Hello, Summer! Goodbye, Stress!
Summer brings with it a playful sense, of long days and starry nights, of campfires and swimming, of spending time with those you love, and being a bit more carefree. However, for most of us, our work life does not stop in the summer. And for others, childcare also becomes a little more challenging when schools are out for leave. Yet, each of us still deserve that fun, carefree feeling of summer, no matter your circumstance!
One way to help achieve summer’s playfulness is through managing your work stress. We all know stress is an inevitable part of life. Each of us deals with potential stressors, or external stimuli, on a daily basis; however, that does not mean you have to succumb to your stress or get stuck in stressful situations. You have the power to increase your stress threshold and to mitigate stress so you can continue to deal with a variety of stressors and bounce back after a stress response.
Stress is a normal bodily response to an external stimuli or daily pressure. It becomes unhealthy when stress interferes with your day-to-day functioning, when you are stuck in stress response. This response, also known as the fight or flight response, is when the body releases the hormones adrenaline and cortisol. These hormones tell your body to shut down normal functioning so that you can deal with the stressor. The stressor is the most important issue right now – to face it, to remove it. What if we could remove or mitigate some of our work stressors, before they occur?
Try this:
Make a list of your work “duties”, the tasks you do on a regular basis (daily, weekly, monthly). Then, read through the list and makes notes about each of the tasks to determine those that evoke a stress response.
Which activities cause your heart to race or make you feel anxious?
Or, what about certain tasks trigger a “fight or flight” response?
What tasks do you always push aside for another day, another time?
Where do you feel hopeless, lost or stuck in your work?
If you could delegate one part of your work day, what would it be?
Once you’ve identified the stressors related to your work, consider delegating a task, asking for an extension or loose deadline, reaching out to your team for support or to share workload.
Ask yourself, “How can I work smarter, not harder?”
Then, set time boundaries for your workload. For example, only allot 45 minutes for checking and responding to emails at a time. When you allow, or expect tasks to take two, three, four or more hours, that work will expand to fill the time allowed. Hello Parkinson’s Law. So, allow shorter time slots for your work, and focus on just that one thing during the time allowed.
Still feeling stressed? That’s ok! There are plenty of methods to help bounce back to wellbeing after a stress response. From bodywork, to meditation and breathwork, to phoning a friend. Notice what you need and what works for you. The goal to living more carefree is to be able to live well, to be resilient, to slip back into the rest and digest state of optimal bodily functioning after a stressful situation occurs.
For my complete guide of practical stress management tools, click here .
In health,
Lindsay Coward, MPH
Founder of Yoga Nut
Originally published in the Envoy guide.