Don’t Let HR Meet Your “Old Self”

Ever feel that split second where your patience thins and the “old you” steps forward with words you can’t take back? This bonus drop is a straight, practical talk about facing workplace pressure with a calmer spirit, and why a quick pre-commute ritual—Regina calls it prayer—can be the difference between a small slight and a career-size problem. We get real about triggers, tone, and the way one heated moment can flip you from being right on the facts to wrong on conduct.

We walk through the stress cocktail many teams live in: heavy workloads, tired managers, rushed messages, and clumsy phrasing that lands like disrespect. You can’t control other people’s tone, but you can arrive prepared. If the morning got away from you, take thirty seconds in the car or on the sidewalk to reset. Breathe, say a simple prayer, and set an intention to respond instead of react. That pocket of calm helps you hold boundaries, choose better words, and avoid the blowups that end up in HR or follow you to your next job.

You’ll hear personal lessons, not platitudes: how a mindful check-in keeps the peace when someone “picks the wrong battle,” why empathy matters when you don’t know what a coworker is carrying, and how composure protects your reputation as much as your sanity. We’re also teeing up a fuller series on conduct in public and at work, because small habits shape big outcomes. If you’ve ever wished for fewer fires and more grace at the office, start with this simple practice and notice how the day shifts.

If this resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend who’s under pressure, and leave a quick review to tell us what ritual keeps you steady. Your stories shape what we explore next.

Music

Show end

Chapters

• 1:47 Bonus intro and season update
• 2:21 Naming the problem: pushed at work
• 3:10 Why prayer before work matters
• 4:24 Communication, triggers, and self-control
• 5:57 Preparing your spirit for conflict
• 7:14 Remembering to pray amid rush
• 8:24 Closing notes and contact

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 1:10

Hi there, I'm Regina Sworn. Welcome back to a bonus episode of Regina Sworn Audio Series Presents. Going so great so far. The season is pretty much in the beginning of the season, but going very well. Wonderful guests, wonderful music. She's everything is just really fantastic. I want to come on with this quick bonus because I know a lot of people go through this. I go through it myself. So I want to talk about it a little bit. Um, push to your limits in the workplace. Now listen to the title very carefully and you get what I'm trying to say. Push to your limits in the workplace. Um, I guess this word is so important to pray before you leave the house or before you even on your way to work. If any of my audience, uh my followers are listening to me, pray before you leave leave the house. But if you don't do it before you leave the house, at least pray on your way in route to work, because we don't know what we are going to be facing. And sometimes you are pushed to your limits when you go to work. You're pushed to your limits. You're already under a lot of stress with the workload, and then sometimes you're pushed totally to your limits. I've been there, guys. I've been there, and it just feels like people are riding your back, and and next thing you know, you snap and you do things and you say things, and um and sometimes those things might get you in a lot of trouble and can cause a lot of trouble for other people, as well as yourself, of course. So it's good to pray before you leave your residence or pray early in the morning, or pray again en route to your jobs, because it's so easy to be pushed to that limit. Someone comes along and they they are picking the wrong battle, as I call it, because and then they are tired, probably stressed out themselves, and then they come at you in the wrong way. And I learned a lot. Uh people a lot of times do not know how to talk to other people. I r I I see that so much. I'm like, wow, they could have phrased that a little bit differently, and it would have came out so much differently, and the outcome would have been so much different. But people are so quick to um jump down your throat about things, and and sometimes people on the other end are just not gonna take that, they snap. And so for myself, I've learned to say a word of prayer before I leave the house. It's very important that I do this because that old man that was in me will show up, guys. I'm telling you, that old spirit that used to be in me that would curse a person out in a minute. I mean in a second, in a split second, I have to be careful. So I I personally have to really, really pray and check myself before I go anywhere. I really do. I really do. And then therefore, when something does happen, does happen, I am prepared for it. Because a lot of stupid things happen when you're out in the workforce. You know, a lot of crazy things happen, and you uh most of the times, a lot of times you can be in the right. But if you do something crazy, then suddenly you're in the wrong, like if you curse somebody out, if you snap on them or get the fighting or whatever, and not in my case, but in cases people have gotten into major, huge life life-shattering um things because they was angry and they were fed up to the limit, and it happens. Me sugarcoating this, it happens. And so you never know what another person is going through. That's why you have to approach people, approach them in the right right way. But what I see, some of the things that I see is I'm very unprofessional, very unprofessional. And so therefore, on my end to protect myself, I have to pray, say a word of prayer. I mean, I really do. If I don't, then it's not pretty. And I don't like the person that I become when I don't um pray or say a word of prayer before I leave my residence. I'd definitely bring that to you because I'm gonna do a whole series and I I'm gonna do a whole entire podcast talking about it, because I think people really need to know um how to conduct themselves out in public. You you really need to know that you gotta pray if you don't pray before you leave the house. And a lot of times I might be listening to my music, da da da da da. And I'm like, oh my god, I walk on the grounds, the work grounds, and I'm like, walk up to work, pull up to work, and like, oh my god, I didn't pray tonight. I didn't pray today. And you know, by the end you're rushing out to go inside and you haven't gotten in your prayer. You haven't talked to God. It means a lot, it makes the difference. And um, I just want to come on and say that. Thank you for joining me for this bonus uh podcast is bonus, though, meaning it's not very long. Oh god, people are sending questions. This is just a bonus um um episode. So thank you for joining me. Season eight is going quite well right now. I'm so thankful for all my beautiful, wonderful guests. Um, yeah, so write to me at swornutina at gmail.com and once again thank you. And if you are one of those who just rush out of the house to your job, like I do a lot of times, it might not be so nice. It's good to just get that prayer in, get it out of the way, get it in, get it out of the way. You may not think it's important to pray before you leave home or or en route to work, but it's very, very important. It is for me, guys. It is for me. When I fail to do that, is when I get into trouble. When every little thing just irritates me, everything. But when I pray, it's like water on a duck's back. Yeah. Thanks for listening again. Have a great day. God bless until the next time. See you later.