ELAINY MATA: 2020 was a rough year.
And the start of 2021 doesn't feel
like it's getting any easier.
So how do you stay focused at work?
[MUSIC PLAYING]
I asked Dr. Angela Neal-Barnett, a professor at Kent University.
She's also the director of the Program for Research
on Anxiety Disorders Among African-Americans also known
as PRADAA.
I wanted to ask for her advice of how we can stay focused
at work and how events like what happened in DC
can affect the Black and brown community
and what we can do about it.
First of all, Miss Angela, I just
want to say thank you for taking the time to meet with me
and talk to me about this.
Because I think it's very timely and important to talk about.
I want to first ask you, how are you feeling?
ANGELA NEAL-BARNETT: Oh, I had an aunt
who was from the Deep South.
And every time you would ask her how she was doing,
she would rear back her head and say, child.
[LAUGHS]
Doing poorly.
We used to laugh and laugh and laugh about that.
But now I think I know exactly what
Aunt Foo was talking about.
So I would say very honestly that I have good days
and I have bad days right now.
ELAINY MATA: One way that I've been able to cope
is social media.
It's a way for me to connect with other people,
laugh at memes, and for just a few moments
forget about the horrible things that are happening
outside of my four walls.
But social media is also a double-edged sword.
It's very easy to be caught up in the other uglier side that
comes with trolls, awful comments, and resurfacing
videos that are incredibly triggering that also bring more
trolls and more nasty comments.
And none of this stops just because I'm at work.
It's actually the opposite.
So one challenge I have is that my job
is all about social media.
Like I have to be on.
And a lot of other jobs are evolving to be that way, too.
How can I and others find the balance
between one, doing our job and by still
maintaining to be on but still stepping back and taking
a breather?
Because sometimes we can't unplug.
We have to have our phones or our computers on.
ANGELA NEAL-BARNETT: When you leave work,
you have to leave work at work.
So if your office is the bedroom or the office
is the rec room or the office in the basement,
then when you close the door of the office
and go up the stairs, you have to leave work behind.
ELAINY MATA: A lot of the events like the insurrection
in DC happen between 9:00 to 5:00,
which means we're at work stuck to our computers surrounded
by technology where we're able to see updates
and developments that are continuously being recirculated
on our feeds and social media and in the news over and over
and over again.
Is that not distracting?
So how do you communicate with your coworkers
or your managers?
They may be involved and invested in this,
but you're not.
How do you tell them, hey, I need a break?
ANGELA NEAL-BARNETT: Some people just walk away,
and then people misinterpret what they've done.
And I think it's really important to remember that
people cannot read your minds.
So it's so important to say, you know, right now, right now, I
can't talk about this.
And if you're still uncomfortable saying that, then
you can say something like, oh, I
have some work that people are expecting in the next hour.
But I'll catch up with you at lunch or break or whatever.
But you have to be able to say what you are feeling.
This is your life.
This is your mental health.
And it is OK to say I cannot talk about this right now.
ELAINY MATA: What happened on January 6th
is hard not to talk about, especially if you're
Black or brown where a lot of these events
affect us a little bit differently.
I couldn't help but notice a drastic difference
of how people that participated that day
were treated incredibly different than those
that went to DC last summer for the Black Lives Matter March.
It just feels like we're in this space all over again trying
to explain how we feel.
In this moment, how can we continue
to take care of ourselves?
Because it feels like we have to do that every couple of months.
ANGELA NEAL-BARNETT: There are two Americas.
And that's an added layer which has
a impact on our mental health.
Self care alone is not going to allow
us to protect our mental health in the ways
that it needs to be protected given the relentless onslaught
of systemic racism that we face so that the care has
to be also woven throughout our workplaces.
ELAINY MATA: What if we are in a predominantly white workspace?
ANGELA NEAL-BARNETT: Because it's very scary.
It's very scary for non-Black, nonbrown people
to hear us say we need our own space because is that racist?
Is that going to alienate people, et cetera?
And the fact is that the questions and the experiences
of non-Black/brown people are not the experiences
of Black-brown people.
We're not asking or saying the same thing.
The impact on us is different.
Right now we need our own space.
And in giving us our own space, that means that down the road,
we can come together with people who do not look like us.
ELAINY MATA: How can we stay focused while at work?
ANGELA NEAL-BARNETT: In this sense, we have to be organized.
We can actually use our phones, our tablets,
all those kinds of things.
But we have to manage the time that we spend on it.
And if at all possible, we have to unplug.
But it's not a big ask to say, OK,
to turn it off during the lunch hour
or to turn it off during the morning.
But we know 24/7 with your phone in hand
no matter what you do is just not
going to be good for your mental health.
ELAINY MATA: This feels like something
I have to continuously practice because this isn't
the first time that something like this is going to happen
or something major.
It doesn't even have to be political
but something big that can blow up on social media
that can take my attention away from what my main focus is.
ANGELA NEAL-BARNETT: It is Gladwell
who says if you're going to become an expert in anything,
you need 10,000 hours, right?
So 10,000 hours of practicing being
in this kind of environment and yet protecting my spirit.
I have to, before I do a Zoom call or even this interview,
I have to put myself in the right mindset.
So I have a theme song that I listen to.
That song then puts me in the right frame of mind.
And it soothes me enough so that I can do a meeting.
Or I can do the interview.
Or I'm clear in my purpose of what I'm doing in that hour
or in that half hour.
ELAINY MATA: So what's your favorite song?
What's the song that you listen to?
ANGELA NEAL-BARNETT: Oh, right now it's Aretha Franklin.
And it's her version, her live version, of "Amazing Grace."
ELAINY MATA: I love it.
ANGELA NEAL-BARNETT: Oh, I do too.
I do too because it takes her a minute to say amazing.
[LAUGHTER]
ELAINY MATA: So here are the takeaways
before you start searching for your theme song.
Number one, focusing at work is hard but doable.
Make sure you give yourself time away from your desk.
Go for a walk.
Turn off notifications.
And remember it is OK and incredibly important
for you to tell your coworkers or your managers
that you're not doing so well and that you need a break.
Number two, the impact of certain events
is different if not heavier for Black and brown people.
So it's important that while at work, we take the agency
and ask for the space that we need in order for us to heal.
Number three, as much as this is about focusing at work,
it's also important that we leave work at work.
When the workday is over, shut off your computers.
Turn off your notifications, and shut your screens.
Now excuse me while I find a Bad Bunny song to listen to
before my next meeting.
[MUSIC PLAYING]