Coping With Stress At Work Can Take a Toll on Your Health
There’s no denying that stress in the workplace can affect your wellbeing. Leaving what we’ve experienced during our workday behind us when we go home is a challenge for many of us.
David, whose name has been changed, felt lucky to land a job that he loved. Physical by nature and a great salesman, he found the aggressive work challenging, and began to make good money. He felt that he had finally found the right career.
However, over time it became clear to David that his supervisor did not like him. The atmosphere began to change. Though he still loved the work that he was doing, he found himself being ridiculed and teased on a daily basis. Sometimes this happened in private, but the longer it continued the more open the supervisor was about doing it in front of David’s other coworkers, none of whom did anything to put a stop to it.
David is a nonconfrontational person. He tried laughing at the insults at first, but as it became less and less funny to him he simply withdrew. This stress began to affect his health.
He began noticing sharp pains in his chest and stomach. He was beset by acid reflux. His sleep patterns suffered, and he often found himself getting up in the early hours of the morning to sit alone, staring at his computer while the rest of his family slept. He was moody and depressed.
Eventually the state of his health began to wear down his performance at work. He began making mistakes. Customers began to complain. The resulting negative marks on his job caused more verbal attacks from the supervisor. David had no idea what to do.
Take Control: Confront Stress at Work
Not all of the stress we experience at our jobs can be blamed on the people we work with. Sometimes the work load we carry is simply too heavy. Our tasks could be too diverse for us to handle alone. Perhaps a spirit of competition is encouraged at your workplace and it wears on your nerves.
Here are some great ways for tackling your work stress head-on:
- Take a deep breath and slow down. Take a moment to assess your situation at work. Where is the stress coming from? Is it work related or does it have to do with someone you work with?
- If your stress is coming from the amount of work you have to do, or deadlines put on you that are not reasonable, have a talk with your supervisor. Explain that you feel you’re taking on too much. Let them know that your health is suffering. It’s possible that a solution can be worked out. Another person could be assigned to help you with your tasks. You may be given an assistant or more time to get jobs completed.
- If you’re like David and feel that someone at your job is targeting you unfairly, go to that person. Be clear, direct and firm. Let them know how you feel about their teasing. Meet their eyes and don’t back down. You may be surprised at the reaction you get. Possibly you may have been doing something without knowing it that this person took personally.
- When going to the coworker doesn’t achieve results, you may need to go higher. Speak to someone in charge. You have the right to be able to work in safe surroundings.
Remember that when you address these issues, be polite. Speak with conviction and confidence, but be open to suggestions and be flexible. Your good attitude will show that you’re interested in having the matter resolved so that you can get back to doing what you were hired for – your work.
Every Job is Going to Carry Some Stress
You won’t be able to be stress-free completely. Work is often demanding and we encounter things difficult to leave behind us at the end of the day.
Before you clock out, or for a few minutes afterwards, try to wind down. Have coffee with a coworker and don’t talk about work. Treat yourself to a movie matinee once a week right after work. Save an easy task for the end of the day to help you come down from the rush of the rest of the day. Go home and light the fire, take your shoes off and pour yourself a glass of wine.
Promising yourself these little treats at the end of the day will help draw a line between your work life and your home life. It will give you things to look forward to and help separate what you’re going through at work from your personal thoughts and activities.
Sometimes, though, very little can help your situation, even if you’ve taken all of the steps above. If you’re in such a situation, as David was, you may have to make a choice between your job and your health.
David tried confronting his supervisor on more than one occasion. The problem was, his supervisor was also the owner of the company. There was no one higher to turn to when the misunderstanding could not be cleared up. The insults intensified. The supervisor pulled other people from the company into private meetings in which David had to sit and listen to abusive speech with his coworkers looking on.
He finally realized that none of it was worth taking. After working for the company for nearly three years David submitted his letter of resignation. It’s a decision he doesn’t regret.
Probably some of the reason he doesn’t was knowing that his action shocked and dismayed his boss, who had come to rely on the source of income David’s work provided. But more importantly, David’s health and happiness has improved. He took the opportunity to return to school and earn his Bachelor’s in Business.
He created an opportunity out of what was once the greatest source of stress in his life.