There is something particularly stressful about work these days. There’s an argument to be made that work has always been stressful, and certainly if you asked someone 50 years ago if they found their work to be difficult, they would say yes.
But life today is much louder, much busier, and with much less time to cope. Even if work is as stressful as it was decades ago, our ability to overcome that stress has diminished. We are getting less sleep, less outdoor time, and more – all of which make it harder to cope with the challenges of work related stress.
Seeing Work Stress as Normal
One issue that often arises out of this is the normalization of that work stress. We often see work stress as inevitable and, unless it causes a diagnosable mental health issue, we often ignore it and assume that it is something that we have to live with. The idea that work is stressful has become, in many ways, a meme – a joke that we reference over and over again as a part of life.
The problem is that you spend at least 8 hours a day, 5 days a week at work. That is at minimum half of your entire day, five days out of every 7 days. That is a significant portion of your day to day life that you’re spending with a great deal of stress. That is not healthy for your mind or your body. Even if you can come home and not feel the anxiety or depression that leads many people to seeking out therapy, experiencing at least 40 hours of non-stop stress per week is unhealthy.
Addressing the Causes and Finding Solutions to Work Stress
Work stress can seem normal, but it isn’t. We don’t have to love our jobs, but we should at least find them to be something that we can cope with, and something that we don’t have to find overwhelming when it occurs. We can learn not only how not to take stress home with you, but also how to identify it at work.
For people in high pressure positions – doctors, lawyers, and heavily involved executives – stress is considered a part of the job, but – when not managed properly – can impact decision making at these positions and ultimately cause mistakes or poor satisfaction at the role. No matter where you work or what you do, work stress is something that is going to hurt your ability to manage your personal and professional life.
That is why therapy for work stress is so important. It’s critical to learn tools that will help you manage your work stress. Through therapy, you can learn coping mechanisms to use while at work, how to create boundaries and develop a healthy work/life balance, how to accept the responsibilities of the position, and more.
Therapy is what will help you address and identify work stress challenges, and make sure that you’re able to manage your job accordingly with greater satisfaction in the process. Don’t let work stress be normalized. Contact Flourish Psychology today to get started.