When stress is excessive or prolonged, it can weaken our immune system and lead to illness. It can bring on physical and emotional exhaustion and lead to fatigue or anxiety. Many factors contribute to excess stress in our lives. Stress in our personal lives can negatively impact our work lives and likewise, stress at work can impact our personal lives.
When experiencing prolonged stress, it can be easy to turn to external things which can be harmful in excess, to help us cope. Juls was a former HR Director who experienced burnout from her job. The warning signs were there leading up to the burnout, but at the time, she did not think anything of it. She knew all about work-related stress and this had even been the topic of her research thesis.
One glass of wine in the evening to unwind crept up to two glasses, and then when wine no longer hit the spot, it was upgraded to half a bottle of vodka an evening. Add to this, the junk food that she was attempting to fuel her body with. The result was that one day in a meeting, she found herself unable to move her legs. She was burnt out and ended up spending 3 months in a private clinic.
The Burnout Report by Mental Health UK warns that here in the UK, we are on the verge of becoming a ‘burnt-out nation’. They report that 91% of adults experienced high or extreme levels of pressure and stress during the past year.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) reported that in 2022/23, 17.1 million working days were lost due to stress, depression, or anxiety and that on average each person suffering took around 19.6 days off work.
The HSE identified six primary sources of stress at work, listed in the table below:
Sometimes the symptoms of stress can creep up on us and take hold before we even realise it. Like Juls, the warning signs may be there but because you’re so busy, the pressures and demands of our roles, the warning signs can sometimes be ignored.
Spotting the signs of stress
Some of the early indicators of stress include:
- Loss of motivation/confidence
- Mood swings
- Increased emotional reactions
- Unable to concentrate
- Irritability
- Irrational behaviour
- Increased usage of mood enhancing substances (alcohol, drugs, food etc.)
This list is neither exhaustive nor prescriptive and if you think that you might be stressed, rather than letting the symptoms escalate and lead to you burning out, do something about it.
Regularly make time for self-reflection and check in on your emotions and how you are responding to stressful situations. This will help you to increase your self-awareness and recognise that your stress levels have increased. And when they do, do something about it.
Identify and address the source of your stress
Using the above primary sources of stress table above, identify where the source of your work-related stress lies. Once you have identified the source, you can then look at how you can manage things and minimise the impact it has on you.
What can you do to address it? Do you need support from someone else? If so, who can support you with this? What aspects of your work can be delegated? What can you stop doing that is unnecessary?
When you are experiencing elevated levels of stress, you are less able to think creatively and objectively to identify solutions. Ask yourself what needs to be done to remove or reduce the impact that this source of stress is having on you.
Juls had a demanding workload and found it difficult to say no. As such, she would take on far more than she could manage. What she should have done was learn to say no and put boundaries in place so that her willing nature was not taken advantage of.
Manage your emotions
Many of us are led by our emotions which, if we are feeling anxious, overwhelmed, and under pressure can result in us thinking and behaving irrationally and not effectively managing our workloads.
Learning to manage your emotions will help to remove the anxiety you feel about your situation and make it easier to manage the source of your stress. If you are constantly in firefighting mode, it is difficult to think rationally about the problem and you are more likely to respond reactively rather than proactively.
Self-regulating and managing your emotions makes it easier to have a solution focused perspective. It is then easier to make decisions and choices that reduce both the negative impact of stress and the source of it.
Get support with this if you find it difficult to do on your own.
Get the balance right
With competing pressures and demands, it is essential that you get the balance that is right for you if you are to avoid undue stress. The 24/7 culture we have adopted through the advancement of technology and global working makes it more difficult for us to switch off from our jobs. However, doing so is essential to be at peak performance when you are at work and your best when you are not at work.
Getting the balance right is essential for maintaining a quality life, of which work is just one aspect. What this balance looks like will be different from person to person and needs to be looked at holistically. If there is an imbalance in one area of your life at the cost of another that is impacting your quality of life, do something about it.
Having an awareness of the impact of the excess pressure on you will enable you to take action before it takes a stronghold. Make regular time to self-reflect so that you notice the physiological, emotional, and mental changes that are adversely affecting you when they arise so that you can take swift action.
Manage your energy
Being in environments where there are lots of social interaction and activities going on can be overstimulating for introverts. Back-to-back meetings, open-plan offices, and networking are some examples.
As someone who identifies as introverted, know what depletes your energy and what energises you and build renewal time into your day. Make time to recharge. Manage your calendar wisely so that you are not constantly in environments that overstimulate you.
If this can’t be avoided, put in place techniques to help. Practicing mindfulness, going outside for a walk at lunchtime, wearing noise-cancelling headphones, and working in a quiet space are a few things that you can do.
Stress, if left unchecked and if it becomes chronic, can weaken your immune system, lead to illness, and even kill. Stress is a fact of life, but it is how we respond to it that will determine the outcome. How you respond is up to you and you CAN choose how you respond. If this is difficult to do on your own, get the right support.
How do you recognise when your stress levels are spiralling too high? Let me know in the comments.
First published on LinkedIn.
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