In today’s fast-paced business world, taking on a full-time internship can be daunting and stressful. Taking on that challenge in a foreign country and a new business culture takes it up a notch. Learning how to deal with stress professionally is an excellent skill to develop early in your career. Effective stress management is one of the best ways to stay ahead in challenging environments and will also allow you to develop into a top-notch leader or manager.
When you’re feeling stressed at your internship or even in your personal life, it’s important to analyze where the stress is coming from and to take proactive steps to deal with your tension.
Discover how to deal with stress at your internship through these tips:
Get enough sleep
Sleep has been scientifically proven to reduce levels of stress. However, high stress can also make it difficult to get enough sleep, creating a vicious cycle. If you’re feeling stressed during your time abroad, look at how much sleep you’re getting. Between social events, networking, interning, and traveling, a good night’s sleep doesn’t always come first. However, getting between 7 and 8 hours of sleep is crucial to a successful, low-stress experience. For many young professionals, a rejuvenating night of rest is how to deal with stress.
Exercise
One excellent way to ensure you’ll sleep well at night is to incorporate regular exercise into your daily routine. Exercise produces endorphins, hormones that are natural painkillers. The release of endorphins makes it easier to sleep and decreases stress levels. Exercise is one of the most common ways global professionals deal with stress. Try to exercise regularly, even if this just means walking home from work rather than getting the metro or bus. The walk home from work could also give you the perfect chance to unwind before you get home.
Practice good time management
Time management and stress management go hand in hand. For obvious reasons, good time management is one way to keep your stress levels low during your internship. Of course, this is easier said than done, when you have an entire country to explore and a full-time internship. When you’re managing your time well, you feel more in control, and less stressed. A hugely helpful thing to do during an internship abroad is to create a schedule and stick to it. By making a plan that includes everything you need to do and allocating each task to a specific time slot, it’s much harder to fall behind or forget to do something. This way, you never need to stress about whether you’ll finish everything you need to do. For particularly busy days, prioritizing your tasks and breaking them down into small steps makes them much less daunting and makes you feel less overwhelmed.
Slow down
Slowing down can be very difficult when there’s a lot to do and see, for example when you’re living abroad. However, if you slow down and focus on one thing at a time, it can also help you to manage your stress at work. Taking time in your day for a few deep breaths, or stepping out for a walk on your lunch break are great examples of how to deal with stress during your internship. Additionally, consider blocking out one day a week for yourself. Without any events or plans for the day, you can spend the time gathering your thoughts and enjoying some peace and quiet.
Ask for help
Sometimes, if you’re feeling overwhelmed, the best thing to do is ask for advice on how to deal with stress. As an intern abroad, you’ll have a strong support system in person and online. Utilizing TalkSpace is one of the best ways to get help dealing with your stress. As an intern with The Intern Group, you’ll have access to this anonymous online platform, where you can speak with a professional about culture shock, stress, and anything else related to living abroad. If you ever feel overwhelmed or unsure about a particular task during your internship, there's no harm in asking for help. Your supervisor was an intern once too and they understand that the first few weeks in a role can be stressful. Once you’ve been given guidance, the task that previously seemed impossibly scary instead seems much more manageable.
Keep work at work
If you’ve had a particularly full-on day at your international internship, it can sometimes be hard to switch off when you head home for the day. If you make a mistake it is so easy to spend your evening worrying about it. However, this type of stress is counterproductive. By setting definite boundaries between your professional and personal life, you can ensure you don’t burn out from stress. You can also focus on enjoying your time away from the office by exploring the beautiful city you've come to.
