The addiction of stress

The longer he continued at the company, the more stress he felt.

For a while now, Alex has been multitasking in meetings, skipping meals, and being both mentally and physically tired.

Although it is evident that Alex needs rest when asked he says it is all fine and that it is just another day at the office.

It has been two years since he took this job and now, he is now responsible for his team, and customers and indirectly answers to the board of management. His team of 5 is now doing the work of 8 people and there is no budget for new hires.

To top it off, his stakeholders continue to change the scope of the project and do not give him the resources to deal with the changes.

When he arrives home, he takes a deep breath as if he is getting into character and gives his best to be with his loved ones. His partner occasionally asks him “where are you right now?” Since it is evident that he is somewhere else but present.

Alex is under a lot of stress from work, pretending everything is under control and trying to prove that he is good enough.

He has his good reasons or at least he believes. Society has set the rules on how to be successful. Alex mustn’t show weakness despite that he doubts his abilities at times. He fears that his colleagues will see him as an under achiever.

Alex’s body is being filled with stress and he is not fully aware of it because he believes “it is life and part of the job”. He does not know anything different.

He loves to brush it off by saying “it’s good stress”.

By the way, did you know that there are two kinds of stress? Eustress and Distress.

You probably did but did you know that it is commonly mistaken?

Eustress is what we normally call excitement. Like when his partner told him that they were going to have a baby, or when he got the management position at work and his colleagues congratulated him and even baked him a cake. This type of stress is called Eustress. In other words, your body responds for a short period of time to something positive in your environment.

The typical effects of Eustress are:

· It motivates you (excitement like you are going on vacation)

· Focuses energy (you lose track of time because it is so fun)

· Gets you excited (you can’t wait to get up and get started)

· Improves your performance (your creativity is full-on thanks to your joy)

The second type of stress called Distress is not so nice. It provides you with a short boost of power but in the long-run your physical and mental health will suffer.

This is the reaction your body experiences when dealing with negative situations such as:

· Poor management style from your superiors

· Fear of losing your job

· Trying to meet deadlines

· Dealing with drama at work