Salaam or Salam, is the Arabic word for peace. With everything going on in the world, I wanted to take a few moments to remind every person that comes across this post, the following: If it costs you your peace, it is too expensive.
This can be in regard to personal or professional relationships. For the purpose of this post, I want to focus on professional relationships.
There will always be people at work that you don’t get along with. That doesn’t make you a bad person in any way. We all have different personalities that make us who we are and it is normal to not get along with everyone.
The difference is when that work environment becomes so challenging and toxic as a result of coworkers not going along, can actually be hazardous to your health.
One of the most toxic environments I worked in was so challenging that I went in everyday determined to be better, help more, learn more, participate more, just to get rid of the tenseness in the air. This took so much mental effort and energy from me.
In the end, I realized I was hurting myself because I was the only one trying to make the work environment less toxic. I had a decision to make. I could stay and continue to work twice as hard and go home late and exhausted, or I could leave and find a place that didn’t take as much mental energy from me.
Although change is scary, it is often necessary. I am not saying that the grass is greener on the other side, but I am saying that a change in work environment and people, make a difference in our mental health.
I have left places simply because I recognized the DeJa’Vu that I felt when I worked in toxic environments. That does not make me incapable of working in those situations, but rather it is me taking a stand for myself and others to say this is not ok and I/we don’t need to toughen up, people just need to be kind to one another.
For those of you that are struggling to find work as a result of recently being laid off, think of this as an opportunity to start over someplace new. The environment won’t be the same, but YOU can make it better, because at the end of the day, if it costs you your peace, it is too expensive
#adventureswithnursejamla