As more and more people return to work, it's obvious that Zoom meetings aren’t going away. Some of us will continue working from home at least part-time, and there will always be long-distance meetings that require video. If the thought of another Zoom meeting fills you with anxiety — which is not uncommon these days — consider this advice from the Psych Central website:

Minimize yourself on screen. Many of us are self-conscious about our appearance, and being in a Zoom meeting can make that worse. Choose a view that doesn’t put you front and center. Zoom has a “Hide Self View” option so you don’t have to look at yourself while you’re talking.

Turn off your video. You may be intimidated by the sight of all those faces on your screen. You can go audio only and turn the Zoom meeting into a typical conference call. You may not be able to do this all the time, but it can relieve anxiety if you're able to do this. You can also switch to “Speaker Only”—many virtual meeting platforms allow you to adjust your settings so you can only see one person at a time as they speak.

Be mindful when moving. You may feel like you can’t move at all when you’re on video, but that will only make you more uncomfortable. The key is to move slowly, with intention, when you have to stretch, take a drink of water, or handle something temporarily offscreen. You’ll feel better in general if you keep both feet firmly on the floor to ground yourself during the meeting.