Job stress and work pressures are inevitable. At some point, we will all experience this and struggle under the weight of it. Some of us will be able to handle it, some of us will lead to burnout. To prevent work stress from getting you down, there are a few things you need to know and put in place.
What causes work stress and job pressures?
There are:
- Problems to solve
- Deadlines to meet
- Targets to achieve
- Demands that needs to be satisfied
- Challenges that arises
- Mistakes to rectify
And during all of this you may find:
- You get interrupted
- Work relationships become strained
- Goals are changed or moved
- You might become bored or maybe feel too much under pressure
- Insecurities in your future job
- Looking for a career change
There is pressure in every job and everyone experiences this at some point.
If you are constantly under pressure for too long, this will lead to stress and anxiety. STOP IT before it gets to that! It can be managed.
I can help you by teaching you good coping strategies, help you think outside the box, take time out to breathe, assist and guide you or provide you with a safe space to come to your own conclusions.
What is holding you back from relieving this pressure?
Work Pressures:
Work pressures can be seen as a positive to enhance your performance or can be taken on board as a negative that can fire a trigger dumbing you in stress, anxiety, or panic.
When pressure is a positive:
- A challenge that inspires you
- A target that motivates you
- A deadline that encourages you
However, when pressure is negative you start to experience stress and if you continue on this level for too long, it can cause serious damage to both your physical and mental health.
You always have a choice though:
You can choose to MANAGE your pressure at work as it increases OR let work pressures manage YOU!
I can help you by teaching you good coping strategies, help you think outside the box, take time out to breathe, assist and guide you or provide you with a safe space to come to your own conclusions.
What will be your choice?
What stresses you?
Stress can mean different things to different people AND what is stressful for you today, may not be so stressful for you the next day or the next week.
Which of these do you find stressful?
- A deadline
- A meeting with a boss or important client
- Commuting to work
- A difference of opinion
- Presenting or talking in front of a room full of people
- A delayed delivery of important supplies
- An unnecessary mistake
One day you can cope, the next day you can’t. You are good at one thing, but find another task really stressful. We are all different and experiences things differently depending on the day and what is already happening in that day.
It is how we perceive a situation and how we deal with it. I can help you overcome your barriers, manage your stress, teach you good coping skills, change the way you think about certain things or just be there for you to talk about things.
Positive stress
- Getting a positive, emotional charge or ‘high’!
- A chance to prove yourself
- When you work better to a deadline
Negative stress
- Seeking comfort from stressful situations like smoking, drinking or eating
- When faced with a deadline you panic, go blank and ultimately achieve nothing.
- Your performance and productivity decreases and you become less efficient.
Positive and negative experiences of stress is all based on how you respond to pressure and whether we are always aware of it or not – we CHOOSE to respond in a certain way, based on our life experiences or current situation.
There is hope and there is help. Through CBT techniques, psychotherapy, hypnotherapy, and other tools I can help you relieve this pressure and react to life situations in a different way.
Don’t wait any longer. Make this new choice for you today.
The Physical sensations of stress and anxiety:
Think about this…
You are about to jump out of a plane! Now for some people, this may be scary for others exciting.
In the first example, I want you to imagine you are terrified.
How would your body react to this fear?
- Heart rate increases
- Blood pressure rises
- Breathing faster
- Muscles tense up
- Knotted feeling in your stomach
Now think about jumping out of a plane as a challenge or exciting!
How does your body react to this now?
- Heart rate increases
- Blood pressure rises
- Breathing faster
- Muscles tense up
- Butterflies in your stomach
Can you see how these are basically exactly the same? The knotted stomach or butterflies is the feeling you get when your digestive system slows down and your stomach is producing more acid.
This automatic response is known as the ‘fight, flight or freeze’ response when your body prepares to fight or run away and others just stop in their tracks.
HOWEVER – whether it is stressful or challenging, the physical sensations are exactly the same. I can teach you how to change your thinking from FEAR to EXCITEMENT!
In the primitive age, when faced with a tiger, man could fight or flight to safety when under pressure and this ensured his survival.
However, nowadays, trying to apply this cycle in a work environment is a whole different story.
If you are under threat or pressure at work, it will trigger your fight or flight response and your body goes in overdrive. You cannot always fight with those you work with and you certainly can’t run away from your responsibilities. Thus you don’t fight or flight.
You are now under more pressure physically and mentally. You continue to ignore the fight or flight cycle and as a consequence, your stress increases more and more. Unwittingly you converted a useful cycle to a downward spiral.
How long do you want to continue doing this?
Let me help you by teaching you good coping strategies, assist and guide you, be an ear to listen to and get things off your chest, and teaching you techniques and new behaviours to get you out of this cycle.
Your Trigger Response
How does a normal situation suddenly become stressful?
It is the way we perceive a situation.
Your fight or flight response is triggered when you perceive pressure or a situation as a threat or a challenge.
Think about this scenario:
Your boss tells you he wants to meet you in meeting room 3 in 30min.
The following thoughts come to mind:
- What have I done wrong?
- Is s/he going to fire me?
- Why Room 3?
- Why me?
All of these thoughts will immediately trigger your fight or flight response. You stop thinking about anything else and only focus on your negative thoughts about this meeting, thereby wasting 30 mins where you could have done something else or prepared for this meeting. Ultimately you have worked yourself up in a frenzy and increasing the pressure on yourself. You arrive at the meeting in a state of stress.
Is this really the way forward? Is this how you want to continue working, thinking, and feeling? You have a chance right now to decide to make a change. Let me teach you new, better, and healthier ways to manage your stress and anxiety.
The MAIN source of Stress:
YOU.
Visit my other stress and anxiety blogs for additional help, tips, and solutions to dealing with your work stress successfully.
60 Ways to Stop Stress in its Tracks.
Relaxation Techniques: Top 10 ways to relax.
Stress Levels: Knowing how to handle it.
Let’s talk about STRESS MANAGEMENT.
To see how I can help you, visit my page here.
