About Work Stress!
Life isn’t perfect, and neither are you. Therefore you can’t have a stress-free life. Throughout your life, you will find yourselves in situations that will cause you extreme pressure – you will feel the anger, tension, fearfulness, and un-justification that comes with stress, and you will hate it. You will try hard to run away from it, but alas, some form of stress will always find you.
However, stress so attractive to you is not necessarily a bad thing – this may sound crazy, but you need stress, as we all do. Stress is a reaction to pressure, and pressure is necessary to progress in life. If pressure didn’t exist, no one would face their fears or step out of their comfort zone. No one would stand up for themselves, dare live the life they deserve or learn to let go of the past.
The goal shouldn’t be to try to erase your stresses. Instead, the goal should be to learn how to control and manage them so that when stress comes knocking on your door, it doesn’t knock you off your feet.
Unhappiness at work is one of the leading causes of stress in the life of an adult – demanding duties, long hours, reduction of hours, incompatible coworkers, and demeaning job titles can generate extreme feelings of negativity. Dealing with such heavy work stress may seem impossible to manage when it produces so much horror, but it is…
Work Stress Symptoms:
While each person responds to stress in different ways, the common symptoms of work-related stress are constant feelings of agitation, tension, hopelessness, and depression. Some people feel physical symptoms such as a pounding heartbeat, difficulty breathing, and sweaty palms.
10 Ways to Dealing with Work Stress:
- Determine your Stress-inducers: The first step to managing your work-related stress is determining its cause. Once you have determined your stress inducers, you will have to devise a plan to respond to those situations in ways that produce positive results.
- Communicate: If it is possible to talk to the higher-ups at your job about the pressure you feel, then do so, as communication often produces positive results. However, it is essential to approach your boss in a non-confrontational, respectful manner, regardless of the negativity you may feel. Lashing out at your boss is the quickest way to invite more stress into your life – reacting harshly may cause you to appear unprofessional and aggressive, and doing so may cost you your job.
- It’s Only Temporary: If you work at a job that you hate and it is causing you extreme amounts of stress, do not make the immediate reaction to quit; instead, go to work every day with the optimistic notion that it is only temporary. Take a deep breath and smile in the face of your stress, knowing that you will not be working at that job forever. It is just a paycheck and a stepping stone to bigger and better things. You are meant for more than what your current job is giving you, and because you felt this stress. You now have to train your brain to focus on the future and then take steps to leave that job for something better.
- Seek Support: Seek support from coworkers, family, and friends; talk to them about the pressure you are under, speak with complete honesty and openness – sometimes, getting a pat on the back is just the remedy you need to see your stress-inducers in a whole new perspective.
- Eat Healthily: Food has a drastic influence on the neurological system – over-processed foods such as chips, candy, soda, and fast food can release toxic chemicals into the body that can seriously funk up your moods and exaggerate your symptoms stress. However, eating more healthy foods can do just the opposite by influencing the production of good mood endorphins and providing continual detox of toxins. Eating healthy foods such as nuts, fruit, veggies, dark chocolate, and lean proteins can put you in a permanent good mood regardless of the situations you are dealing with. Also, make it a habit to stay hydrated with pure water and herbal teas.
- Sleep Tight: Inadequate sleep is often blamed for responding negatively to work stress. Getting at least 6 hours of deep REM sleep every night is essential, especially if your job is hands-on and demanding. You can lose focus, your productivity may falter, and you may lose your job if sleep depravity negatively affects you.
- Take a Break: All work and no play are never fun; taking breaks between your busy work schedule is essential to reduce burnout and stress. Make it a priority to pause often and just let go of the work responsibilities. Planning mini-vacations will also give you something to look forward to on the days when stress threatens your work life.
- Fake It: One of the most effective ways to manage your work stress is to pretend that they do not exist. Pretend that it does not bother you that your parking spot is six blocks away from your job or that your cubicle is as tiny as a port-a-potty. Once you take power away from a negative situation, the situation doesn’t seem that bothersome anymore. That absence of negative pressure will leave you with the energy to focus on the positive aspects of your job.
- Exercise: Working out releases healthy endorphins that generate a calmer mind and a balanced mental state. Schedule time to workout at least 30 minutes a day- if you have a demanding schedule, you may benefit by breaking up your workout into three 10-minute sections throughout the day.
- Meditate: Meditating is the art of getting in touch with your inner-self. It is learning how to quiet your mind, change your perspective, and better manage life’s obstacles. Meditating will deepen your living level so that you find the positive lesson in every negative situation. There are many ways to practice meditation – it can be as simple as breathing in deeply while repeating affirmations of hope and positivity, or it can be as complex as joining a class and being taught by a teacher. Determine your goals for meditating and find your path.
Adverse Effects of Un-managed Work Stress:
- General Unhappiness: Stress at work can lead to general unhappiness – your stressors can be so significant and so out of control that it permanently fouls up your mood and turns you into a person that you do not want to be around.
- Loss of Passion: Ignoring those at work stresses can drain you of your passion for your job. You can become non-caring about your duties and tasks, and your skills and productivity can suffer.
- Affects Home Life: Work stress can lead to stress at home, and stress at home can lead to deep depression and broken families.
- Lashing Out: Bottling up your work-related stress can cause you to lash out and act in ways you may regret. There are incarcerated or deceased people due to negatively reacting to bottled-up work stress.
- Loss of Confidence: Work stress can cause you to lose confidence in your abilities and self-worth. You start to believe that you deserve to feel the constant pressure, and you may choose to accept the negative situations at work instead of trying to manage them.
- Illness: Stress is the root of all illnesses – unmanaged stress can cause hormonal and neurological imbalances and a weakened immune system. Stress generates acidity and toxin growth which can cause cancer-causing free radicals to formulate.
Work is a necessary part of adult life – going to work every morning or every night is what gives you the freedom to provide for yourself and your family financially. It is an understatement to say that being without a job would be worse and a lot more stressful.
But that fact still doesn’t make it fun or pressure-free to deal with work duties. Taking control of those pressure-filled moments and situations won’t make them disappear. Instead, it will make you strong enough to deal with them.
