Recognising Stress
Stress manifests itself to varying degrees and is, undoubtedly, something that we all have encountered from time to time. But it’s highly likely that some of us are dealing with on-going low levels of stress, and supressing or explaining away its symptoms. It is important to take time out, to slow down and to attempt to recognise stress in ourselves. Identification is the first and hardest step on the road to alleviating our workplace worries.
Stress is a master of disguise, thus making it extremely difficult to isolate and recognise. Different people react to stress in different ways and understanding your own tendencies may be the key to answering the million dollar question: are you suffering with stress? One analogy often used to describe different reaction styles is driving. Do you respond to stress by slamming the brake or the accelerator? Or do you simply stall? If you are a foot on the accelerator kind of person, stress will cause you to become heated, overly emotional and agitated. Stress sparks the ‘fight’ response in these people and all systems are overly stimulated. For those who respond by slamming on the brakes stress leads to withdrawal, isolation and a drop in energy levels. These people activate the ‘flight’ response when plagued by stress and begin to shut down. The third group of people are those who stall, or freeze, in response to stress. They become frozen under the pressure and decision making is debilitated. They may appear to be emotionally paralyzed but under the surface are extremely agitated.
If any of these response mechanisms ring a bell with you, you could be battling stress. These, however, are predominantly emotional signs of suffering. Stress also has physical and cognitive repercussions. Some of these include: memory problems, change in eating habits, aches and pains, susceptibility to illness, nervous habits and sleep problems. If a number of these have been bothering you, you’re tired and tight-muscled and can identify with some of the response styles mentioned above, you may need to think about your stress levels and how to reduce them.
One of the main obstacles in accurately recognising stress is comparison. If your neighbour in the next cubicle seems to be breezing through their days with the same workload as you, don’t feel inadequate or unjustified in the stress that you are feeling. With all of us shouldering stress in such different ways, there is no benchmark for when it is acceptable to admit your stress. Be honest with how you are feeling. You can then tackle the issue, move forward and be at your most productive.
