In 2019, during a particularly hectic time at work, I was able to squeeze in a three-day fishing trip to pause for a moment and break up the endless meetings. When I arrived at the airport to return home, I felt something like a hot iron on my back. Turns out the burning sensation wasn't just back pain; I had shingles! What 30-year-old gets shingles?
That's when I realized I had been pushing myself too hard, and my body was breaking down because of it.
Believe it or not, I'm one of the luckier ones — in 2016, the World Health Organization found that
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Now that a good amount of business is conducted remotely, the line between work hours and off hours is blurred. Work stress is more normalized than ever before, and companies need to put policies in place that protect employees' mental health and prevent burnout. Here are a few tips for combating stress on the individual and managerial level — our lives depend on reducing it.
Distress vs. eustress
Let me start off by saying not all stress is bad stress. I like to employ what I call "The Goldilocks Principle" here to find a balance between too much stress and too little.
If you're not familiar, "eustress" refers to the type of stress that's actually beneficial to you and your brain. Eustress tends to be temporary, because it arises in an environment where you know there's an endpoint. Maybe you're working on a project that excites you but is a bit complicated; eustress is the satisfaction you feel when you've challenged yourself. It's like giving your brain a workout!
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Distress, on the other hand, arises when there's no end in sight. If you're perpetually working long hours with no support and no reprieve, distress is going to become detrimental to your physical and mental health. As an individual, make sure you assess what type of stress is most prominent in your work life, and adjust where you can. Furthermore, employers should give workers the space to do what works best for them.
Recharge
One of the biggest challenges we face in business is there's no offseason. You may have long weekends or vacations planned throughout the year, but for the most part, things don't really slow down.
Electric cars recharge their batteries while they're braking. Our brains are the same way; when we slow down and take time to do nothing, we're giving ourselves a chance to recharge. Then when we return to work, our batteries are full again. Try to find time during the day and after work to take breaks and clear your head. Go for a walk between Zoom calls, or start your day with five minutes of meditation. Your body and your mind will thank you for it.
Reframe
I mentioned above that I love to fish. Fly fishing in particular is my favorite way to decompress and relax when I'm not at work. The one caveat is I'm never guaranteed to catch anything. Spending upwards of eight hours on the water and not getting any bites used to really get to me. On days like that, I would come home and say, "Ugh, today was tough. What a bummer!"
But then I realized that every hour I spend not catching anything, I'm one hour closer to reeling in something huge. Now, when I come home empty-handed I say, "Today was tough, but I got in some good river hours!"
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"River hours" are a philosophy I try to bring to work every day, and they've completely reframed the way I approach stress. The time I spend failing brings me closer to future success. If you're stressed about constantly coming up short and not getting the results you want, remember the value of river hours. Learning from failure instead of dwelling on it brings you that much closer to the catch of the day.
One size doesn't fit all
It's crucial to remember, especially if you're a manager or business leader, that not everybody responds to stress the same way. Your childhood and past work experiences directly inform your tolerance for stress, and that needs to be respected in the workplace. Managers must understand that stress is an individual experience, so your company's larger policies on maintaining a healthy balance may not work for everyone. During busy or tougher periods at work, you as a manager have to consider what you know about your individual employees in order to best shepherd them through that stressful moment as a team.
Furthermore, if you're in the position to enact policies across your organization, offering flexible PTO is a must. Your employees need time to recharge on their own terms. Providing ample time off won't just boost morale — it'll boost employee productivity and retention, too.
We have become desensitized to our stress levels at work. They're rising, and we're not paying attention. The onus isn't just on employees to maintain healthy working habits; we've got to build policies that allow employees to rest and recharge into the workplace if we want to get out of this cycle of constant work stress. Employers need to foster environments as much as individuals do to exist in a system where we strike a better balance. And when we do, we'll all be healthier for it.
