The other day, a friend of mine was bemoaning the changes that were happening all around, as opposed to what was there some years back – talking about the fact that loyalty and experience these days, didn’t count for too much; youngsters were replacing older people; contracts were replacing tenured corporates from companies. Basically he was saying how today’s work environment was getting increasingly difficult and stressful.
Reflecting on what he was saying, I thought how often we hear about some colleague who lost it in the office – suddenly blew up for something seemingly quite innocuous. Or somebody saying that it was the straw that broke the camel’s back – a small thing but the reaction to it was huge and had major implications in the workplace. It could have been you because we are all under tremendous amounts of stress these days.
It’s interesting that stress as a biological concept came in only about 75-80 years ago. Previously it was just a term in psychology or physics and engineering. Hans Selye wrote a book ‘The Stress of Life’ where he said that stress, in a biological context, that is for us as human beings, is a failure to respond adequately to mental, emotional or physical demands, whether they’re actual or imagined.
Yesterday’s “Times of India” had an article that said ‘Work stress drives BEL manager to suicide’. All these kinds of things are beginning to impinge into our quality of life. So I thought that I would talk a little about stress this morning and maybe it would have some connection with you on this call.
Selye went on to talk about the ‘General Adaptation Syndrome’ and he said, “Basically, stress is when a stressor, whether imagined or real, becomes a stimulus in our body. Acute stressors affect an organism in the short term. But chronic stressors those things that are there in our lives that just keep going on and on, are more dangerous. There are 3 stages:
Reflecting on what he was saying, I thought how often we hear about some colleague who lost it in the office – suddenly blew up for something seemingly quite innocuous. Or somebody saying that it was the straw that broke the camel’s back – a small thing but the reaction to it was huge and had major implications in the workplace. It could have been you because we are all under tremendous amounts of stress these days.
It’s interesting that stress as a biological concept came in only about 75-80 years ago. Previously it was just a term in psychology or physics and engineering. Hans Selye wrote a book ‘The Stress of Life’ where he said that stress, in a biological context, that is for us as human beings, is a failure to respond adequately to mental, emotional or physical demands, whether they’re actual or imagined.
Yesterday’s “Times of India” had an article that said ‘Work stress drives BEL manager to suicide’. All these kinds of things are beginning to impinge into our quality of life. So I thought that I would talk a little about stress this morning and maybe it would have some connection with you on this call.
Selye went on to talk about the ‘General Adaptation Syndrome’ and he said, “Basically, stress is when a stressor, whether imagined or real, becomes a stimulus in our body. Acute stressors affect an organism in the short term. But chronic stressors those things that are there in our lives that just keep going on and on, are more dangerous. There are 3 stages:
- Alarm stage where the threat or stressor is identified and the body responds to a state of alarm. Adrenaline is produced; you have the ‘fight or flight’ response.
- Resistance stage: if the stressor persists, then the body does everything to cope with this stress; but when it cannot keep this up indefinitely, resources get depleted and leads to the next stage.
- Exhaustion stage where the body resources are completely depleted and the body is unable to maintain a normal function. That’s when the problems start – ulcers, depression, diabetes, digestive troubles, etc.
Writing in an article entitled ‘Confusion and Controversy in the Stress Field’ published in the Journal of Human Stress; Selye also says that there can also be a ‘good’ stress. He calls it Eustress and Distress. When stress enhances function, whether physical or mental, it may be considered eustress. Persistent stress that is not resolved through coping or adaptation is deemed distress and this may lead to anxiety or withdrawal.
Well, whether its good stress or bad stress, the question is; how do we cope? Are we able to delineate between the two? Or are we letting this come down upon us?
Workplace stress is a new word that has been making the rounds in recent years. Basically it is a harmful physical and emotional response that occurs when there is a poor match between job demands and the capabilities, resources and needs of the worker.
Here are some interesting statistics from the Princeton survey:
25% of employees view their job as the #1 stressor in their life. 75% believe the worker has more on-the-job stress than a generation ago.
In India, the news isn’t much better. The study by the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, found that “India’s rapid economic expansion has boosted corporate profits and employees’ income but has also sparked a surge in work-related stress and lifestyle diseases. In fact, 57% of workers in India (this was viewing about 12000 employees from 400 companies) said that stress had increased over the past 2 years – higher or much higher growth of stress.” That was Deepa Suryanarayan writing in the DNA.
What are companies doing about it? Well, they are doing something and maybe your company is one of them. A lot of companies have come up with innovative ways of dealing with stress. There are companies that offer massages – masseurs come and give neck and shoulder massages; some have services that take care of bill-payments, bookings, travel plans, gift deliveries, movie tickets, etc. Other companies allow you to play games as stress busters; others make you dance it off with salsa instruction that helps you break out of the high intense mode you are in. There’s another company that has a grievance cell where they have concrete resolutions for relationships, favoritism, health, safety, etc. Some companies have ways to help you commute in comfort – they pick you up and drop you back.
