We need to talk about toxic workplace recovery.
You were in a toxic work environment. You managed
to escape. But what happens next? I'm going to be
diving into different strategies to help you
recover from a toxic workplace in today's video.
But before, I just want to say hello, and welcome
back to my channel! Where I help you slay your
career and cultivate the successful life you
deserve. If you haven't already, click that
subscription button and the notification bell, I
release two new videos each week. And to be clear,
I recorded this video and the audio was absolute
trash. So I decided to just turn on the camera and
rerecord it, and talk to you guys about toxic
workplace recovery. What it's really like, what to
expect, and the ditches that you probably don't
think that you're gonna encounter that you're
gonna fall in if you don't know about them. Do
make sure that you stay through the whole video
because I don't want you to miss anything. Now,
I'm not going to beat around the bush in terms of
toxic workplace recovery, we're going to jump
right into it - right after you tap that like
button.
So if you just go ahead and tap that right now,
we're going to get into the first strategy to
recover from a toxic workplace, which is to
acknowledge the trauma. And I know that this
sounds like really bad and as soon as I said
trauma, your instinct was probably to downplay
what you have just gone through in your toxic work
environment like oh, it's not that bad. It's not
trauma, but we need to call things what they are.
I'm not saying that everything is severe trauma.
But there is trauma that you have experienced in
that toxic workplace if you were in a truly toxic
work environment, because let's be real: stuff
goes down in a toxic work environment. When we
think about toxic workplace behaviors, which are
very common, and maybe you've seen some of them,
if not all of them. There's things like gossiping,
undermining undervaluing by our toxic boss or
toxic coworkers. And these are all things that can
have a dramatic impact on you going forward, this
can have a real impact on you and what you're
bringing into the next job. You can lose trust,
confidence, and even your sense of worthiness to
be in the position that you're in. And if we don't
acknowledge it, we're not going to be able to
recover from that toxic workplace effectively. And
that means that we're going to bring all of the
baggage from that terrible relationship that we
were in directly into our next one, We absolutely
do not want to do that my friend. So we need to
start by acknowledging what you have just been
through. And I'm telling you all have this because
when I was in a toxic workplace, I did the exact
same thing. I was just like, Oh, it was just a bad
environment, I'm just going to shake it off, no
worries. But the thing is that it can actually
start to seep out in different ways. And it
doesn't always look like walking around feeling
terrible, yourself, never trusting anyone and
having an ultra negative attitude. But sometimes
it is going to be seen on in different ways if we
don't actually address it. So my friend, I want
you to start here and just acknowledging what you
have actually been through.
Once we do that, that is going to bring us into
our next strategy to recover from a toxic
workplace. And that is to be kind to yourself. One
of the things that comes up most frequently, when
I speak with someone or work with a client who's
been in a toxic work environment, whether they had
a toxic boss, they were dealing with toxic
coworkers, they were facing discrimination in the
workplace. One thing that is so consistent is that
in some way, they're blaming themselves for what
happened. Also, when we consider the negativity in
a toxic workplace, there's just it kind of ends up
surrounding you, like we've talked about in some
of my previous videos. And this can end up
becoming something that you really begin to
internalize. So whether it's your toxic boss who
is doubting you, or trying to undermine you on a
consistent basis, or the toxic coworker who has a
living on edge, because of all of the malicious
gossip that is going on, you can actually begin to
internalize that and start to experience a lot of
self doubt where it didn't necessarily exist
before. I also think that being in a toxic work
environment makes us overly sensitive to the
negative aspects of ourselves and any company that
we're working for going forward. This is really
bringing your tolerance level from like here down
to like here. Like you're at zero or below zero.
While I want you to begin to recognize those
patterns. I also want you to be really kind to
yourself and realize that it is a result, not as
something that is fundamentally wrong or
fundamentally flawed with you. But it is a direct
result of being in that toxic work environment.
Noticing those patterns is a step that you're
going to take in your toxic workplace recovery.
And this actually leads me directly into the next
strategy to recover from a toxic workplace. And
this is a trap that so many toxic workplace
survivors fall into.
