Manage Stress without letting it manage you!
by Meera Raghunandan
3 minutes read
There are a whole lot of ways people advise us to handle stress –from mediation and exercise to making time for hobbies. However, some of the mental tension that we usually face can be tackled with some simple techniques. To apply any of these techniques, it is critical that you correctly identify what is stressing you out. Once you have identified the stressor, you may want to see if you can ‘Avoid’ the stressor. If it is a person, or a topic, or even a particular traffic route – can it be avoided altogether?
The interference conundrum
You may want to try the ‘Alter’ technique. Can you alter the situation so that it is less stressful? Let me tell you about this lovely nuclear family that lives close by. The lady ran the house from her kitchen, as is the case in most households. Some years later, her mother-in-law moved in with them. The lady was suddenly forced to tolerate a lot of interference in the kitchen from her mother-in-law. This started to stress her out.
Being very inclined to change her state, she spent time understanding her mother-in-law, found her strengths ranged from being good at singing devotional songs to knowing regional languages fluently. She encouraged her mother-in-law to start teaching people devotional songs as well as the regional language. In no time, the mother-in-law was so busy and engaged in her classes that she did not have any time to interfere with the lady’s routine. What a harmonious and positive way to beat the stress!.
When all else fails
There is always the fall-back option to ‘Accept’ the stressor. When you know nothing can be changed, then it is simply best to accept the situation as it is. However, go a step further, and ‘Adapt’ to the situation. If you know that the traffic route cannot be avoided, try altering the situation by making it your ‘me time’ by listening to e-books, reading or even calling people (if you aren’t in the driving seat) and make the journey interesting. If none of these are possible, simply accept the situation and adapt to it by leaving your house early enough to avoid that peak-hour traffic and reach your destination on time.
Think of stressful situations at work: is the fact that a senior keeps bothering you for updates every once an hour stressing you out? Could you try altering the situation? Can you tell him that you will give him your updates as soon as you are done with a certain amount of work? Is the fact that you are asked to multi-task stressing you? Can you avoid it by talking to your supervisor, or changing teams or jobs? If you cannot avoid or alter it, then it’s better to accept that multi-tasking is the new normal. So step up and adapt to this requirement. Start slowly with a couple of tasks and learn how to prioritize, delegate and get things done. You will be soon mentoring others on how to get multiple things completed in time!.
Passing the stress-laden parcel
Transferring stress is the most common way we deal with stress. Unknowingly, we vent out negatively at people who are close to us and may take for granted. Over time, our relationships also suffer and this just adds on to our stress levels. Learn the art of managing your stress to benefit at work as well as in your personal equations with people. Changing the situation and changing the people responsible for our stress is a long-drawn and often difficult task. Changing our perspective of the situation and learning to deal with it positively helps us with better managing this stress at work.
Talk to a workplace coach and experienced mentors at Mentoring Matters about the issues you are facing. You will find yourself empowered and motivated to deal with the challenges!
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MEERA RAGHUNANDAN
Meera Raghunandan is the co-founder of Mentoring Matters, a platform for businesses and
individuals across industries to drive holistic professional growth across mid and senior-level
positions through dedicated coaching by certified professionals.