What exactly would be needed for you and me to have a work-life balance? Jim Bird, founder and current CEO of Work-Life Balance says that “2 things are very important: Achievement and Enjoyment. Achievement and enjoyment are the front and back of the coin of value in life. You can’t have one without the other, no more than you can have a coin with only one side. Trying to live a one-sided life is why so many ‘successful people are not happy, or not nearly as happy as they should be.’ You cannot get the full value from life without both, achievement and enjoyment. Focusing on enjoyment and achievement everyday in life, helps you avoid the ‘as soon as’ trap; the life-telling habit of planning on getting around to the joys of life and accomplishment as soon as…. You’ve heard that, haven’t you? As soon as this is done, I will do this; as soon as this is done, I will take a vacation, etc.
What about you, my friends? How are you doing with stress? Jim Bird says that “a meaningful daily achievement and enjoyment must happen in each of the 4 life quadrants: Work, Family, Friends and Self. Do you have achievement and enjoyment in your work, in your family, in your friends circle and in yourself? That’s the key for us to have that kind of balance. If we have that kind of balance, it will reduce the stress, we won’t hear about so many suicides, people going into depression and so on.
My prayer for you is that you will find that work-life balance. Our Bible says (Mark 8:36) “What does it profit a man if he should gain the whole world and yet lose his soul.” What use is that – if we gain everything and yet don’t have what is important?
The Bible also says (Matthew 6:26-28) “God takes care of the birds of the air; they don’t worry. The flowers, the lilies of the field, God clothes them.” For me that is the biggest stress-buster; to know that He is in charge. I can do what I need to do in terms of achievement and enjoyment and leave the rest to Him. I pray that you will be able to do the same; to be able to trust God to lead you into places of achievement and enjoyment and maintain a healthy work-life balance.
God Bless You All.
Well, whether its good stress or bad stress, the question is; how do we cope? Are we able to delineate between the two? Or are we letting this come down upon us?
Workplace stress is a new word that has been making the rounds in recent years. Basically it is a harmful physical and emotional response that occurs when there is a poor match between job demands and the capabilities, resources and needs of the worker.
Here are some interesting statistics from the Princeton survey:
25% of employees view their job as the #1 stressor in their life. 75% believe the worker has more on-the-job stress than a generation ago.
In India, the news isn’t much better. The study by the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, found that “India’s rapid economic expansion has boosted corporate profits and employees’ income but has also sparked a surge in work-related stress and lifestyle diseases. In fact, 57% of workers in India (this was viewing about 12000 employees from 400 companies) said that stress had increased over the past 2 years – higher or much higher growth of stress.” That was Deepa Suryanarayan writing in the DNA.
What are companies doing about it? Well, they are doing something and maybe your company is one of them. A lot of companies have come up with innovative ways of dealing with stress. There are companies that offer massages – masseurs come and give neck and shoulder massages; some have services that take care of bill-payments, bookings, travel plans, gift deliveries, movie tickets, etc. Other companies allow you to play games as stress busters; others make you dance it off with salsa instruction that helps you break out of the high intense mode you are in. There’s another company that has a grievance cell where they have concrete resolutions for relationships, favoritism, health, safety, etc. Some companies have ways to help you commute in comfort – they pick you up and drop you back.
What exactly would be needed for you and me to have a work-life balance? Jim Bird, founder and current CEO of Work-Life Balance says that “2 things are very important: Achievement and Enjoyment. Achievement and enjoyment are the front and back of the coin of value in life. You can’t have one without the other, no more than you can have a coin with only one side. Trying to live a one-sided life is why so many ‘successful people are not happy, or not nearly as happy as they should be.’ You cannot get the full value from life without both, achievement and enjoyment. Focusing on enjoyment and achievement everyday in life, helps you avoid the ‘as soon as’ trap; the life-telling habit of planning on getting around to the joys of life and accomplishment as soon as…. You’ve heard that, haven’t you? As soon as this is done, I will do this; as soon as this is done, I will take a vacation, etc.
What about you, my friends? How are you doing with stress? Jim Bird says that “a meaningful daily achievement and enjoyment must happen in each of the 4 life quadrants: Work, Family, Friends and Self. Do you have achievement and enjoyment in your work, in your family, in your friends circle and in yourself? That’s the key for us to have that kind of balance. If we have that kind of balance, it will reduce the stress, we won’t hear about so many suicides, people going into depression and so on.
My prayer for you is that you will find that work-life balance. Our Bible says (Mark 8:36) “What does it profit a man if he should gain the whole world and yet lose his soul.” What use is that – if we gain everything and yet don’t have what is important?
The Bible also says (Matthew 6:26-28) “God takes care of the birds of the air; they don’t worry. The flowers, the lilies of the field, God clothes them.” For me that is the biggest stress-buster; to know that He is in charge. I can do what I need to do in terms of achievement and enjoyment and leave the rest to Him. I pray that you will be able to do the same; to be able to trust God to lead you into places of achievement and enjoyment and maintain a healthy work-life balance.
God Bless You All.
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