Suggestions to get relief from stress

[christina_9w9]

I am marketing head of a FMCG company and over a few weeks I am feeling dizziness, anxiety, and a dreadful sense of doom. After a recent fight at work with Boss over a marketing campaign the situation become severe. Stress is destroying my life. I don’t know what to do. Please suggest.

[redrhodie]

Read "The Art of Happiness" by the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler. Try a yoga class. I also find that cutting back on sugar and refined foods helps you feel better. Eat more vegetables, get some rest, and try not to take things too seriously. Do you love this job? Is it worth the anxiety your feeling? If not, maybe you need to make a change.

[maryellen]

Ride your bike -- seriously. If possible, select a future (but not too far in the future) ride or event that will require training. Having another focus in my life (cycling instead of work) helps me keep the work issues in perspective as well as have fun.

[mikki]

A question to ask yourself: Is the flogging you're getting worth the flogging you're getting? Ponder this as you ride. Ponder the day as you ride. Then let it go. It is over with. I sometimes make a list of pros vs cons for a serious situation (sounds cliche, but true), then decide what action to take, and what the worse possible outcome is. Then move forward. Still, in the end, ride, ride until you sleep well, then ride some more.;)

[Voodoo Sally]

Ugh. Your situation sounds fairly serious. Start with some hard exercise. Like the rest of us, I recommend cycling. :) Then take a hard look at your job, and whether it's worth the trouble. I had a miserable life in my old career, changed my career, and have been much happier since, going on 12 years. Sometimes less is more. As in, less money, less stress, more time, more happy.

[TexanCzexican]

Ride your bike -- seriously.

Can not agree more!!

I'm also in marketing and we are doing a whole new brand launch on Sept 1. My stress level is so off the charts that I have not been sleeping, or if I do, I've been having nightmares about work. I was even telling myself I was too tired to do anything.

Kirk, my SO, told me to go ride my bike, I saddled up and just went as far as I reasonably could. I slept better that night then any in the past few months! So, I made myself go out and ride every day that week. I leave work after putting in 8-9 hours, I refuse to work 9am-9pm like some of my coworkers, I realized that I need to have "me" time in order to de-stress. Riding my bike has seriously helped me calm down and being out on the road by myself, I'm able to let my mind just go. It's really a great thing.:)

[michelem]

See this: http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=17930

Hope it helps.

[LBTC]

Everything everybody else said and:

visualize butterflies. Butterflies will always make you smile.

PM me with your email address and I'll send you a beautiful photo each day that will give you one moment to pause and smile at something (usually) beautiful.

Later you can decided if you need to change jobs or not.

Hugs and butterflies,
~T~

[Zen]

Stress is a killer, literally.

And it helps cause that little Bhudda belly.

Life is short, there are other jobs out there. I bet you'd have no problem finding another marketing job.

[VenusdeVelo]

Christina, I can certainly relate, new job in the last year as a Director in a large company, huge changes going on at our company, trying to learn how to race this year -- started the season out well but all the stress how wore me down by August. It kind of builds before you know it. And then you stop working out or training to reduce some stress, and then it's hard to get back into it. Vicious cycle.

I would probably agree that re-examining your job is a good idea, but if you are new, can't really make the change now, or just "can't" (ie, as in my situation where DH is in school, I am sole breadwinner at the moment), going to a less stress and less pay job is appealing but perhaps not readily realistic. It may take a good year or 2 just to get there. So the dilemma becomes what to do to try and balance things out for a while, even if it's not perfect but steadily improves your life. Some ideas:

1.) Training/Workout partner -- not a personal trainer, but a friend who has the same goals, concerns maybe even issues as you -- you can keep each other on track and motivated when one or the other isn't. I am new to the city I live in, I have not found this person yet ;-) I have a great netowrk of women on my cycling teams I belong to, but it does make a difference to have that 1 on 1 relationship with a buddy to get started back up. Even a great family support system would help.

2.) Start slow and escalate. Not sure I did the best thing by setting all these lofty racing goals, training goals etc. and when work came crashing on top of me, I felt like a failure in my cycling endeavors. And all those around you who have low stress or no jobs are doing great...hmmmm, that's not fun. Pick your workout goals to be reaslitic, and escalate them as you feel better or can incorporate more...someone said yoga, that's a great place to start I think...it's a great workout but it rejuvenates you in a different way that cycling does. So do more yoga, less of the other more demanding stuff and then start equalizing it. Hard to jump back in but easier once you're moving.

