Coping with Stress in the Workplace

With the constant advancement of technology, the stresses faced at work have also increased. Many people dread going to work, hence the term “Monday Blues”. What is the cause for this? There is partly the fear from being retrenched during strenuous times, leading to greater job insecurity on the part of those who remain. Without a doubt, occupational stress is one of the most commonly cited stressors faced by people all over the world.

Stress refers to the pressure and reactions to our circumstances around us which leads to psychological and physical reactions. Whilst some stress is beneficial for motivation and increasing efficiency, excessive stress can result in negative impacts such as reduced effectiveness and efficiency. More and more people are feeling out-casted and disrespected at work, and this has resulted into greater occupational stress. Many companies have taken to consulting experts and professionals on ways to improve connectedness and morale of their employees.

Some companies set up parties and make an effort to allow their employees feel valued at work. These are measures to motivate employees and make them to feel secure at their jobs, which would translate into greater productivity. However, not every company have such measures in place, and some have yet to get it right. Hence, it is up to you to make sure that you can handle with stress at your workplace, and utilize it to push you to work better. Here are 3 simple steps to help you with handling with stress in the workplace.

Step #1: Raising Awareness
Help yourself to identify when you are facing increasing levels of stress, tipping the scales from positive to negative. This is essential, as if you are able to identify signs of being stressed can help you to take steps to make sure that your overall quality of life does not drop. If left unacknowledged, the problem will only snowball, leading to disastrous consequences to your health and overall wellbeing.

You can identify if you are stressed up by checking if you have any physical or psychological reactions, such as excessive sweatingor increasing heart palpitations, or the onset of headaches, being irritated or the want to run away. If you experience any of these reactions, identify if you are experiencing any overwhelming negative emotions, and if you are constantly worried.

Step #2: Identify the Cause
You have to be able to look into the situation and identify what is causing the rise in stress. These stressors can be either external and internal. External stressors refer to things beyond your control, such as the environment or your colleagues at work. Internal stressors refers to your own thinking and attitude. Often, we only start reacting to stress when a combination of stressors working together exceeds our ability to cope.

Keep a record or a list of events that have caused you to feel strong negative emotions, or those that are likely stressors. This will help you to identify the reasons behind your stress. Whilst it is not always possible to erase them, we can change the way that we cope with it.

Step #3: Coping with Stress
In order to tackle the situation that is causing you stress, you need to relax yourself so as to stave off the reactions and cope with it in a positive way. This can be through different ways, such as taking time off. If a situation is causing your stress and you are unable to relax, run away from it. Go outside and take a walk to calm down. Alternatively, you can try implementing relaxation techniques such as deep breathing. If it is an internal stressor, stop your thought process until you are able to deal with it logically.

The key to making these 3 steps work for you is to practice them. These are not instantaneous solutions, and you need to condition your mind and practice them so that you can implement it when you are feeling stressed.

Article Source: http://www.phalenes.org/articles

Greg Frost is a leading innovator in the field of Stress Relief and the director of www.HowToRelieveStress.org which specializes providing a whole range of stress relief topics to improve the quality of your life

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