I used to have a plaque in my cubicle that just said “Breathe.” Sometimes I would turn and just look at it for a long moment. It helped to calm me and make me just wait that extra interval, especially before pressing “send.”
With respect to pressing “send,” I also had a trusted colleague who would perform a niceness check for me whenever I was in doubt about sending a message. Invariably the fact that I even asked meant that I knew I ought to change something. She saved my neck a lot of times, kept me from doing more harm than good, especially to myself.
The Serenity Prayer helps anywhere, anytime.
I would take a five-minute vacation in the bathroom and just be absent for that long.
And sometimes I would just make myself go outside and walk around the building or even just go look out the window that faced the hills. I lifted up mine eyes unto the hills…that always helped me restore some perspective.
One other thing. At that last job, a ten-year stint at one of those well-known “fast-paced” Silicon Valley companies, I swore an oath when I started that I would never use the word “important” in the workplace about anything having to do with work. In meetings, in e-mails, in memos and reports and consultations with my manager, I kept that promise for the full ten years, even though I never told anyone about it, and it was good for my mental health.
Retirement is even better.
Sorry, @longgone, but I would not welcome having someone at work broadcast any sort of scent into shared space. Like noise, it’s something you can’t shut out. That would multiply my stress.