Let’s face it, all careers, under the right or should I say wrong conditions can create for an individual stress and stress related illness. Are some roles more stressful than others, is it the employer’s duty to manage stress or is it all down to the individual?
You know you best, and only you can diagnose if your current role is causing you stress.
Now, I am not a GP and this is not about symptoms and diagnosis. You and I experience stress differently. Even now, I could not make generalisations of symptoms. We are all different. For me though I know that I am stressed when I can’t sleep or funnily enough completely the opposite ‘I need to just close my eyes for five’.
I have to say knowing your triggers are good to acknowledge to ultimately reducing your stress…if I am tired and something is keeping me up at 4am, I know something isn’t right.
I digress, you know there are excellent employers who understand the pressures their business activities may have on their employees and they do take steps to minimise potential stress. This can take the form of family friendly working polices, correct breaks, flexi time, regular meaningful supervision, appraisals, great benefits, excellent training and they listen and respond to appropriate feedback.
We both know that some employers are not as great at looking after staff and they do nothing. Letting people cope alone and get on with it, offer no support or understanding, they bully and belittle, use fearful tactics and coerced motivation.
Here is the problem; you may have the best employer, career, wage and team in the world yet you are stressed. Or you could work for technically the employer from hell and have no stress at all. So does that mean it all comes back to the individual?
What you may see as a stressful job, I may not. For me by the way it’s being a waitress (okay, I lasted one day, but that was enough to me. Look, I gave it my ‘ best shot’:). Maybe you are a waiter or waitress, who loves the role and experiences no stress at all. I think I should model your behaviour. You have my utmost respect.
Can you make comparisons of what is a less stressful job over another? I think if you looking for an answer to the least stressful jobs then are you actually saying ‘I am not coping, there is something wrong, I hate what I am doing, work shouldn’t be like this and I need to get help or get out’ or a mix of some of them.
It all comes down to personal choice, personal attributes and where you as an individual feel stress and how you manage your own stress on a daily basis.
I fully believe that you should be stressed at work. Okay a little excitement, adrenalin and a bit of Alice’s white rabbit approach..hurry hurry hurry to get a piece of work completed on time is manageable as long as it does not happen every day. And employers should not create environments where it happens.
You would think with all the technology to make ‘life easier’ we would all be working part time by now, yet the opposite has happened. How is that? Are you putting more demands on yourselves, do you have to do everything, and do you have to do it right, perfection at all times, and heaven forbid you make a mistake?
Instead of seeking the least stressful job, why not, at the very most consider the least stressful job for you?
For that you could take a review. Have a look at the following questions. And remember when you answer, include all areas of your life.
What stresses you?
How do you know?
Where, what environments stress you?
What behaviours in others stress you?
What are your stress trigger buttons?
What can you not tolerate?
How do you manage stress?
Who can you talk to?
When you are stressed what do you do, say, how do you behave?
What skills could you learn that would help you manage your stress better?
What skills could you learn so that other people’s stress does not affect you?
The trouble and sad fact is if we are stressed continually, especially at work, our whole life suffers. I do not need to explain that to you, you know.
The secret to finding the least stressful job is to research a role you think is less stressful, identify the employers and business they are in and then talk to people within that organisation. Ask them, what is it like to work here?
Next, manage yourself. There are tools you can learn and use.
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