A 2008 report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services revealed that:
70-80% of all visits to the doctor are for stress-related and stress-induced illnesses
Stress contributes to 50% of all illness in the United States
The cost of job stress in the U.S. is estimated at $200 billion annually, including costs of absenteeism, lost productivity, and insurance claims.
According to the Holmes Social Readjustment Scale developed by Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe, losing a job ranks in the top ten as one of life’s stressors. This means that if you are unemployed stress becomes a real threat to your relationships, your mental well being and even your future.
For more than 100 years, psychoanalysts, psychologists, social scientists and other professionals have studied the dynamics of unexpected unemployment. While the interpretation of the data and the therapeutic application of their results differ, the overall body of research agrees that job loss changes a person’s self identity.
Most experts believe that a person’s work not only represents the way they identify themselves, but serves as one of the strongest anchors in their lives. Job loss cuts that anchor and destabilizes every major area of life.
The work people do represents the way they express themselves, find fulfillment in the use of their skills and is the way they live out their passion and perceived purpose in life. Therefore, losing a job can mean a loss of income, security, standing in the community, and sense of self confidence and identity.
While everyone’s situation is unique, most professionals agree that the following concepts are effective ways to reduce unhealthy stress.
Monitor and modify your attitude. While it is natural to feel a range of emotions during periods of unemployment it is important that we avoid cynicism, depression and hopelessness from taking over our thinking. Rather than inventory the things that have been lost (status, income, etc) make an inventory of what is available for use in the next phase of life (experience, skills, training, family, etc). Think back over all the other unalterable circumstances you’ve been through. Then analyze how you worked through it. Often, during this exercise people report that for the first time they realized the situation proved to be “the best thing that could have happened…” in terms of their career, relationships and future. Many people find it helpful to talk with a career counselor or trusted mentor.
Reconstruct your ability to trust. Often, job loss causes a person to mistrust their abilities, their peers, and those in management. It may be that the individual over-reached their ability to do a job, but that doesn’t mean they are incapable of using their skills or learning new ones. Coworkers might have failed them or a manager did not provide the type of leadership they could have. But that cannot be the primary focus of one’s thinking following a job loss. Mistrust breeds distrust which grows to contempt and paralyzes constructive actions.
Establish and stick to a daily routine. Routine has been defined as being “habitually following a set life structure through which we find meaning and expression”. Work provides much of that structure for our lives. Job loss breaks the structure by interrupting the routine.
Establishing daily habits of networking, making calls, and sending résumés creates a vital, new, proactive structure (routine) for living. There will be days when feelings will war against these new habits. But it is important to stick to the new structure. Routine provides a sense of having taken charge of circumstances. As activity begins paying off in small successes self-confidence is rekindled, goals are further clarified and it is easier to conceive of and commit to new career objectives.
Steps To Managing Stress
Step One: Practice Environmental Control. Research indicates that a key factor in managing stress is the perception of how much stress a person is under. By taking better control of areas of life we can control, we are able to reduce the amount of perceived stress we are under. Become better organized, learn to prioritize critical, important and non essential activities and projects—then focus on the most important things first. Plan your work before you leave the office, this way you feel more in control—then work your plan when you come in the next morning. Discipline yourself to concentrate on one thing at a time--don’t try to multi-task several critical things at once.
Step Two: Practice Situational Control. Know what your limits and don’t hesitate to delegate to others. Learn to say “No” when you reach your limits. As far as practically possible, avoid or limit time with individuals who tend to stress you out. Naturally, some of these people will be coworkers or customers, but by being prepared for your encounters with them, you can often find ways to better control both the tone and content of your contact with them. Don’t subject yourself to gloomy relationships. Replace negative friends and acquaintance with people who more are upbeat and positive about life and its possibilities.
Step Three: Practice Emotional Control. There are times when no amount of planning, preparation and organization can avoid unexpected challenges or upsetting incidents. When we are blindsided by such things, we need to be sure not to make a frenzied response. Remind yourself that while you can’t control what happens around you, you can control how you respond. When we react in a frenzied, emotional manner it increases our stress levels. This in turn slows down our ability to think clearly and respond in the most effective way to the situation. How, you ask, can we avoid a frenzied response to unexpected, stress producing situations?
Step Four: Practice Mental Control. The way to avoid frenzied responses, as well as reduce normal stress levels throughout the day is by taking control of your thoughts. Thought control has been proven both clinically and experientially and is based on the psychological fact that the mind cannot hold more than one conscious thought at a time.
There are several effective methods, among them are thought replacement (deliberately cancel out negative thought responses with affirmations of hope, confidence, etc.); momentary meditation (intentionally recall some place you’ve visited where you felt immersed with a sense of peace and tranquility. Picture that place in your mind, hold the image and allow yourself to experience the warmth and calmness you felt when you first saw the place); Word Therapy (close your eyes and slowly say—out loud is possible—words that create mental images which produce a calming effect. A few of these words are tranquility, peace, calmness, serenity, stillness, quietness, harmony. As you pass these words, and others you can think of through your mind several times, you will begin to feel your tension and stress being replaced by a sense of well-being and composure.
Step Five: Practice Spiritual Control. Now, let me point out that this is not just a religion thing, the Mayo Clinic also suggest this type of control. Among their suggestions, reading a sacred text and reflecting on it, prayer, and listening to sacred music. Learning to practice spiritual control helps surround us with a sense of faith, hope and renewed confidence. Most of these spiritual controls can be practiced anytime you find your stress levels building.
Parts of this article were adapted from Robert Hidde’s "Take Charge After A Job Loss" © 2008 and Mr. Hidde's seminar presentation on handling stress in and out of the workplace.
