It’s Not Just Stress at Work – It’s Something that Can Be Extremely Damaging
Few of us would describe work as “fun.” We’d describe it as work. There’s a saying that “find a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life,” but I *love* my job, and I can tell you it’s still a lot of work. That’s okay, as work is how we manage our life, but some degree of stress is going to be common.
Still, we have to always ask ourselves how much work stress we should be experiencing and when it’s too much. There’s even an argument to be made that all work stress that is more than a temporary blip is a problem, because stress – in all forms – is significantly damaging.
Why Work Stress is a Serious Worry
Work stress is not a diagnosable mental health disorder. But that doesn’t mean that it’s not a serious challenge, or something that a person should be forced to address on their own.
We spend 40 hours a week at least at work – 1/3rd of all of our waking hours. That is a significant time to spend stressed, and that assumes that you’re not taking that stress home as well. Work stress also bleeds into relationships and other areas of your life, creating a cycle of stress.
What happens when we’re stressed for a significant period of time?
- Cognitive Changes – Chronic stress changes how our brain functions. We become more likely to experience trouble thinking, memory loss, and even changes to the neurotransmitters in our brain. This is how people can develop conditions like anxiety and depression, as a stressed brain is a brain that may not function properly.
- Emotional Overwhelm and Burnout – When we’re already stressed at work for that much of the day, it becomes difficult to handle anything else. Trouble in a relationship, for example, can be more overwhelming and cause more conflicts, as we have less room available to cope with these stresses.
- Physical Changes – Although it may not be a mental health issue directly, chronic stress changes our body. It can cause pain, poor posture, even vision issues. When we allow ourselves to experience significant stress for an extended period of time, our body is harmed by the stress it places on our body.
Persistent, ongoing stress at work can impact your irritability, your confidence, even your finances. It can change how you eat, and it can create diagnosable and long lasting mental health issues.
Therapy as a Solution to Work Stress
We talk about stress at work like it’s normal. Yet even mild, ongoing work stress can create very real, serious issues that affect our short and long term mental health, along with a host of additional challenges that continually impact our lives.
If you are struggling with work stress, psychotherapy is one of the most effective tools we have for teaching you how to cope with stress as well as acting like a coach for you to advocate for yourself and make sure that you’re getting any help you need.
Get started today. Give me a call and let’s talk about how we can address and identify any work stress you are experiencing in your life.