Stress

Stress in the credit crunch

At times of economic downturn we listen to the news with a growing sense of despondency, economic recession, job losses, company closures and repossessions. We can, at times like these, begin to catastrophise our own situation, will we lose what we have built up over the years? Will we have to down size our house or car? Will we have to use our savings if indeed we have them?

For many people, external factors over which we have no control, impact on us more severely. We can feel a sense of helplessness and loss of control. One of the most significant factors in the creation of stress is the feeling of loss of control of our lives and destiny.

How does it affect us?

We can begin to feel as if everyone is coping better than we are. We can feel alone and isolated, we can become introspective and critical of ourselves and our situation. At this point we may begin to worry, to sleep less well, to lose our appetite and our libido, we may drink a little more, smoke a little more. We may begin to withdraw from supportive relationships, to pass up social invitations, we may even find ourselves telling lies, not the big ones but little ones like “I’m ok” when clearly we are not.

The descent into stress is subtle and sometimes hardly noticeable. We will however reach a point very quickly where the stress levels we endure become almost normal because we have had them for so long we forget what it was like to feel good. We will lose our short term memory, have difficulty reading books or watching anything on television, we will arrive at our destination and occasionally forget how we got there.

We soon become “stress saturated” What this means is stress becomes a part of us. We are so stressed so much of the time that the idea of resting, switching off, relaxing and taking it easy becomes alien to our lifestyle. This is the very time we need to take that time out, take that opportunity to rest, learn to relax and switch off. Take a walk, go for a swim, cook a meal slowly and eat it even more slowly. Spend a bit of time with someone you love, read that book that has been with you for months.

Looking back?

Imagine being at the end of your life and looking back over all that you have achieved, all you have seen and done, all the beautiful and wonderful things you have experienced. Can you imagine saying to yourself ‘do you know what, I wished I’d spent more time at work’ Or ‘I wish I’d spent more time worrying and getting upset’

Would you rather be saying ‘I wish I’d spent more time singing and dancing and having fun’ ‘I wish I’d spent more time with the people I loved’

Today is the day to look seriously at your lifestyle and stress levels. Today is the day to address the things in your life that you are not happy with. It is your life and whether you are in your 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s or 60s….you still have 30, 40, 50 or 60 years left to live. They can be happy, joyful and rewarding, you just have to decide if you want them to be.

© 2008 stress and culture audits.