number of different things to take the edge off. Exercise, meditation, nutrition, drinking, drugs, positive self talk, therapy…you name it. The only thing that worked for me was quitting and going into lower stress work. I make less money, but I’m infinitely happier.

Working at a toxic job is just that. Toxic. You can do anything you want to curb the side effects, but if you drink a glass of poison every day, it’s going to eventually kill you no matter how hard you try and counteract it. Good luck

All these tips may help a bit for a while but they wear off. It’s my personal belief that you have to change your situation and then change it again until you have peace. We spend waaaay too much time at work to be miserable at it

About 20 years ago I had a stressful job that required decompression after work. My therapist recommended just taking a walk in the park on the way home. So I started walking about a mile every evening after work. Eventually it turned into a jog, then a run then circuit training. I got into better shape at 30 than I was as a teenager.

Bro I got you. When you realize your pay is not based on your performance and is only based on your presence, it becomes incredibly easy to not give a f**k.

My dad would often open the big trash bin on his way into the house after work and chuck something in there. One day I was outside and watched him but did not see anything in his hands. I asked him what he was throwing away. “I throw all the c**p from work in there so I don’t bring it in the house.” Interesting coping strategy.

I chose to leave once I realised my health would never stop deteriorating there. Never regretted it, new job is so much better.

Work your hours and then stop thinking about work. Work time is for work. Your time is for your time. I turn off all emails and teams notifications between 7PM and 7AM. I don't check email on vacation. I also prioritize my work day. What are the most pressing things to get done? I do them all first when I am fresh, then leave the mundane stuff for when the mental fatigue kicks in. Get a hobby or something else you are passionate about.

Honestly OP, no matter what you do it will eventually catch up to you. So my advice would be look for an alternative while you still have your health. Stress kills… I worked 10-12 hours a day, on call 7 days every other week for over 10 years. Once I hit 45 it became a problem and slowly started pulling me down into anxiety and depression. Don’t burn out mate. It’s not worth the consequences.

Make something a routine thing that you do every shift to delineate work life vs home life. Some people mentioned showers, gym, etc... Mine was easy, I crossed a bridge to get home after work. That simple threshold crossing made me leave everything work related behind, on the other side of that bridge.

In case you don't have time to yourself for the gym or showering, maybe there is a park you can drive past or even better, drive through, on your way home? Or designate a freeway overpass? Something that signifies crossing the threshold between work and personal worlds?

I like the change of clothes and shower upon returning from home.
Go to a sauna and sweat it out.
Join a gym and stop here on the way home to burn off energy.
Avoid booze. I wish I did that myself as I abused myself for decades with high stress high alcohol.

I’d leave. I worked in a toxic environment for two years and toughed it out until the end. It left a lasting impression on my nervous system so I now regret staying

if your commute is long enough you can listen to a podcast on the way home. it gives me a great separation of home and work

One thing that helps me out a lot is to remind myself that my job is to be there and do the best I can to respond to the catastrophe. It's not my job to prevent the catastrophe. Sometimes I can't prevent the catastrophe. Even if everybody around me is freaking out about the catastrophe, and expects me to be the one to fix the catastrophe, and gets mad at me if I can't fix the catastrophe, if I show up, and I do my job, and I make good logical choices, and the catastrophe still happens, I have done my job. That's the best I can do.

Being able to reconceptualize your role as "showing up and responding to catastrophe for 8 hours, whether or not catastrophe is fixed" leaves you a lot more emotional room to come home and look for the next job without feeling like it's an emergency.

Quit. It's not worth your sanity unless you have literally no other options.

Take regular bathroom breaks as a breather when things get too much. I sometimes use my Fitbit to do some breathing exercises for two minutes.

Find something relaxing to do when you get home, this can be anything you like doing as long as it's a reward for getting through the day.

Also just start looking for a new job whenever you have the time. It most likely isn't gonna get better at that job.
Longer hours or commute may seem like a hurdle right now, but if they're at a place where you're less on edge and more appreciated, they won't be so bad.

Exercise every day after work. Even mild. Get the survival energy out of your body.

Repeat, silently, after me.

It doesn't matter, if they want it that way it pays the same.

This seems dumb but there is a little ritual you can do when you come home. My mom taught me this one.

Take you work shoes off before you get home.

Seems strange but by just setting it up in your mind that "these are the shoes that I go to work in". Once you take them off, work is complete and you can let go of what occurred and focus on being at home...all because the shoes are off.

Seems silly but I do it with a hat instead. Once the hat comes off, it's family / home time.

Give it a shot!

I used to just say to myself in my head, "eh, f**k it dude, if they fire me, I'll just go get a different job". Then go about doing things at my pace. But yeah, that's a tough spot with the commute situation.