Stress in the workplace is under-estimated and over-looked.

Under-estimated because most people living with high levels of stress have learnt to adapt and cope.  

Over-looked because often it’s hard to recognise what the problem is when you’re in the middle of it.    

It’s a sad fact that many people find their job highly stressful and it doesn’t make any difference if you’re the CEO, a PA or the cleaner.  No one is immune to stress.  You probably don’t talk about it though because it might jeopardise your job and your career.

The result of living with a daily diet of stress at work is that you lack trust, you feel disconnected and undervalued and you’re probably wondering what you have to change to make things better.

Working with this daily dose of stress promotes high levels of Cortisol which in the long term can lead to serious health problems and short term shuts down your brain and your best thinking. Cortisol is your emergency fight/flight/freeze response and it’s hard to achieve goals if you have the emergency brake on all the time.

The cost of stress that’s not identified is the price you pay with your health.

The Japanese have a word – Karoshi – which means Death From Overwork. But it doesn’t have to be overwork.  The medical diagnosis of Karoshi is a stroke or a heart attack. 

We will never live our lives free of stress. Anyone who tells you otherwise is simply not seeing reality!

What we can do, though, is deepen our awareness. Without awareness we don’t know what to change. 

• Learn what our normal coping strategies are and ask if they work

• Understand what pushes our buttons and how our body reacts

• Learn new, effective ways of coping that work for any situation 

The experience of stress and how each person handles it is unique to each of us.  There is no ‘one size fits all’ template of solutions. 

With this in mind, no two people will work with me in the same way!  Which is as it should be.