Today’s insights are brought to you by my colleague, psychologist, and consultant, Tamryn Batcheller-Adams.
You struggling to concentrate. You find yourself making careless mistakes. You spending longer on basic decisions feeling ‘stuck’ in knowing what to do. You getting really irritable a lot quicker and a lot more frequently. You’re not even too sure you like yourself at the moment. You start opting out of social events, just not having the energy to put on a happy face and make small talk. You’re tired but you can’t sleep…or you can sleep but you’re still tired!
“What the heck is going on with me?” You might be asking yourself.
The problem? You’re at the end of your tether and your brain is quite literally trying to force a bodily shut down to make you rest. Chronic stress is your nemesis.
The solution:
Well, the obvious solution is to take a break, but we work with enough stressed out individuals, especially at a senior level, for whom taking a break or opting for immediate leave is just not possible, or at least not right now. So what are your options?
You can’t keep slogging – this kind of chronic stress has a significant impact on your ability to perform your job effectively – not to mention a negative impact on your mental health. This is a long-term issue and we give you some advice on what to do about that at the end of this article.
For now, here are 5 tips to managing this nemesis in the short term…
1. Get out the house, get out the office.
Whether it’s for 15 minutes in the morning, midday or afternoon, get out and walk. Exercise is a known stress reducer, it boosts oxytocin and will improve your mood. It will help you shift gear from work mode to ‘there is more to life’ mode. Be intentional about not thinking about work related issues while on your walk/run.
