Dealing with Stress from Home
Our home life often overlaps with our work and vice versa, both in good ways and bad ways. Stressors at home can begin to pile up and affect our work if we are not careful. While some stress is so great that the worker experiencing it should not be at work, most stress can be handled in such a way that it does not create a hazardous situation.
Common Stressors Relating to Home Life
There are many different stressors in each of our lives at any given time. It is important to recognize types of common stressors and if they could be affecting you at work. Some common types of stressors include:
- Many people are dealing with health issues, whether it is themselves or a loved one. A serious health scare can be one of the most trying situations we ever deal with in life.
- Lack of money or excessive bills can weigh heavy on a person.
- Fighting or arguing with a loved one can create a stressful situation for an individual long after the discussion was had.
- Fill in the blank. While the above three mentioned stressors are common for many people, literally anything can be a stressor for an individual. We are all unique and different living different lives; what causes stress for each of us varies greatly.
How Stress Affects Work
There are many negative effects when someone carries in stress from home to work. A couple examples include:
- Lack of focus. Dealing with any of the above stressors is obviously going to come with a mental load. Constantly giving thought to a stressful situation takes your mind off of the task at hand.
- Strain on work relationships. Stress can cause a person to shut down or become angry towards those around them. This situation negatively affects communication between workers and the cohesiveness of a work group as a whole. Lack of communicationor teamwork can lead to injury.
How to Deal with Stress
There is no one size fits all solution for dealing with stress from a situation at home. Mentioned above, everyone is different and how we each deal with stress will vary. Some quick ideas:
- Recognize what is truly bothering you. From there it is less difficult to attempt to find solutions in dealing with it. Also recognizing the stressor can help you separate your anger towards a situation or person at home from those around you at work.
- Take action to mitigate or eliminate the stressor. Not all stressors can be eliminated, but our reaction and how we face it can be improved.
- Have a conversation with a loved one, friend, or coworker about the issue. Many times our minds are our own worst enemies.
- Have hobbies or other ways to relax. Everyone needs a mental break from work and any stress caused at home.
Summary
This was a just a brief discussion on the stressors our home life can cause and how it affects our work. Dealing with the mentioned issues is not easy. However it is important to recognize their existence and how it affects you on a larger scale. If your mind is not in the game at work have a discussion with a supervisor. If needed, take a day off to come into work in a healthier frame of mind.