Mindfulness Strategies That Helped Me Escape a Toxic Work Environment

Toxic workplaces drain your energy, shake your confidence, and leave you questioning your worth. I know this too well because I’ve been there. In this blog, I share my personal experience of working in a high-stress, toxic environment, how it pushed me to burnout, and the unexpected tool that helped me take back control: mindfulness. If you’re feeling trapped in a toxic work culture, this blog will give you hope, perspective, and practical strategies to protect your wellbeing.

My Personal Experiences

As we embark on this raw, honest look at my experience of a toxic workplace, it’s worth noting that this is part of my journey to discovering the power of mindfulness. It is also important to be clear that there were many incredible things in my previous work places - talented people, brilliant leaders, amazing work ethics, but it often came at a price - and that is what I will be writing about here.

The Reality of Working in a Toxic Environment

I was a senior director in the 2 previous businesses I worked for. I was highly trusted by the Founders but also under a lot of pressure.

Some of that pressure came from the business growing so fast and the founders not really knowing the next step and looking to me for the answer. Guess what, I didn’t know either! I was a little out of my depth but also afraid to fail.

The work culture in the UK when I started 20 years ago was work hard, player harder. Long workdays were followed by even longer nights out, especially in the media industry. There was very little room in the day for mental health challenges.

My bosses also knew this and while they were extremely talented businessmen, they didn’t have a great deal of empathy for weakness or problems. The high expectations fuelled my stress and it took a physical toll.

• We were doing more than 1 event per month, all in different countries.

• I once did a roadshow for the Indian Government which involved travelling to 3 continents in 4 weeks.

• The concept of rest days was unheard of, working 16 hour days was the norm.

Cue self-doubt, anxiety and exhaustion!

Red Flags of a Toxic Workplace

In my experience there are some key signs of a toxic workplace - and some aren’t intended - they often come from businesses growing rapidly and leaders being put into a role before they are ready and ultimately the pressure of succeeding being greater than the welfare of your people.

Let me say that again:

Business leaders can be so fixated on successfully building a business that this becomes greater than the welfare and wellbeing of the very people helping them to get there.

So what are the flags you can look out for?

1. You’re expected to always be "on" - always contactable, always needing to jump when a client asks

2. Stress, overwork, and burnout are normalised because that’s what happens when a business is successful

3. Your confidence is slowly eroded by toxic leadership or colleagues because you question if you are the problem

4. You feel like no matter how much you give, it’s never enough

The Breaking Point: "One day, I realized I wasn’t just exhausted - I was losing myself. That’s when I knew something had to change."

How Mindfulness Helped Me Take Back Control

It was at this time I asked for extended leave and travelled to South America to train as a meditation and mindfulness teacher. I could see the impact mindfulness could have but my life was too busy and hectic to really allow the space to slow down.

When I was away I worked with mindfulness teachers who taught in top companies in Asia and they opened my eyes to what was possible to integrate in the real world.

It’s easy to be mindful and calm when you’re sat on a beach, but when you’re in a boardroom delivering quarterly results or in front of an angry sponsor at an event asking why the minster you promised would be there wasn’t (yes this happened in Beirut at an Oil and Gas Conference!!)….it’s not so easy to be zen.

My History With Mindfulness

Mindfulness felt quite uncomfortable for me at first - I was always ‘too busy’ for it.  I loved the concepts of mindfulness but on coming back to my corporate role in London, I still found it hard to practically apply it.

I was fine doing meditation here and there but I found the principles hard to integrate. However, through doing further work and being part of a corporate mindfulness programme, I finally understood that mindfulness wasn’t just about meditation, it was about creating space, awareness, and choice.

The Principles of Mindfulness

In mindfulness there are practical concepts that are theories of behaviour backed by science and how the brain works - these are more practical than meditative.

I’ll share the 3 below I think were the most impactful for me in the workplace

1. Noticing Without Judgement

   • Becoming aware of toxic patterns without blaming myself.

   • Accepting others the way they are rather than the way I thought they needed to be.

   • Trying to see things from others perspective and giving them the grace to not know or get things wrong

     
     

2. Creating Micro-Pauses

   • Using breathwork and mindful breaks to reset my nervous system.

   • I went from doing long yoga classes and mindfulness mediations to building micro pauses into my day. 3 deep breaths before a meeting, noticing how I was feeling in any given moment, a walk round the block when I felt overwhelmed

     
     

3. Understanding The Concept of Acceptance

   • Learning that I could choose how I responded to stress.

   • If you can’t change it, accept it. If you can’t accept it, leave. It is what it is.

   • The only person you can change is yourself.

With awareness and acceptance, I let go of trying to control the external world and I focused on my internal self.

It was radical!

"Once I started practicing mindfulness, I saw the toxic culture for what it was - something I didn’t have to absorb or accept. It gave me clarity, strength, and ultimately, the courage to walk away." 

Mindful Strategies to Apply in the Workplace

Here I share some practical strategies of how you can use mindfulness in the workplace to support you.

These are tools I have used myself and taught to hundreds of employees across dozens of businesses.

None of them are ground-breaking, costly or involved - they simply require you to start being aware and give yourself space, both things that are increasingly difficult to do in the noisy society we live in.

• Anchor Yourself - This involves creating small moments in the day where you attach a behaviour to a moment that can ground you and bring you back to your body. Examples of this are doing small mindful moments (deep breaths before meetings, mindful walking, etc.) You can anchor these moments to moments in the day like after a call or meeting, at the start or end of the day or when your timer goes off.

  
  

• Observe, Don’t Absorb - Notice the negativity, but don’t let it define you. Being an observer of a situation is incredibly powerful as it allows you to step back, pause and notice what is going in.

  In this we diffuse the emotion. Both in yourself and others.

  
  

  For this one I invite you the next time you are in a call or meeting – to consciously sit back and observe the other people or person without thinking about the next thing you want to say or being judgemental. It’s hard isn’t it?

  
  

• Reconnect to Your Needs - Ask yourself: What do I need right now? Pausing at moments in the day to ask yourself this is the single most beneficial way you can build self-awareness, manage your energy and regulate your emotions.

• Make space for an exit plan - If the workplace is truly toxic, mindfulness can help you gain clarity on what’s next by creating the pace to pause, reflect and assess what you can accept.

Remember? Change, Accept or Leave.

Final Thought

"Mindfulness didn’t change my workplace - it changed me. It gave me the awareness, strength, and clarity to step away from what wasn’t serving me and build a career that aligns with my wellbeing. And if you’re in a toxic workplace right now, know that you are not powerless. You have more control than you think."

If this blog resonated with you, send me a message as I’d love to hear your story.

And if you’re looking for ways to manage stress in a high-pressure work environment, check out the different ways I support individuals and teams or book a call with me.