In this hustle and tense world, one or the other person is dealing with pressure and wants to cope with stress. Whether you are an entrepreneur or working in a 9 to 5 job, each of one us has to handle different types of pressure depending on the role we are working in. The CEO might be pressured to gather business whereas an employee will be pressured to finish his assigned task within the time period allotted. Before understanding ways to cope with stress let’s understand the root causes of a stressful life.
Root Cause of a Stressful Life
Stress is actually a normal part of life. At times, it serves a useful purpose. Stress can motivate you to get that promotion at work, or run the last mile of a marathon. But if you don’t get a handle on your stress and it becomes long-term, it can seriously interfere with your job, family life, and health.
1. Work Stress
Everybody is handling one or the other stress in their work life. Someone is overworking, the workload is the stress for him. Someone has no project, so no work becomes the stress for him. Someone wants to get promoted, whereas other just wants to sustain their role. Some causes of stress in your workplace can be:-
- Being unhappy in your job.
- Having a heavy workload or too much responsibility.
- Overworking.
- No Management Skill.
- Working under dangerous conditions
- Chances of termination.
- Facing discrimination or harassment at work.
2. Life Stress
Due to excessive work, one forgets his personal life. There is no work-life balance which affects his life and causes stress. Some reasons can be:-
- The death of a loved one.
- Loss of a job.
- Increase in financial obligations.
- Getting married.
- Moving to a new home.
- Chronic illness or injury.
- Emotional problems (depression, anxiety, anger, guilt, low self-esteem)
- Taking care of an elderly or sick family member.
- A traumatic event, such as a natural disaster, theft, rape, or violence against you or a loved one.
Signs of a Stressed Person
- Inability to stay focused on tasks long enough to get any work done.
- Being overly irritable and snapping at coworkers for no good reason.
- Inability to switch off from work – you are always thinking about work.
- A drastic change in attitude and mood swings.
- Insomnia.
- Lack of motivation and self-confidence.
- Responding emotionally to minor issues.
- Constant headaches.
If you are experiencing more than one of these symptoms, you may be going through work stress. The good thing is that there are easy techniques to overcome work stress and maintain a healthy work-life balance.
How To Cope With Stress
1. Identify Your Stress Triggers
Some activities and situations can increase your tension levels, making you start experiencing some stress symptoms. Identifying these situations is the first step to addressing your stress issue.
The best way to go about it is by getting a journal to record these situations daily. Be sure to include the activities, who was involved in them, and how they made you feel. Record how you reacted to the situations and the effects of your reaction.
This information will enable you to realize situations you should avoid and empower you to handle unavoidable situations properly.
2. Work on Your Responses
How do you respond to stressful situations in the workplace? Do you lash out at colleagues or drown yourself in food or alcohol? All of these are unhealthy ways to respond to stress.
There are many responsible ways to react when you feel tense. Some great ways to explore include yoga, reading, or playing games. Generally, any physical activity will help. It will help if you include more exercises in your routine and find opportunities to walk.
It would be best if you also made time to indulge in your hobbies. It will help reduce your stress levels drastically.
3. Maintain Work-Life Balance
Work-life balance is very important, and in today’s world, it is easy to lose this balance. There should be a definite line that determines when work starts and ends.
The inability to set boundaries and differentiate work time from personal time is a major reason people experience high work stress levels. In a bid to impress superiors or keep up with deadlines, many people will spend overtime at work or take work projects home.
This habit will only interfere with your personal life, and eventually, you may neglect crucial aspects of your life like your health, family, and friends. Create clear boundaries for yourself, starting from determining a time to drop all work-related issues and focus on yourself.
4. Be Organized
How you start your morning greatly impacts how the rest of your day goes. Being organized will help you control the activities and outcome of your day. Even if you are generally disorganized, there are ways to get ahead and plan the day in your favor.
Start by having a to-do list. Technology has made this easier with the number of daily organization apps available. You can create a daily schedule that helps you know when to do what and keeps you reminded with notifications.
After organizing your day, please stick to the plan. Do not let activities coincide, and do not postpone any exercise. Include time to relax in your calendar. It will help you become more efficient.
5. Minimize Multitasking
Multitasking can either be useful to you or completely overwhelm you. It is crucial to know that some tasks cannot be done simultaneously.
Multitasking will sometimes mean splitting your effort and attention, affecting your speed and overall productivity. When you stress your brain trying to complete more than one complex task at once, you may experience extreme exhaustion and be unable to complete every task or deliver great results.
It is best to attend to one task at a time. This way, you can give your best to every project.
6. Take Time to Relax and Recharge
Most times, the cause of your stress is overworking. You spend up to ninety percent of your day either working or thinking about work, and with time, stress starts to kick in.
Stop postponing your vacation days, take some time off, and let go of some tasks. You will return refreshed and renewed with energy to give your best to your work.
Relaxing and recharging can be done daily by simply adding activities like yoga and meditation to your routine. Please do not underestimate the importance of sleep. It is not something you should trade for work.
IT company Meesho, has honored this approach and has announced 11 days Relax and Recharge scheme which shows how the company is employee-centric. If an employer can think so then why not an employee😉.
7. Time Management
One of the ways to overcome stress at work is by learning how to manage your time properly. It may sound challenging, but if you do not manage your time properly, some aspects of your life may suffer, leading to more stress.
Learn to plan, set daily work and personal goals, and complete them accordingly. Try to prioritize your tasks and block distractions when working on them.
Time management will help you stay organized and on top of your game at work and in your personal life.
8. Take care of your body
- Take deep breaths, stretch, or meditate.
- Try to eat healthy, well-balanced meals.
- Exercise regularly.
- Get plenty of sleep.
- Avoid excessive alcohol, tobacco, and substance use.
- Continue with routine preventive measures (such as vaccinations, cancer screenings, etc.) as recommended by your healthcare provider.
9. Talk to others
Talk with people you trust about your concerns and how you are feeling. Share your problems and how you are feeling and coping with a parent, friend, counselor, or doctor. Sharing your feelings helps you to feel better and relieved.
10. Have some “me time”
Many of us work long hours, meaning we often don’t spend enough time doing things we really enjoy.
It’s important to take some time for socializing, relaxation or exercise.
You could try setting aside a couple of nights a week for some quality “me time” away from work. Just you and your thoughts should lie in this crucial time.
Conclusion
The major takeaways from the above article:-
- Feeling stress while working is inevitable, but there are proven ways to reduce it.
- Identifying stress symptoms will tell you when you are stressed and remind you to take action.
- Knowing what triggers your stress is the first step to reducing stress.
- Time management will help give you the perfect work-life balance.
Live a happy and stressful life. Everything comes and goes, the thing which stays is YOU. It is just how you manage and kick off the hardest situations with a blast.
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