Work Stress

Railgrl

Is anyone else struggling with balancing work and wellness?

Ugh. I don’t know what to do anymore. One step forward, three steps back.

eatyourtoast

Yes. I work in a kitchen and we're sometimes understaffed, so I work overtime quite often and I'm constantly running and thinking about what needs to be done.

The past two weeks have been hellish. I don't want to go into detail but I'm starting to believe that Murphy's law is real.

I certainly cannot meal plan, meal prep, and work out six days a week with this much stress.

exstromn

Such a reoccurring theme in my life. I'm still learning the under lying causes of my tendency to be a workaholic and perfectionist, sacrificing my personal time, energy, and comfort for others. I talk weekly with my super in a scheduled one on one who believes in work / life balance. We talk a lot about controlling only what we can as individuals, doing our standard work, keeping out of other people's lanes, and setting healthy work boundaries. That being said, I'm now an empty nester who finally has time for my own selfcare where I didn't as a mother with kids still living at my home. I was raised to be a caregiver and not pay attention to taking care of myself as I should have. Be a rock and tough it out. It took cancer a year and a half ago to truly wake me up. Look inward, I assure you, is where anyone could start. Trust the answers are somewhere inside you, and if you get stuck ask for help like you did on your post. Hang in there and keep fighting the good fight!

ONUnicorn

I've really been struggling with that lately. I'm a public defender, and really feel the pressure and responsibility because my clients really count on me.

The last couple months I've had more cases go to trial than usual, plus I've got a couple problem clients that need a lot of hand holding.

I'm struggling to take actual lunch breaks and eat healthy food instead of shoveling bites of instant ramen in between hearings, to leave work at a reasonable hour, and to get enough sleep and, like, any exercise.

garlic7girl

I had a rough job for 12 years plus horrid commute. I have now been working a job with great commute. It started out great but every 3 months they keep making significant changes. I was bringing work home but learned that was wrecking my mind and body. I decided my mental health is most important. So, I am behind on work but mentally healthier. The stress is real but trying to be disciplined in not allo6the job to take over my life like the last job.

ninerbuff

One of the things I TRULY thought about as I got older was having a job that I ENJOYED and didn't make me feel as if what I put in sacrificed what I still needed to do for myself. My management jobs were stressful and I actually hated doing them, but money was my concern then. After I paid everything off and became debt free at 40, I chose to be a Personal Trainer full time because of how happy I felt doing it. Since I don't need as much money now, I LOVE MY JOB and stress is pretty much non existent.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 35+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

mikeyrowlands

I'm going through this at the moment, constantly tired/drained, when I get home I just can't relax fully. I've just come back from a week off and felt refreshed on Tuesday, only to feel exactly the same again on Tuesday night.

I don't mind 'stress' in the sense of workloads, crisis management or difficult decisions but not enjoying what I'm doing or the decisions I'm making just mean that I'm burning my time.

I termed it this week as emptying my cup (the opposite of the more positive of doing things you love). I'm having to refil my cup daily and I just don't have the energy for it.

I'm trying to work on my health and finances. Other than that, I need to find something I actually enjoy doing, we only get one go around after all.

emgracewrites

All the time. Just got out of a meeting where my boss guilt tripped me for taking vacation during the busy week of the month. Mind you I haven’t taken a full week off work in about 2 years. And she’s going on vacation during the busy week next month.

Everything always seems to be my fault. Certainly not my supervisor or the program manager for assigning more work than one person can possibly do.

I’m looking for something better but can’t get anyone to hire me, which adds to my overall depression/stress related to my job. This then drives my chronic health condition into overdrive so my physical health suffers too.

evileyefirefly

So while I have a job that's pretty good overall, my stress/barriers come from the commute. I'm in the car anywhere from 2-4hr a day at least 3x a week. The longer commute days just kill any motivation I have to workout or really do anything other than get home and relax. I leave for work at/before 5am, and won't get home(or to the gym) until 5pm or so on average. Really makes finding time to do the things I want/need to do a difficult balancing act. The easiest thing to drop is working out/diet.

mikeyrowlands

Totally get the commute thing, mines only an hour but it's a busy bus and I hate it at the end of the day when I'm already drained.

Also toxic workplace behaviour is just not worth putting up with. You shouldn't feel guilty for taking holidays. I'm getting dealt a bit of blame culture at the moment and it's so jarring as I work hard and make decisions for the right reasons.

Life is way to short to be spending it doing these things, hating the 2 hour commute or dealing with toxic nonsense at work.

Re the commute, something that kind of worked for me is to avoid scrolling shorts or social media, I carry a field notes book and try and scribble in that or read, that way it's something a little more fulfilling instead of losing the time altogether.

What do you think the barrier to being hired is? Sometimes its a numbers game, if there are a lot of applicants, you have to get shortlisted, then invited in, then beat other applicants in the interview process. Eventually you cab het in front of the right person for the right job and you nail it.

Are there any positive steps you can take to improve your odds, get help with your CV and identifying your skills/strengths, interview techniques or job searches. Doing something positive to influence it might help with the mental health side.

chrisanderson2126

I heard Brendon Burchard talk about "pit stops" throughout the day. In racing, cars need pitstops throughout the race or they will run out of gas, blow a tire, or other mechanical issues. If they run the car non-stop, it will eventually break down. I have tried to infuse pitstops throughout my work day. These can include 1 minute meditations, being mindful while walking into work or down a hallway. Trying to have a 5 minute gap between meetings so I can think about letting one go and getting mentally prepared for the next one. Sometimes it can feel like we do not have the time for even the smallest or slightest breaks in the day but the alternative is running ourselves into the ground and repeating it day after day. This suggestion is not the end all be all or does not stop the busy or the stress but it might help us get through a day and not be completely exhausted or broken down by the end of it.