#Positively Stressed - Week 5
One of the top 3 cited stressors in everyday life is workplace #Stress. Whether you are in retail or a death row appellate lawyer, you will experience stress in your job. Granted, the precise style of that stress can be very different.
In my own career, I used to flip burgers in high school which – for those who are familiar – can get crazy during the dinner rush, and mind-numbingly boring in the late evening; has very low pay and limited benefits that are typical of the industry; and you have to deal with some terrible customers (hopefully they are few and far between).
After college, I went into the US Navy as an enlisted nuclear reactor operator (ETN). (“Join the Navy! See the World! Get stuck in drydock in Norfolk, VA!”) I made my transition out of the Navy after my 6-year contract was up precisely because of the types of stress that I faced on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. For me two major factors were rotating shift work and emergency response. I’ll cover rotating shift work later in the series when talking about the sleep-stress relationship, but suffice it to say that I rotated through all three shifts (day, evening, and graveyard) in a month. Emergency response was another major stress because if you’re out in the middle of the ocean, you can’t just call the fire department – YOU and your shipmates are the fire department and every other type of emergency responder out there.
After transitioning out of the Navy, I went to law school and eventually passed the bar and became an attorney. Now, my stressors are more focused on public speaking, the number of cases I am handling at a time, and trying to balance everything going on given a calendar that I have limited control over.
In the moment, when handling the various stressors, they can be very overwhelming – even flipping burgers!
My two cents – If you’re facing stressors at work, take a step back and identify what is causing the stress. Once you can identify what the problem is, it will be easier to make rational decisions rather than impulsive reactions which can make the situation worse.
#BeTheOne #BattleBuddy #Veterans #MentalHealth #StressManagement #CommunityImpact #PeerSupport #Mindfulness #SelfCare
By: Stephen Delcuze, Esq. - Found on LinkedIn here.
