Stress Relief, The Office & What You Can Do To Help

Stress relief:  the office may be the biggest source of stress in your life.  Stress and tension can come from many different events, situations, and changes in your life.  Family strife and tension is one of the top stressors in our lives.  The second most obvious situation for many of us is the workplace.

As an employee of a business or even as the owner of a business, you are entrenched in the day-to-day interactions with customers, clients, coworkers, bosses, employees as well as the financial implications, technology advancements, and the everyday operation of your duties.  You spend more of your waking hours in the workplace than you do in your own home with your family.

Workplace stressors can be just like any other stressors.  They can be mild tension producing annoyances, daily strife and strain, major events, and even traumatic events.  Workplace stress can include long hours, job insecurity, conflicts with bosses and/or coworkers, and increased workload.

Today’s economy is taking its toll on not only businesses being able to survive, but the constant pressure on workers to do more with less, work harder for less pay or no increases in pay rates, reduction of benefits, and of course the ever constant concern of job loss or major reductions within the firm or company.

Americans are working longer hours than most of our industrialized nation counterparts.  The companies we are working for are requiring us to do more with less.  Everyone is feeling the strain of this new workplace environment.  Unless there’s a way in your life to change careers or get into a job that you truly love, there is really one choice you can make.

That choice is to learn how to cope with the one thing you can control, and that is you.  Our coping skills for stressors can vary depending on the urgency, severity, or length of time we’re encountered a particular situation.  Workplace stress is exhausting and it is a long-standing issue as we are in the workplace for an average of eight hours a day with people who may or may not get along well with others.

We’ve found that one way to combat the intensity of workplace stress is to prepare yourself carefully in the morning before arriving for work.  What do we mean by this?  If you are routinely running late, rushing out the door with the kids in tow on the way to preschool, not having time to eat a healthy breakfast, grabbing a coffee which you gulp down on the freeway whilst you jockey for position in the fastest lane, you’re surely going to arrive at work in a state of agitation and tension.  Starting your day off this way will have you reacting to small frustrations and aggravations with an increased stress response.

As a first step to combating workplace stress, try giving yourself more time in the morning to prepare, a calmer attitude, eating a healthy breakfast and not just coffee, and having the time to drive to work without racing the clock.  Starting your morning off with a bit more calm and clarity could go a long way to relieving the stressors that you encounter throughout your day.

Of course we’ll talk more about your stress relief the office and other choices that are available for you to manage it.

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