What is Work Stress?

 

If you’re like most people, you might place a lot of value on your career and long-term career goals. Or perhaps you enjoy the benefits of having a long-term career and job. Whether or not you have spent time getting an education or even higher education for your job, you know that you have dedicated much of your time and energy into getting yourself to your current position. But in today’s age and society, there are a lot of stressors when it comes to work. You might be traveling often for work, working long hours, continuing to work once you get home, constantly checking your email, trying to meet deadlines in a timely manner, or managing others. It is likely that you can deal with some of these work stressors individually, however, having all of these things on your plate could start to impact your physical, mental and emotional state. 

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At Couch Conversations Psychotherapy and Counseling, we understand the importance of work in your life. While some work stress is to be expected, we work with people closely to help them understand how work stress is impacting other areas of their lives and try to make improvements in daily work stressors.

 

What are Common Examples of Work Stress?

 

Stress from work can be seen in many different ways. It could come from the nature of the work that you are doing such as working with your customers, or trying to meet difficult deadlines. It may also come from your relationships with other people in the workplace setting. 

 

If you are someone who works in a large company and is required to attend a lot of work meetings, you may experience some stress or even anxiety about those meetings. Experiencing some stress is common, especially in the beginning of a new job and while undergoing the pressure of the learning curve at your company. But if you find yourself taking some of that work stress home, having sleep difficulties, and experiencing anxiety about going to work, then you may be experiencing symptoms beyond normative stress for work. 

 

You may also be experiencing difficulty speaking up during your work meetings. Perhaps you have some anxiety about public speaking experiences, or maybe you are worried about what your colleagues, or worse, your superiors may think of you if you say the wrong thing. At times, people may start to avoid taking on tasks where they are required to speak up and might start to find themselves avoiding these meetings altogether or experiencing high levels of anxiety while in the meetings. 

 

Another way that work stress manifests itself is through the relationships you have with your colleagues, managers or customers. Your relational stress with colleagues or managers in the work environment could have a big impact on your stress levels and could even lead to more severe symptoms of anxiety and depression. If you are clashing with other colleagues on your team, or having to manage difficult relationships in your workplace, that could be a big source of stress and an indication that some support for dealing with these issues could be warranted. 

 

What can I do to Manage my Work Stress?

 

Managing work stress includes a set of skills that could be helpful for most people. Learning how to communicate effectively and getting your point across to others clearly and directly is part of the skill set. It’s also important to set boundaries if it is becoming more difficult to manage everyone’s requests and meet deadlines. Working on having healthy relationships in the workplace is another essential piece of the skill set. All of these skills require some time to learn and practice in order to implement and reinforce how these skills could really help reduce stress at work. That's why your Couch Conversations therapist works with you to develop that skill set and find ways to managing your work stress more effectively.

 

If you are ready to learn these skills and overcome work stress, CONTACT US below for a free consultation on how a Couch Conversations therapist can help you. 

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Learn more about how we can help with Anxiety.