There is no question a good sense of humor is infectuous. Laughing is healthy. There is a fine line between humor and a serious moment. Some stress is healthy when an important action or decision is necessary. The book "Blink" recognizes the split second decision under stress may be the best plan of action.
A healthy practice is to maintain a balance in your life of activity. Each practice whether it is mental, physical, spiritual or leisure we need a healthy balance of all of them.
Venting can be a very helpful tool. We must make sure we vent in a professional manner with our peers.
Venting is a healthy thing to do with the right people. Complaining is just the opposite. Negative comments only create an atmoshere that is unhealthy. Venting with solutions in mind helps everyone think about closure or completiton of a challenge. Venting with the right people will always create more constructive discussions. There is nothing wrong with venting in a constructive manner.
I may be the oddball but being a Marine I actually do my best work under stress, I am more alert and enjoy the challange. I do realize though when I need to stop and regroup. I will stop, breath and refocus.
There is some misconception about stress sometimes. The first man that had stress was initially present for one thing only and that was survival. we have transferred this stress to be more sophisticated to a level of reward and punishment. We operate under the level of achieving goals with presenting some stress in meeting the goals. Stress today has changed into our own intrinsic motivations. We work with in the stress of task, time, technique and talent. Each of these areas are important to achieving our own self fulfilling satisfaction.
Looking at all three stresses are necessary in some conditions. Stress becomes unhealthy when we can't control its duration and purpose. Depending on your profession stress could be your adrenaline rush which gives you positive vibrations.
Here are a few of the reminders posted near my PC - breathe deeply, drink water, practice gratitude, develope acceptance, pray. Acceptance is a biggie - releasing what you can't change to free the worry from your life. I am trying to release/manage the stress in my life because I am seeing the beginning of some physical manifestations as I age! One thing about physical stress - most people lift their shoulders up as they type - think about it - I have found that I was doing this all the time, but now I am conscious of it and immediately relax when I become aware of it - now the neck and shoulders are feeling better. Many of us spend a good bit of time at the computer - are you tensing up as you type?! Feeling better physically will help you to feel better mentally and emotionally.
Recently, an employee/friend talked with me about a concern (worry) that was obviously very distressing to her. She had tried to talk with her supervisor about solutions for her demanding workload and in the midst of the conversation the supervisor proceeded to text-message off and on! Very unnerving to say the least. Plus, she didn't get anywhere with her original concern (workload).It reminded me about just being a good attentive listener and that she was just looking for someone to share her worry. Although I had a little advice to give, the main thing I did for her was to listen and sympathize. Sometimes you just have to get things off your chest or toxicity can set in!
I have had several high stress positions throughout my career and have found that swimming each morning before work and eating a healthy diet does reduce my stress level a lot.
Physical exercise is a good stress release. This is a very healthy practice. I would recommend you continue this activity throughout your life. Exercise in also a brain stimulant. A good book "Brain Rules" by John Medena explains the importance of exercise. This is a good example of good stress with exercise over ruling maybe some bad stress of the day.
When I get too stressed that my mind becomes cloudy, I step out and take a walk around the block. With my co workers, I always offer to assist them with their goals if I have met mine. Working as a team helps elviate stress even if I do not recieve credit for the project.
Stress may treat people differently. Our inner positive talk helps position you in the best possible way to deal with the issues. Physical exercise, getting away for some time or just mediatate on the best possible solutions. Then come back to what ever issues have stressed you and move forward with a possible positive solution. "Brain Rules" by John Medina is a good book to give you brain exercises to better handle stress.
My office had planned on adding weekly yoga and a daily walk to our routine, but it never panned out. It was unfortunate, because we are all very separate. It seemed like a great way to bring us together.
I have been working with a nutritionist for the last four months. One of the recommendations for stress was meditation. Yoga is a wonderful way of completing this exercise. There are other methods but Yoga is well accepted by the medical profession and health advisors. Walking is another great activity for physical exercise and stress release. I would do the research and approach the idea again. There is enough documentation on the subject to communicate its benefits. If you can't do it at work for your office then do it on your own. It will benefit you in many ways.
I have personally reflected on exactly where the stress is comming from and come up with solutions to change it!
Sometimes the stress may unavoidable but how you deal with it is the answer to your health and better decision making. Solutions will often not do aways with the situation but your solutions would be on how to deal with it in consistent healthy way.
I have formed an after work workout group where we can stay in shape and talk about our work-related worries or issues. It really helps decrease stress because I feel physically fit and supported by my colleagues. Now when a stressful event occurs at work, my initial anxiety is not as high because I know that my friends are experiencing the same feelings and we can talk about them together. I definitely do not feel alone. We keep each other motivated to stay healthy while building strong friendships.
Working out is a peaceful way of getting rid toxins created by stress. Communicating with your friends is positive as long as it doesn't turn into negative. Keep the conversations constructive and not destructive.
When I get stressed out at work, there are things that I have found really help me. First, if I have many tasks to complete, I make a list. No matter how big of small the task is, I write it down. I then start by completing a few of the small tasks so that I feel good about crossing items off of my to-do list and I feel like I have momentium. The other strategy I use is I write my stress down. If I am upset with a co-worker, my boss, a situation, or just mad at the world that day, I write that person a letter. I am careful not to use any real names though! When I am done, I delete it. Just getting the words out of me really helps me to deal with stress.
You have found two very rationale actions to be taken if you are stressed. Prioritizing is a good way of seeing your task clear and getting an orderly look at how to accomplish the task. This sometimes like counting to 10 when you are angry is gives you a momemt to think through the situation.
Writing puts your thoughts into a concrete visible perspective. You can then clearly think through the situation and slow down your thought process to respond by writing it down. Your brain may have had high emotions in control of your inner thoughts but now other faculties of your brain take over and you can become more calm and clear.
