Let’s face it, work is stressful, mundane and sucks the life out of us when we do not enjoy what we are doing. Sad, but true, millions of Americans are miserable at their jobs. Google “job stress” and you will find a plethora of articles and studies that reveal the harmful effects that stress has on our physical and mental health. It’s scary to think about what stress can do to the human body.
If quitting is not an option, managing stress is important to preserve your mental and physical health. Through my own experience, managing stress became more of a priority than my job when I started to suffer physical signs. TMJ, muscle tension and insomnia to mention a few. Managing stress is a learning process, but when you can find what works best for you, the better off you will be, mentally and physically
Below are personal suggestions on how to reduce stress when work becomes overwhelming. I have practiced them all and hope you can find them beneficial as well.
- Give yourself a positive pep talk first thing when you wake up. Be silly with your pep talk; use phrases like ” let the games begin,” “today is going to be a great day,” “I am a warrior and nothing is going to bring me down today.” Sounds foolish, but if you can’t make you laugh, who can?
- Amuse yourself in the shower. Sing at the top of your lungs, dance around and have immature dialogue with yourself. Live vicariously through the young kid at heart.
- Listen to classical music on the commute to work; it is very calming. I like to rock out just like the rest, but it helps to relax me on the days I know I am going to have a hectic day.
- Before walking in the door, make an agreement with yourself that you will not complain about a single thing. Try it, I dare you. It’s harder than you think. Count how many times you complain in a day. It looks way worse on paper!!
- Avoid checking your email first thing. Grab a drink, snack, clean off your desk, anything but the email.
- Remove yourself from all negative conversations about your work place. Avoid negativity like it’s your job.Choosing to be happy at work means avoiding negative conversations, gossip, and woeful people as much as possible. No matter how positive you feel, negative people will throw you into a downward spiral of doom and gloom. Don’t let the Debbie Downers take you down!
- Tap it out! My life coach introduced this method to me and it has come to my rescue many times. It is a method of tapping away your negative feelings. Check it out at www.tapping.com
- Become familiar with breathing techniques. Check out the different techniques at www.pe2000.com. My personal favorite is the easy breathing for anxiety before presentations and the feet breathing to help me sleep at night. You can use them anywhere!
- When someone asks you how you are doing, reply back with ” I’m doing wonderful”, even if you don’t believe it. After a while, you will start to feel wonderful.
- Leave the office at least once a day, even if you packed your lunch. Go to a park near by, Starbucks, or the bookstore.
I know these tips may sound simpleminded and ridiculous, but try them out, what do you have to lose? Anything helps when you are trying to get through a workday. When you find something that works, fighting the work blues becomes much easier.
Best of luck!
Tags: Careers, Self Help
I love this article!!
I work from home which, of course, is a wonderful situation for so many reasons that I can hardly begin to list them (not to mention that my friends rarely pass on an opportunity to jab me about staying in my bed clothes all day, drinking coffee, and taking the occasional all day nap =D ), but it also comes with some of the stresses of being in the workplace, just not in the traditional sense of “workplace stress”.
I’d like to think I’m a social creature or “people person” where human contact is a vital part of my professional career, however, at home that contact at best is over a telephone or trying to interpret feelings or “body language” through an email. Very difficult to do. Like most, still have to deal with difficult people and difficult situations that are much the same as if I physically went to the office day in and day out.
I wish everyone had a chance to work from home as well, but there are some additional challenges. Keeping yourself free from distraction probably tops the list. A television almost seemingly calling your name, the dishes that may pile up in the sink, or the lawn that should have been mowed 3 weeks ago. All distractions that can easily (and sometimes do) lead to frustrations.
My point here is that reading your article has given me a few new ideas on how to best manage those times where I can recognize the stress build-up. Though I have no problems laughing at myself for the things I say or do or the thoughts that run though my head, I am certainly interested in the breathing techniques and learning more about the tapping. Probably the only one I will spare the good people of this earth from is the singing loudly, I’m told my singing frightens children and small animals.
Thank your for the suggestions. I look forward to reading your articles in the future.
Hi, I followed you from Tom’s comment.
I love Mozart. And I find it interesting that you are linking to Magnus’ EFT site — I sort of know him (mostly through another person)
Anyhow — I trained as life coach, too, and work in related area. My 2c for your business challenge is: First, join toastmasters if you want to get used to public speaking. It’s a matter of practicing many times, and small group meeting at TM will help you. Also, there are many ways to market, not just through blog and public speaking. Actually I just posted my article on marketing on my blog — if you are interested.
Best of luck!
Akemi Gaines
Kristy - great list of tips. I found you through Tom’s experiment, as well. Glad you joined us!
Fortunately, I love my work. It’s complex and challenging…and I love it. I found your site via Tom Volkar’s experiment and will be sure to be back to read more!
By “tapping” you mean EFT — Emotional Freedom Technique. My wife and I’ve been using it for quite some time now. At first it feels really hoaky but it really works. I’ve been able to tap out some pretty deep fears and stresses with it.
ari
Great information, thanks for sharing. It really helped me!