the kiss of death or the spice oflife. The issue, really, is how tomanage it. Managed stressmakes us productive and happy;mismanaged stress hurts andeven kills us.
Myth #: Stress iseverywhere, so you can't doanything about it.
Not so. You can plan your life sothat stress does not overwhelmyou. Effective planning involvessetting priorities and workingon simple problems first,solving them, and then going onto more complex difficulties.When stress is mismanaged, it'sdifficult to prioritize. All yourproblems seem to be equal andstress seems to beeverywhere.
Myth #: The most populartechniques for reducing
Several Myths surround stress.Dispelling them enables us tounderstand our problems andthen take action against them.
Myth #: Stress is the samefor everybody.
Completely wrong. Stress isdifferent for each of us. What isstressful for one person may ormay not be stressful for an-other; each of us responds tostress in an entirely differentway.
Myth #: Stress is always badfor you.
According to this view, zerostress makes us happy andhealthy. But, Stress is to thehuman condition what tension isto the violin string: too little andthe music is dull and raspy; toomuch and the music is shrill orthe string snaps. Stress can be
stress are the best ones.
Again, not so. No universallyeffective stress reductiontechniques exist. We are alldifferent, our lives aredifferent, our situations aredifferent, and our reactions aredifferent. A unique awarenessof the individual, their needsand strategies that addressestheir needs in a holistic way, isappropriate
Myth #: No symptoms, nostress.
Absence of symptoms does notmean the absence of stress. Infact, camouflaging symptomswith medication may depriveyou of the signals you need forreducing the strain on yourphysiological and psychologicalsystems.
Stress Myths?
Myth #: Only majorsymptoms of stress requireattention.
This myth assumes that the"minor" symptoms, such asheadaches or stomach acid,may be safely ignored. Minorsymptoms of stress are theearly warnings that your life isgetting out of hand and that youneed to do a better job ofmanaging stress.
Myth #: Only high fliers getstressed.
- If you haverecently lost your job and areworried that you may not makethe rent this month, you willknow this is not true. Even thehappiest events like the birth ofa baby son or daughter oftenleaves the happiest of newmothers feeling pressured.Anyone can get stressed and atany stage of their lives.
Myth #: Stress relieftechniques work universallyfor everyone.
– Just becauseyour best friend finds yogadeeply relaxing, and your sisterfeels at her most calm whilstpounding the streets at 6 a.m.on a 5-mile run, does
not
meanthey will work for you.If you hate sports and yoursister loves them, and if yourbest friend can tuck her feetbehind her head and you have
Stress Myths> Stress is the same foreverybody> Stress is always badfor you> Stress is everywhere,so you can’t do anythingabout it> The most populartechniques for reducingstress, are the best ones> No symptoms, Nostress> Only major symptomsof stress requireattention> Only high fliers getstressed> Stress relieftechniques workuniversally for everyone
Guide 20:Stress Myths
Stress Diary JournalYour Guide
Stress Diary Journal Guides Guide 20: Stress Myths
‘Dispellingmyths enablesus to understandour stressproblems andtake actionagainst them”
the flexibility of a doorpost, youare
not
going to unwind andrelax in the same ways. Youhave to find an effective stressrelief technique which
worksfor you
.
Myth #:
Exercise eliminatesstress.
– No. You may very wellfeel more calm and relaxedafter you have exercised (butsee above), but if you areconstantly being put upon, youwill continue to be stresseduntil you learn to say “no” moreoften and/or delegate.
The only way to reduce yourstress is to tackle yourstressors.
Adapted from The Stress Solution by Lyle H. Miller, Ph.D.,and Alma Dell Smith, Ph.D.
Original Source
WORKSTRESS MYTHS
Myth #1: Stress is normal, itmeans you’re important andit’s even good because itpushes you to perform
Some people seem to think thatif you’re not
too busy
, you’renot really crucial to theorganization. These peoplerevel in having full schedules,long working hours and toomuch work.But stress does not mean youmatter. It either means thatsomething is wrong at work orthat you’re not doing a goodenough job of matching yourtasks to your time. Worse, italso means that you get
less
work done, because stressedpeople are less efficient, worsecommunicators and worse atmaking good decisions.To accept stress as a normalcondition of work is bad forpeople and bad for business!come from falling behind atwork. It comes from how youfeel about falling behind.
2. In most businesses, peoplewill always be behind. There issimply too much work and fin-ishing all your tasks simplymeans getting assigned morework.
A temporary push to reduce apile of work or meet a deadlineis fine. But all too often thattemporary push becomes thenew standard.So the solution to stress is notemployees return to work or to“normal” work conditions,nothing has changed and thestress returns quickly.
Myth #4: Stress is cured byworking more
“Yes, I’m a little stressed atwork right now because we’refalling behind. If I work reallyhard for a while I’ll catch upand it will go away.”No it won’t. For two reasons:1. Workplace stress does notto work harder to catch upbecause in most workplacesthis is impossible. The solutionis to feel good about the workyou finish, your achievementand not to get stressed aboutthe work you don’t finish. It’snot that you should stop caring,it’s just that you shouldremember that being stressedmakes you less productive,which means you get less workdone and become morestressed. That’s a vicious circleright there and we need tobreak it.inadequate, bullied orunappreciated you will bestressed.
Myth #3: Stress is cured byworking less
Most workplaces react tostress by reducing employees’workloads, responsibilities orworking hours and in seriouscases by giving people long sickleaves. According to Danishmedical researcher BoNetterstrøm who has studiedworkplace stress for 30 years,this is a mistake.People hit by stress need toincrease their capacity andconfidence at work, and whiletime off from work can benecessary to treat theimmediate symptoms of stress,a long absence from theworkplace does exactly theopposite. When people return tothe workplace, they’re evenmore vulnerable than before.Worse, some never return towork at all.Also, reducing work or leavingwork temporarily doesn’t fixany underlying problems. When
Myth #2: Stress is caused byworking too much
But then why do some peoplework 80 hours a week and feelgreat, while some people work30 and get serious stress?Here’s why: Stress has nothingto do with
the number of hours you work
, and everything to dowith
how you feel during those hours
.If you work 100 hours a weekfeeling great, having fun andtaking pride in what you do, youwon’t be stressed. If you work30 hours a week feeling
Page 2
Work Stress Myths
“Workstressdoes notcome fromfallingbehind atwork. Itcomes fromhow you feelabout fallingbehind”
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Stress_Diary_Guide 20. Stress Myths
Stress Diary Guide to Stress Myths and how what we perceive we know can influence and control our responses, and behaviors to managing our stress.
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