How to Manage Stress While Working in The Pet Care Industry

Working in the pet care industry can be extremely rewarding and many days are brightened by sweet moments shared with pets and their parents.

While there are plenty of positives, some days spent caring for pets can also be stressful, physically demanding, and mentally exhausting. To help you find balance in your day to day, we put together this list of stress management techniques specifically with pet care professionals and pet business owners in mind. If you find success with one of these techniques or have a few of your own that work well, reach out to us on social media to tell us how you relieve stress while working in the pet care industry. We would love to share your advice with our community!

Start Your Day With Affirmations

Like daily physical exercise, practicing daily affirmations can help improve your outlook and mental health. Affirmations are quick statements you can say to yourself any time to help overcome negative & self sabotaging thoughts. Say one or several of the affirmations below each morning while you get ready, or try creating a few that are more personalized to you!

Daily Affirmations for Pet Care Pros

• 🕺 I am in charge of how I feel and I choose to feel happy
• 🛁 My work makes a difference
• 🙃 I am worthy of investing in myself
• 💪 I am driven by passion and purpose
• 💌 I celebrate the good qualities in others and myself
• ✅ As I become more and more successful, I help more and more people

Exercise Regularly to Manage Stress

We couldn’t create a post on managing stress without mentioning excercise!

Daily walks in nature or around your neighborhood, swimming, cycling, kickboxing, yoga, and HIIT workouts (just to name a few!) are a great way to relieve stress after a long work day. Listen to your body and choose a workout that’s best for how you feel. For example, if your feet are hurting from standing all day, swimming or indoor cycling might be the best option for you at that moment because those activities require less weight bearing on your feet. If you don’t have much time to commit to a daily workout, you can find a variety of workouts online to fit into your schedule – with many that can be done in under 10 minutes! Any amount of movement you can do, especially if it requires a different range of motion from your usual routine, is good for your body and your mind.

Beginner Meditation Guide

1. 1

   Find somewhere quiet & distraction free.

1. 2

   Sit in a position that’s comfortable for you.

1. 3

   Set a timer for 5-10 minutes & turn your phone to silent.

1. 4

   Focus on breathing deeply in and out.

1. 5

   When you notice your mind starting to wander (it’s natural!), simply return your attention to your breathing.

1. 6

   When you’re ready, gently lift your gaze and take notice of your thoughts, feelings, and environment.

That’s all it takes to meditate! It’s a simple practice of focusing on your breathing, then gently returning your concentration back to your breathing any time your mind starts to wander. If you’d like to explore the practice of mindfulness even further, you can find guided meditations on most music & podcast streaming apps.

Breathe Intentionally Throughout Your Day

It’s no secret that breathing in and out deeply can help you relax, but there are some techniques you can use to take this simple stress releasing practice to another level. Some intentional breathing practices require you to sit or lie down for the full effect, but when you’re a pet care provider it’s not exactly easy to find a quiet place to lay down and breathe. With that in mind, we’re sharing our favorite intentional breathing exercise that you can do anywhere and along with any activity. So whether you’re grooming, bathing, walking, or training, this intentional breathing exercise is perfect for the hectic world of pet care!

Equal In & Out Intentional Breathing

Start this intentional breathing practice with counts of five and then increase how long you breathe in and out once you feel comfortable. Work your way up to counts of ten and enjoy the stress reducing effects of intentional breathing!

1. 1

   Breathe in through your nose while counting to five.

1. 2

   Breathe out through your nose while counting to five.

1. 3

   Repeat several times.

Melt Stress Away With Regular Massages

Treating yourself to a weekly or monthly massage will help melt away your stress, release the tension you’ve been holding in your body, and give you some time to clear your mind. If you aren’t able to see a professional for massage treatments as regularly as you would like, there are several convenient and inexpensive at-home options that can help. Pour a glass of wine or brew your favorite tea and spend a few minutes using a massaging foot bath, a shiatsu neck & back massager, or an acupressure mat to help relieve stress when you arrive home after work each evening.

Stop Multitasking and Start “Chunking”

Take your entire to-do list and chunk it out the window!

…just kidding, of course, even though it may seem tempting! Multitasking was once praised as a great way to get more done, but recent studies have found that this method of work can actually be very inefficient and ultimately leads to more stress.

Multitasking can work well when you’re pairing one activity that requires concentration with another that is more physical or can be achieved on “auto-pilot.” An example of this would be cleaning or walking while listening to a podcast or audio book. But if you’re doing two tasks that require concentration and conscious thought, multitasking quickly becomes inefficient and energy draining. An example of this would be listening to an audio book while also trying to write. Attempting to do these two tasks together can lead to it taking longer to complete both tasks because your brain is constantly needing to shift and refocus, which requires time and energy.

Alternatives to Multitasking

The best alternative to multitasking would be to focus on one single task at a time, starting with the most important one first. This sounds great on paper, but the reality is that many work environments, like the fast paced pet industry, make focusing on single tasks near impossible to do. So, the next best cognitive strategy to try is chunking!

What is Chunking?

The concept behind chunking is to set aside blocks of time to focus on one specific task while minimizing interruptions. So instead of checking emails constantly throughout the day, you’ll check them all at once instead. This eliminates the extra time it takes to shuffle from one activity to another and ultimately saves time because you’ll be able to complete tasks with greater focus and efficiency. If your schedule is so full and busy that you still find yourself multitasking throughout most of the day, it might be time to look at your daily routine and habits to see what you might be able to drop without negative consequences. Look for areas where you might be able to delegate some of the extra tasks you are taking on to others if possible.

Try Supplements For Anxiety Management

If you’ve tried a bunch of exercises and techniques for reducing stress & anxiety, but your brain still won’t settle down, it might be time to try supplements! There are so many natural remedies you can take to help relieve stress: CBD, medicinal herbs, and mushroom extracts are just a few. We recommend doing research to determine which supplements might be best for you, and if you have any concerns or are taking medications, it’s important to check with your doctor before trying anything new. To help start your research, we highly recommend watching this video and others from Daniel G. Amen, M.D. on Instagram.

The key is to find the stress management techniques that work for you and your routine and then implement them as daily & weekly practice if possible. It may take trying a few of the stress reducing ideas above before you find the right fit for you, but when you do, you will start to feel so much better! ♥️