You need to stop blaming yourself. When you
accepted a job, you did not accept the toxic
workplace behavior. You did not sign on to work
with a toxic boss alongside and toxic coworkers
and accept their awfulness, discrimination and
whatever else that they were throwing at you. And
the fact that you stayed doesn't mean that you
were consenting to it. For starters, sometimes it
takes a while for us to recognize that we are in a
toxic workplace. One thing that I very frequently
see with people that aren't in a toxic work
environment, and I totally had this when I was
personally in a toxic work environment, is that
cognitive dissonance really kicks in, that's where
you start to justify or rationalize the things
that you're seeing, the behaviors you're
experiencing, and the situation that you're in to
explain that it's really not that abnormal. So
first of all, we have that big blocker in terms of
recognition. And then if you're like most people,
when you do realize that you are in a toxic work
environment, and it's having an adverse effect,
you can't necessarily just walk in the next day
and quit your job. Most of us need a paycheck to
pay our bills. And compounding all of that is that
toxic companies, toxic coworkers, toxic bosses
have a phenomenal ability to gaslight you into
thinking that the issue was at them that the issue
is you and I think that's one of the main reasons
why so many toxic workplace survivors really do
blame themselves because the gaslighting is really
making you believe that there is something that is
wrong with you that the issue is a huge thing,
when really the issue is your toxic boss. The
issue is your toxic coworker, the issue is the
toxic work environment that they have created. But
the good news is at least I hope, because you're
watching this that you are actually not recovery,
that you have your exit strategy you have gotten
out, you're in your next role or you're looking
for your next role.
The next thing that you need to do in order to
recover from your toxic workplace is to process
the hurt. Remember, a toxic work environment isn't
just a company that you don't really like that's
not that's just a company that you don't like a
toxic work environment is a highly corrosive
environment. And I'm not here to diagnose anyone.
But often we will see that there may be some level
of personality disorder involved with the toxic
boss, or toxic coworker that you are working with.
Ultimately, a toxic work environment is created by
toxic people that you are working with no matter
where in the corporate structure they are sitting
and toxic people can cause real harm to your
confidence to your self esteem and to so much
more. And just to be clear, it's not necessarily
the toxic person that you are working with in this
toxic work environment that is going to be the one
that is causing the harm. Sometimes this harm
might actually be coming from someone that you
liked someone that you trusted, someone that was
actually supporting you in that toxic work
environment. This goes deep. This is not
necessarily a surface level identification.
There's several things that you can do in order to
process what you've been through and realize where
that hurt lies any feelings of distrust and
betrayal and things like that, oh, how you
actually processes is going to be very individual.
So I'm not going to tell you through a video
exactly what you specifically need to do, because
it's going to be different for you as it was for
me as it was for some of my clients but things
that I frequently see being leveraged and I
personally have done and have found to be very
helpful. Were journaling, meditation, reading
books, and going to therapy. Once you leave that
toxic work environment, you do not want to walk
around and especially into your next job with all
of those feelings, the resentment, the mistrust,
whatever it is that is coming up for you and the
different ways that it is showing up after you
have left the toxic workplace leverage any tool
that feels right for you in order to help you
process what you have been through and recover
from that toxic work environment. Now as you're
doing this, you're probably going to implement the
next strategy right along with it.
The next strategy to help you recover from that
toxic workplace is to do a reality check.
Refamiliarizing yourself with your awesomeness is
something that might be very essential because
toxic people at work are often overly negative.
They're criticizing you unfairly. You know,
they're toxic people, like we've talked about so
much, but you know that they're just, you know,
they're making you feel bad about yourself. And
that is why the workplace is toxic for you. But
remembering all of your unique awesomeness, and
your unique awesomeness quotient isn't just
important for you in your toxic workplace
recovery. It's also really crucial for you to be
able to slay in your next role. Because you're
going to know what your awesome what you bring to
the table, what you can focus on, that's going to
move you forward in your career. I have a whole
workshop to help you identify your UAQ, but I
think the more that you become aware and like
intellectually see all of the awesomeness that you
bring to the table and what a fantastic
professional you are and why you are so valuable
and an asset to a company that is also going to
help you as you recover from your toxic workplace.
And it's also going to help you bring the next
strategy to life to recover from your toxic workplace.
And that is to really build your confidence. Bear
in mind that everyone's response and the impact of
a toxic workplace is going to be different. So you
might walk out the doors still feeling really
confident. Personally I did. My confidence is
pretty unshakable, which is especially useful here
in the comments section sometimes, but just
because you don't feel like your confidence has
been hampered doesn't mean that it has not been
hampered across the board. There may be situations
and circumstances which actually bubble up where
you feel less confident than you would have
before. And unfortunately, the confidence hit from
a toxic workplace can show up at the most
inconvenient times. And also know that sometimes
there is just a trigger that is going to happen in
the future that even when you have recovered from
your toxic work environment, you've processed it
all that it's just going to come up sometimes no I
want you to be prepared for if you ever experience
one of those pangs of loss of confidence, and it's
actually very simple when you're ready for it to
overcome it. All you need is to implement some of
the instinct confidence booster is that I share in
this video. I really hope that this video helps
you make a plan to recover from your toxic work
environment if you feel like it did give it a like
let me know what you are going to implement. First
down in the comments below. If you haven't
already, of course consider subscribing and as
always, thank you so much for watching. I will see
you in the next video. Bye for now.