70-80% of all visits to the doctor are for stress-related and stress-induced illnesses
Stress contributes to 50% of all illness in the United States
The cost of job stress in the U.S. is estimated at $200 billion annually, including costs of absenteeism, lost productivity, and insurance claims.
According to the Holmes Social Readjustment Scale developed by Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe, losing a job ranks in the top ten as one of life’s stressors. This means that if you are unemployed stress becomes a real threat to your relationships, your mental well being and even your future.
For more than 100 years, psychoanalysts, psychologists, social scientists and other professionals have studied the dynamics of unexpected unemployment. While the interpretation of the data and the therapeutic application of their results differ, the overall body of research agrees that job loss changes a person’s self identity.
Most experts believe that a person’s work not only represents the way they identify themselves, but serves as one of the strongest anchors in their lives. Job loss cuts that anchor and destabilizes every major area of life.
The work people do represents the way they express themselves, find fulfillment in the use of their skills and is the way they live out their passion and perceived purpose in life. Therefore, losing a job can mean a loss of income, security, standing in the community, and sense of self confidence and identity.
While everyone’s situation is unique, most professionals agree that the following concepts are effective ways to reduce unhealthy stress.
Monitor and modify your attitude. While it is natural to feel a range of emotions during periods of unemployment it is important that we avoid cynicism, depression and hopelessness from taking over our thinking. Rather than inventory the things that have been lost (status, income, etc) make an inventory of what is available for use in the next phase of life (experience, skills, training, family, etc). Think back over all the other unalterable circumstances you’ve been through. Then analyze how you worked through it. Often, during this exercise people report that for the first time they realized the situation proved to be “the best thing that could have happened…” in terms of their career, relationships and future. Many people find it helpful to talk with a career counselor or trusted mentor.
Reconstruct your ability to trust. Often, job loss causes a person to mistrust their abilities, their peers, and those in management. It may be that the individual over-reached their ability to do a job, but that doesn’t mean they are incapable of using their skills or learning new ones. Coworkers might have failed them or a manager did not provide the type of leadership they could have. But that cannot be the primary focus of one’s thinking following a job loss. Mistrust breeds distrust which grows to contempt and paralyzes constructive actions.
Establish and stick to a daily routine. Routine has been defined as being “habitually following a set life structure through which we find meaning and expression”. Work provides much of that structure for our lives. Job loss breaks the structure by interrupting the routine.
Establishing daily habits of networking, making calls, and sending résumés creates a vital, new, proactive structure (routine) for living. There will be days when feelings will war against these new habits. But it is important to stick to the new structure. Routine provides a sense of having taken charge of circumstances. As activity begins paying off in small successes self-confidence is rekindled, goals are further clarified and it is easier to conceive of and commit to new career objectives.
Steps To Managing Stress
Step One: Practice Environmental Control. Research indicates that a key factor in managing stress is the perception of how much stress a person is under. By taking better control of areas of life we can control, we are able to reduce the amount of perceived stress we are under. Become better organized, learn to prioritize critical, important and non essential activities and projects—then focus on the most important things first. Plan your work before you leave the office, this way you feel more in control—then work your plan when you come in the next morning. Discipline yourself to concentrate on one thing at a time--don’t try to multi-task several critical things at once.
Step Two: Practice Situational Control. Know what your limits and don’t hesitate to delegate to others. Learn to say “No” when you reach your limits. As far as practically possible, avoid or limit time with individuals who tend to stress you out. Naturally, some of these people will be coworkers or customers, but by being prepared for your encounters with them, you can often find ways to better control both the tone and content of your contact with them. Don’t subject yourself to gloomy relationships. Replace negative friends and acquaintance with people who more are upbeat and positive about life and its possibilities.
Step Three: Practice Emotional Control. There are times when no amount of planning, preparation and organization can avoid unexpected challenges or upsetting incidents. When we are blindsided by such things, we need to be sure not to make a frenzied response. Remind yourself that while you can’t control what happens around you, you can control how you respond. When we react in a frenzied, emotional manner it increases our stress levels. This in turn slows down our ability to think clearly and respond in the most effective way to the situation. How, you ask, can we avoid a frenzied response to unexpected, stress producing situations?
Step Four: Practice Mental Control. The way to avoid frenzied responses, as well as reduce normal stress levels throughout the day is by taking control of your thoughts. Thought control has been proven both clinically and experientially and is based on the psychological fact that the mind cannot hold more than one conscious thought at a time.
There are several effective methods, among them are thought replacement (deliberately cancel out negative thought responses with affirmations of hope, confidence, etc.); momentary meditation (intentionally recall some place you’ve visited where you felt immersed with a sense of peace and tranquility. Picture that place in your mind, hold the image and allow yourself to experience the warmth and calmness you felt when you first saw the place); Word Therapy (close your eyes and slowly say—out loud is possible—words that create mental images which produce a calming effect. A few of these words are tranquility, peace, calmness, serenity, stillness, quietness, harmony. As you pass these words, and others you can think of through your mind several times, you will begin to feel your tension and stress being replaced by a sense of well-being and composure.
Step Five: Practice Spiritual Control. Now, let me point out that this is not just a religion thing, the Mayo Clinic also suggest this type of control. Among their suggestions, reading a sacred text and reflecting on it, prayer, and listening to sacred music. Learning to practice spiritual control helps surround us with a sense of faith, hope and renewed confidence. Most of these spiritual controls can be practiced anytime you find your stress levels building.
Parts of this article were adapted from Robert Hidde’s "Take Charge After A Job Loss" © 2008 and Mr. Hidde's seminar presentation on handling stress in and out of the workplace.
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