From my experience and Dr. Susan Krauss Whitbourne’s article “Six Best-Kept Secrets About Stress”, here are several points you may find helpful in understanding and coping with stress.
Stress is in the mind of the beholder – Stress means different things for different people. Even joyous events such as a vacation or a wedding may be extremely stressful for many. An event which may be very stressful for me, for example, taking SAT, may not be for you, as you may strive on taking exams.
Stress creates more stress – we can create or make our stressful situations worse by the way we handle everyday life situations.
A bad mood in the morning really can ruin your day – A study of customer service representatives showed that those employees who started their day in a bad mood actually rated their customers more negatively, and after talking to a customer who displayed negative mood the employees were less productive.
You sleep more poorly when you are stressed – a study of teachers found that on days when they felt highly stressed, they had poor sleep quality, felt more tired, had more trouble waking up in the morning, and performed worse on tests of cognitive functioning.
People whose jobs require them to be “nice” regardless how they feel experience more stress – receptionists, greeters, waitpersons may feel burdened by having to put on a false front day after day. Researchers suggest that learning how to feel more compassionate may change your point of view and feel less aggravated by customers.
Bullying does not concern only children – bullying at workplace is a major source of stress for adults. Social isolation, direct harassment, intimidating behavior, work-related criticism, and physical violence are all very stressful.