3.) Accept some limitations, at this moment. Won't be forever, but you need to accept you have contraints, like "the Boss", the job etc. and they are very stressful and so you can't be superwoman. So, I would suggest starting at the root cause...see if there are some things you can do at your current job to balance things a little more. I am still working on this one...the world doesn't like to wait for us do they?

4.) Get more sleep. I am terrible at this one. Plain and simple, busy weeks, 5 hours a night, I am a walking zombie. But it helps. And esp helps if you can get to bed earlier -- your stress hormones and all that stuff rejuvenate best around the hours of something like 11:30pm til 3am or something...supposedly that earlier to bed really helps your body rejuvenate over stress in particular. If you're like me, you go to sleep at midnite and wake up at 4am awake -- apparently this is esacalated cortisol, and a symptom of stress.

Without saying, eating well -- whole foods, not too much processed stuff, nix the high frustose corn syrup etc. --always a great thing, I like to eat that way so this one actually is not a problem! Hope your job allows you to eat OK, I know sometimes work and travel can get in the way.

Hope this helps....I personally am *still* working on all of these...let me know how you do !!

Renee

[Duck on Wheels]

Breathe in, breathe out, close your eyes, visualize a warm sunny beach, feel the heat on your body, feel your toes relaxing, then your arches, then your ankles ... and so on until you're pretty much asleep. Wake up eventually. If you're still stressed, then try smashing something cheap, noisy, and expendable (chipped plates will do fine). Then start over from the top.

And otherwise ... what everybody else has said.

[margo49]

1. Movement - biking, walking or something else in the open air
2. Prayer/Meditation - whatever suits or whatever you were brought up in (or the opposite!) And remember retro can be the new contemporary - so don't be reticent about returning to your roots
3. The Dalai Lama book recommended above plus something with a short daily thought that you can keep coming back to throughout the day. The Dalai Lama has a book like this with every day a different thought but there are zillions out there
4. Nutrition - fresh, home-cooked, and variety would be my key words

ps, I recommend that you stay with "the established spiritualities" rather than something without a history. People have been dealing with stress believe it or not for 1000's of years (as in "Oh, Dear Neanderthal Husband, I do hope that Big Black Bear doesn't come snuffling round the cave again") and have come up with some great ideas

[Mr. Bloom]

Christina:

I am an executive officer in a public company in a regulated business. I have so many conflicting constituencies to please...but I enjoy my work very much.

FMCG is an organization without slackards. You're all top guns and had to be competitive to even get chosen in the first place. In the corporate pyramid, there's always a "cut" happening as more and more folks vie for advancement into fewer slots.

So, first, accept that and decide if you want to play that game.

Second, do not let conflict (or lack of it) determine your sense of comfort or self perception. My boss is the CEO...we don't always agree. I remind him that it's not my job to agree with him...it's my job to do what I think is right...if we really can't agree and he feels strongly, then sometimes it's my job to say "yes sir". It's easier sometimes when I accept that, regardless of my position or stature, I do have a boss that I'm accountable to.

Third, remember there is pressure and there is stress. Pressure exists, but stress occurs when you allow it to metabolize into your physiology. This is a choice you make in your response to pressure. If you can't control the effect that pressure has on you, it may be better for you to seek something in a better environment. FMCG folks can "write their ticket" in many places AND they enjoy life considerably more.

We keep a plaque hanging on our wall that says: "If you enjoy what you do, you'll never work a day in your life". I believe this. Make sure you're doing this for the right reasons and that you get satisfaction from your job. If not, it's time for a gut check.

Years ago, I took inventory of what was important to me - professionally. There are many things, but the first three things:

Who I work for...will they lead me? do I trust and respect them? Can I follow them as a result?
Who I work with...are they competant? equally committed? trustworthy?
What I do...is it fun? challenging? rewarding?

I can't say for you, but for me, when those things are in balance, life is good...but when one of those tips, something has to compensate...when two tip...well, it's only happened once, but it was time to move on.

Sure, exercise IS a COPING mechanism, but it seems to me that your issue is a bit deeper than a need to cope (and I hope you understand that I mean that constructively and with the profoundest respect for what you're feeling right now)

I wish you the best in addressing this and finding a healthy equilibrium.