Stress,management,and,burnout, DIY Stress management and burnout
When starting a new work at home business it is very easy to become consumed by it. We spend so much time trying to get the business up and running that we may end up becoming burned out and lose our motivation. There is so much to learn and Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;mso-style-noshow:yes;mso-style-parent:"";mso-padding-alt:0in
Stress -- is it a grumpy boss, dealing with the rude public,sick kid or spouse, or churning stomach after an argument? Depending on who youtalk to any of these may be considered "stress". Stress is an overused and misunderstood term; everyone has adifferent meaning for it. Part of the miscommunication happens because we referto any of the above examples as stress, as well as we call our emotionalresponse to the whole process stress. We incorrectly lump everything together and refer to thetriggering events stress, our body's physical reaction to the trigger like thechurning stomach as stress, as well as the resulting emotional turmoil asstress. Which is correct? The correct definition of stress points to our emotional response to a triggeringevent. The dictionary defines stress this way: 1. The mind andbody's response to any internal or external pressure to disrupt our normalbalance. 2. Condition of, or "the feeling experienced when a personperceives that the demands exceed their personal & social resources." The stress process goes something like this: 1. Internal and/or external stress- triggering event occurs 2. Our perception of what's occurring or what might occur 3. An area of our body reacts to that thought 4. An emotion is launched in response to the situation.Anger, fear, frustration, panic, etc. 5. Ergo, Stress! For the remainder of this article and all articles in thefuture from this source, I will be referring to the definition of stress as "the emotional reaction we experiencein response to a situation or a perceived situation". The events thatcause the emotional reaction are stressful or stress triggers, not the stressitself. It is important we make this clarification so that we are all talkingabout the same thing. So in a nutshell, is stress an overdue bill, a computercrash or your coworker who plays her music so loud you can't concentrate? No,the stress in these events is our emotional response to these triggers. To quote Marcus Aureulius in 180 a.d. said "If you are distressed by anythingexternal, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of itand this you have the power to revoke at any moment." While on one hand we need stress to energize and motivate usinto action, too much of a good thing can be harmful. As depicted on a bellcurve, increasing levels of stress correlate with increasing motivation andenergy (increasing side of a bell curve) commonly called "good stress".At the point when a person feels they can no longer keep upwith the demands, the mounting stress becomes deleterious to health. This isthe point where a person's reserves start to deplete and stress starts to wreakits hazardous effects on the body / mind (the downward side of a bell curve). Interestingly, the turning point that propels a person overthe hump may not be another task, responsibility or "to do" item. Anegative emotional shift is enough to push a person over the bell curve humpand into the downward health spiral. For instance, if a person has an argumentor receives disturbing news from a loved one, the energizing effects of a bigproject or large "to do" list may suddenly switch to feelings of anoverwhelming responsibility or burnout. The point of feeling overwhelmed is where a large majorityof us are. We no longer have enough down time or regenerative time to allow ourbody / mind / soul to rest and recuperate. Additionally, as a society we areill trained in techniques that will "shift" us out of the downwardstress-spiral and back to a state of ease and happiness. Chronically dealing with stress without balancing withrecuperation is eroding our performance and resilience -- or ability to"bounce back" after an emotional upset.
Stress,management,and,burnout,