Controlling your Stress
A certain amount of daily stress is normal. Stress is simply your reaction — either positive or negative — to change. When stress places prolonged pressure on your coping mechanisms, it can become a problem that requires professional help. Continued high stress can wreak havoc both physiologically and psychologically.
Internally, stress comes from your perception of a situation. For example, if your boss emerges from a long, meeting looking upset, and sends you an email requesting a meeting, do you immediately think the worst? If so, you have triggered your body to go into a stress reaction.
You can’t always eliminate the stress, but you can change your response and calm your mind.
Keep a list of everything in your day that causes you stress. Pinpoint how every item on the list makes you feel and then ask yourself, “Is my reaction appropriate or over the top?” This step is key, because once you understand where your emotions are coming from, you can find a healthier way to deal with them.
External factors, like toxic work environments, also drive workplace stress. Common characteristics of stress-inducing environments include authoritarian or noncommunicative supervisors, socially isolating work, and jobs that require a lot of effort but offer little reward.
Eliminating the source of the problem (i.e., finding another job) may be the most effective solution. But until the job market improves, find ways to regain a sense of control over your time and your surroundings.
For example, if you must endure stressful rush-hour traffic to arrive at the office by 8 a.m., start your workday earlier to avoid travelling at the worst time of day. If you work with difficult people, close your office door or take your work to a conference room so your exposure to them is reduced.
You may not be able to control the stimulus...but you can control the response...so relax and make it a less stressful one!
Taken from a Stress Management Seminar from Dr. Mimi Hull