When all is said and done, we can always distract ourselves for instant gratification. One idea is to say your ABC’s. “When middle-of-the-night worries loom, challenge yourself to recite the alphabet in random order, without repeating any of the letters” (Escape from the worry trap). This task is just tricky enough so that there’s no room in your consciousness to think about anything else. Another form of distracion is to use your senses. “For some, an act as simple as snapping a rubber band worn around the wrist or taking a warm, soothing shower can derail the worry train” (Umansky, 2000, p. 148). It’s about using tactile stimuli to tweak yourself to another place. It’s taking action instead of letting the worry and stress act on you (Umansky, 2000, p. 148).
So, aside from you, who stands to benefit from your lack of stress? EVERYONE. As far as work is concerned, there will be less abseenteeism due to stress-related disorders, less worker’s compensation loss due to stress-related illness or accidents, improved job performance, a less stressful, more efficient workplace, improved employee attitude and improved employee overall health (Stress Management 2000: Advantages of Stress Management 2000). As for your own health, there will be decreased stress-related symptoms, improved sleep, decreased anxitety, decreased use of medications, reduced pain, increased ablity to manage pain, increased ablitiy to relax physiologically and increased sense of control and improved self-esteem (Stress Management 2000: Advantages of Stress Management 2000).
In conclusion, no matter who you are, what position you hold or what age you are, you are probably experiencing some degree of stress at the workplace. Stress comes in a positive form and a very damaging form and it is up to us individually to determine one from the other and take action against the latter. Through some research and a little bit of patience, anyone can learn how to conquer stress and their reactions to it. It is like Abraham Lincoln once said, “people are as happy as they make their minds up to be.”
Bibliography
References
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