"There's no doubt that employees have more on their plates than ever before. However, we all have days when our workloads slow down or our appetite to get real work done wanes. And it's important to use slow days in a more strategic way because they don't come all that often."- Mark Strong, New York based Career & Executive coach.

People at workplace often are given tasks and assignments which often matches their competency and skillset. However, job performance is also tied with the mental state employees come to work with. Not all employees bring their ‘can do’ attitude at workplace on regular basis. Some of them carry their personal and social life to work which is very common. Most of us have the ability to regulate and bring our focus back at work. Sometimes this regulation takes longer time than we anticipate while at times, we easily realign our focus back to work. Having lowday at work is not uncommon but shaming colleagues for having low days is unfavorable as it affects their morale and confidence.

It's important to recognise the low days at work can sometimes be overwhelming to a point it effects our productivity.

Some ways to handle low days at work includes:

Collect yourself and reset your mood:

Collecting thoughts and feelings, and identifying the distressing thoughts can give us clarity in our aproach to deal with experiencing low mood. Acknowledging and sharing our distressing thoughts with the HR department or entrusted colleagues can give us relief from experiencing low mood.

Exercise:

A few minutes walk can destress us. Walking or any cardio activity actively engages us to breathe more oxygen which relaxes our mind and body. Oxygen provides us with more energy and ability to reset our mind towards task completion. With our muscles relaxed, spine being stretched and experiencing different location, walking destresses our mind and helps us to regulate our thoughts.

Taking a step back:

Sometimes having our mind constantly run with disturbing thoughts and managing work tasks simultaneously can be mentally exhausting. Taking a break by engaging in a neutral activity or meaningless task or engaging in a hobby can recenter our focus and releases the stress from our mind.

Volunteering:

Establishing and working on a personal cause which speaks to our heart is an effective way to develop bond and find purpose in life. Volunteering is a good way to find and work for a cause which equally brings meaning to us. Orphanages, oldage homes, government and NGOs are some ways to gain volunteering experience. Although volunteering is not an immediate solution to deal with low mood, but it is more sustainable way to decrease our chances to experience low moods.

It is not uncommon for us to have low days at work but how we come out of these low experiences and move on with our lives builds quality and meaning of our lives at workplace.