Even in a booming economy, people suffer from stress. The causes could be anything ? excessive workload, tension between co-workers, tyrant bosses, botched-up interviews or even missed opportunities. Rapid change creates new jobs but also adds to more stress. So, what do you do? Here are some suggestions:

Don’t fight it. Rather, make stress work for you by recognising it.We can’t change stress in the workplace, only our reaction to it. When we choose to make stress work for us, it’s called becoming “resilient.” Resilience is a result of coping well or recovering from losses. It’s more than bouncing back, it means taking risks, learning to live with uncertainty, and solving problems creatively. We can do this in three ways:

Pin it down

Identify what is stressful and try to solve the problem creatively. For example, launching or changing a career is particularly stressful for young adults, who often fail to realise that workplace stress is hardest on them. It’s a myth that the youth have it easy. By recognising this fact, you can stop floundering and suffering more than you need to. Also it will be easier to find a solution to this.

Relocation is another stressful situation. You’re not just changing jobs; you’re changing neighbourhoods, leaving friends and relatives, all the while looking for new people to support you, like doctors, dentists, car mechanics, hair stylists, baby-sitters, to mention a few.

Good things, like promotions and raises, buying a home, and having a baby can be stressful, too. Often getting what we want, ironically, creates new burdens for us.

The perfect workplace

Find companies committed to training and development of their personnel. Continue your education and don’t put off that dream of yours. Go for it.

Learning is one of the best strategies to make stress work for you and help you become resilient. It helps you take your mind off that immediate worry.

Follow a plan

One such plan is the Coach’s Plan, which is designed to keep successful athletes mentally fit. When you feel stressed, stop what you are doing and breathe deeply, relax your body and mind. Then visualise your goal and see yourself achieving it.

Restate every negative thought with a positive statement about your strengths. Set mini behavioural goals ? actions you can take now, such as, “Today I will identify three new companies to target; find 3 networking leads; volunteer somewhere, etc.” Take action on those identified mini-goals. You will feel much better.

Making stress work for you and becoming resilient takes practice. Like babies learning to walk, you’ll have setbacks too. The resilient aren’t perfectionists who think and talk about how things should be. The resilient ones are people who take action, solve problems and reserve time for renewal.

In turn, they are often among the people we admire. So start making stress work for you, too. Identify your stress, find employers who value resilience and follow an action plan.

Whether you choose the Coach’s Plan or develop one of your own, you’ll be headed in the right direction. And you will see how much at ease you will be with your stress!

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