How do you feel when you hear the word WORK? What comes up for you?
We are all so wonderfully different: for some of us our work is a pleasure, for others work is one of our many interests; for some we work to live and hope to minimise the impact of work on the our life outside work: most of us move between all of these categories many times a day depending on how we feel about what is happening.
Whatever your current circumstances work can be a source of stress. Some of the stress comes from deadlines (those we impose on ourselves and those imposed on us), feeling constricted, dealing with personality clashes and workplace politics: all these eventualities mean that work can require us to expand our comfort zones, face our limiting beliefs and work to a values system that is not our own.
Now I’m not saying for a second that it’s all bad- work can be positively challenging, empowering and satisfying but when it is bad it can feel totally overwhelming because work takes up so much of our time. Did you know that we spend over a third of our life at work? When that time is spent experiencing stress the impact can be felt in every area of our live our emotional lives, our physical lives, our personal lives; our relationships with ourselves can suffer as well as our relationships with others.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has linked work -related stress to impaired immune systems, back pain, stomach ulcers and cancer so work stress really is something that we could stand to dedicate a little time to.
There are a few challenges that are particular to worked-related stress: one is that we don’t always feel we have a choice as to whether we work or not,and that perceived lack of choice can set us up to be stress magnets. Another challenge is a cultural one: for some of us stress is an indication that we are working hard- we expect and accept feeling stressed and if we don’t we feel stressed we think we aren’t working hard enough. This may sound crazy to some of you (and I kinda hope it does) but for me, 5 years ago, I didn’t feel like I’d given my all unless I left work way into the evening feeling like I’d gone 10 rounds with Tyson. I prided myself on how hard I worked- the reality was that far too large a part of my self-esteem was attached to my job and very little of me was left when I finished work.
As with all things, we can aim for balance but when our stress hormones are raging, balance can be extremely elusive. One of the best places to start is with how we are feeling: when we work with our thoughts and our feelings we can begin to change our situation to one that works well for us.
When you are at work how you would best describe yourself?
Calm
Focused
Defensive
Flustered
Flexible
Unhappy
Overwhelmed
Anxious
Fearful
If you’ve only ticked off the positive states that’s great, keep it up J
If you’ve ticked off some or all of the less resourceful states why don’t you check out the link to my video. This video focuses on calming our stress responses to work and getting back to the version of us that can handle change and challenge. In reality none of us can perform at our best when we are stressed so why wouldn’t we do something about it?.
Check out the video I’ve recorded for you above.
If work-related stress feels like a biggie to you, you might be feeling anxious or panicky or there might be a pattern of stuckness that you’ve been running for a while, why not reach out and book your complimentary Discovery Session.
During this complimentary Discovery Session we will:
-Establish together the feelings and experiences that you no longer want in your life
-Get absolutely specific about what you do want to experience and the great feelings you do want to have
-Identify the blocks that you are currently facing
-Share a fantastically simple technique that you can use at any time to feel happier, calmer, in control and back on track
-Agree together whether I can help and the form that help will take, as well as how many subsequent sessions might be needed to achieve your goals
To book your complimentary Discovery Session simply email me on louise@attheheartofhealth.com or call me on 07957416962.
Here’s to being happier and less stressed
Lou xx