I am someone who struggles with a great deal of stress, and I have an anxiety disorder that I’ve dealt with since I was a child. I have spent a lot of time in my life learning different meditation methods, possible over-the-counter remedies, and throughout college taken many courses related to stress management and relaxation methods. Through this I have gained a great deal of knowledge about the way that my mind responds to stress, but I’m always happy to learn more about how I respond to stress.
From the two tests this week that tested our personalities and coping skills, I scored a 47 in impatience / irritability and a 73 in problem-focused coping. These scores definitely felt accurate to me, as typically when I get stressed out I try not to be outwardly difficult but I tend to be a bit snappy to people and irritable. If I ever respond in this way to someone Ill always immediately apologize, but I’m very careful to not act this way in a professional environment. I am definitely someone who utilizes problem-solving coping strategies, as whenever something is stressing me out, I try to attack it as quickly as possible and remove it as a stressor.
Something important to me in moderating my stress throughout my career is to have a healthy work-life balance and not take on too much. Like I mentioned, I’m someone who tries to immediately address the things that are really stressing me out, and due to this, I typically have a very hard time delegating tasks and getting help. Furthermore, when I take on too much work at one time I tend to take it home with me and struggle to relax in my own home because I associate it with work that needs to get done. Having a healthy amount of work-life balance and being sure to delegate tasks and get help will massively help me remain at my best and not get overwhelmed by stress.
Organizations are becoming much more aware of how stress is affecting employee’s performance and satisfaction and how they might be able to help. I think most organizations are concerned most with preventing burnout, giving employees as much security as possible, and encouraging a healthy work-life balance. Many organizations now are providing methods to communicate stressful working environments or workloads, such as support groups, grievance submissions, Slack/Microsoft team channels, and more. Additionally, organizations are more commonly providing resources and support for their employees, such as therapy, counseling, and mental health days.
Overall, I believe that organizations are becoming increasingly aware of employees stressors and the impacts it will have on their life and performance. I hope that this trend of organizations trying to improve the lives of their employees continues into the future.