5 Ways to Stress Less at Work
Find the Meaning to Stress Less at Work
One of the most significant sources of stress can be having a lack of purpose or meaning at work. You may find yourself asking what the point is, or actively hating your job.
It’s time to find your purpose and regain your passion.
You don’t have to jettison your job and shift all your energy into starting over in a new profession. There is potential to craft your position into the career of your dreams by analyzing your strengths, assessing what you currently enjoy doing at work the most, and then asking your boss for more responsibility or projects in the area that matches your interest and strengths.
Is it impossible to find any way to reframe your job? Then you could shift your perspective to appreciate your day job more. How can you save from the money you earn at your job to increase the level of purpose and passion in your life?
Perhaps your job will provide you with the income you need to start your own business.
Or you will realize that your job can finance gorgeous trips for you and your family.
The answer could lie in merely recapturing the pride of providing for your family.
It could be your day job will be your means of attending a course to increase your mastery of a passion that you love.
Another option is to shift your focus from what you do, to whom you work with, and/or whom you serve. What difference do you make in the lives of your co-workers, or your customers? Never underestimate the power and importance of kindness, no matter from whom it comes.
Stress Less at Work by Finding the Joy at Home
One source of stress at work is the sense of not having enough time. Do you perceive your work as taking too much of your energy and time away from other personal priorities and passions?
Do you feel that your work is preventing you from showing up and enjoying time with your friends, children, spouse, your health, engaging in a beloved hobby, or all of the above? Then you might experience increasing stress as the clock strikes seven in the evening and you are still sitting at your desk, with no end to your workday in sight.
Sure, you can work through this stress less at work guide to work more effectively and recapture time. But without changing a thing, you can increase the level of joy and connection in your life. Yes, you can make the change right now.
Take a break from your work. Step away from your desk.
Just close your eyes, feel the emotion YOU want to feel, and the feeling you wish OTHERS in your life to experience. Then open your eyes, pick up the phone, and call someone on your list to tell them how great and why you appreciate x, y, and z about them.
The next time you see them, pause once again, close your eyes, or turn inward, and open to the joy of the moment. Even if it is only for five minutes. Show up for those five minutes with all of you.
Next, schedule at least one social event or time allocated to doing your hobby each week. No matter how tired, or stressed you are, shake it off. Close your eyes and imagine who you want to show up as for your friends, your family, your beloved.
Then BE that person.
Sure, you could feel ingenuine at first, if you are stressed out and fatigued and smiling and laughing anyway. Shake it off. Do you want to be the perpetually stressed and exhausted personality? Let the authentic you shine through. With time, you can be you wherever you go, both at work and with those you love.
Fuel Your Body to Stress Less at Work
By now we all know what proper nutrition involves: eat those vegetables, fruits, whole grains and nuts and chug the pure water. Avoid all processed food.
The problem is, when you are under time pressure and feeling the first tingles of stress in your system, your body pushes you to grab something sugary and fat filled.
You can hope for the best, but plan for the worst. If you follow the steps in this guide, you will experience a higher resiliency to stress and stress less at work. But until you start reaping the benefits of your daily morning routine of physical and mental exercise, shifting your focus to creative and high focus work first thing in the morning, mastering transitions within your workday, and finding your purpose, passion, and joy, you need to prepare.
Prepare for those stress attacks and don’t beat yourself up about them. Prepare bags of almonds, walnuts, and dried unsalted blueberries and have them with you at all times, along with bags of chamomile tea, which will calm your nervous system. When stress strikes and you need to take the edge off, you will be fortified with healthy alternatives instead of turning to junk food, caffeine and sugary drinks for an energy boost.
If you find the time, you can also precut up carrots, red peppers, cucumbers, and apples and have containers with you at all times and be waiting for you in your fridge at home. When the urge to relieve stress through eating hits you, always eat your nuts, fruits, and vegetables FIRST and wait ten minutes. Drink a glass of water or non-sugared chamomile tea.
Then, if you still want that espresso, piece of chocolate, or chips, go ahead and indulge.
Most likely, you will no longer feel the need for sugar or fat, because you have fueled your body with the nutrition it needs, instead of reacting with your typical stress response.
Have faith that you are evolving in the right direction toward a more balanced and resilient person and eat the proper nutrition to soothe your body and refresh your energy levels.
How To Have Fewer Work Stress Symptoms
Do you feel exhausted, no matter how much you sleep? Are you plagued with a sense of fatigue that keeps you from enjoying activities you love after work?
Do you feel both wound up, tight as a spring, wanting to relax, and exhausted at the same time?