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VOICE YOUR VIEWS: DON'T MESS WITH STRESS

Being in a supervisory position means you have to learn to manage personal stress and that of your colleagues. On the personal front, it is essential to prioritise. Home and office can never be given equal importance. You need to identify which one needs attention when and act accordingly. There are times when due to work pressure, you return late and are not able to cook dinner for the family, and sometimes family takes precedence over work. Particularly for women, it’s an ongoing process. On the professional front, to lead a team, you have to learn to be encouraging and come up with comforting words. You might find the most efficient worker performing poorly during a crisis or when working on crucial deals. Your support can make a world of difference.

Stress is actually an internal response to external stimuli. More precisely it is a habitual response. Stress is usually associated with our emotional imbalance. A response involves feeling/ emotions, thinking/decision and action/ motivation. Hence problems associated with stress can also be seen as corresponding to these three aspects. Feeling (related closely to the body) can give rise to problems such as psychosomatic disorders such as insomnia, blood pressure and migraine. Thinking can give rise to problems related to the mind (psychological disorders such as phobias, neurosis, psychosis etc). Action, to problems related to the external world (performance-result issues such as failures, strained relationships, lack of confidence, etc). To beat stress, we need to respond to external stimuli with fresh approaches suitable to the present situation. We need not be stuck on solutions based on our childhood experiences. Wide-ranging creative responses with open options can help reduce stress level.

Those who are aware of the ill-effects of stress seek ways to relieve it. Those who are not tend to bottle it up and at some point of time the bottled up stress bursts open which affects physical as well as mental health. Instead one should learn how to manage stress. The attitude one adopts when perceiving or facing a stressful situation can help a lot. Adopt a positive attitude. If you mess with stress, it messes your life.

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