Stressful In Many Ways example essay topic

Do you feel stress in your life? Does this affect the way you live and work? Many things currently going on in one's life, such as work, health, family and finances, can cause stress. It is how we individually identify the root cause and begin working on managing them effectively. As adult learners, there are various aspects of our work life that cause each of us some form of stress. We discovered these potential areas of stress related to your work life and shall try to make suggestions on how to overcome these.

According to the Health and Wellness resource center, stress has been defined in different ways over the years. Originally, it was conceived of as pressure from the environment, then as strain within the person. The generally accepted definition today is one of interaction between the situation and the individual. It is the psychological and physical state that results when the resources of the individual are not sufficient to cope with the demands and pressures of the situation. Thus, stress is more likely in some situations than others and in some individuals than others.

Stress can undermine the achievement of goals, both for individuals and for organizations (S. Michie. Jan 2002). One item we determined might cause stress at work are your co-workers. This may be for many reasons, such as: ignorance of their responsibilities, unreliability, jealousy or competition that may come with some positions like commission sales, or the potential growth opportunities within an organization. A suggestion for dealing with this type of stress might be to speak directly to your co-worker if this person is someone you can approach and discuss your concerns with.

Maybe the issue that is of concern to you is something that your co-worker might not be aware of. If this does not work or is not a viable option, another choice is to speak with your supervisor about your issues and see if they can offer any suggestions on a way to handle them. Another factor that may create stress for you might be that you are subjected to last minute deadlines which either cannot be met or at a minimum are an unrealistic request. Not having the appropriate time required to finish a project or task completely and correctly can be extremely stressful on you. In this situation, you need to present your case to those who have imposed the deadline and explain why this is unrealistic and suggest alternatives as to what is more realistic. Travel required by your employer can also cause a great deal of stress in your life, especially if the travel is requested at the last minute or comes at an inopportune time related to other issues going on in your life.

You might ask a co-worker, who is also capable of the same task you were assigned, if they might be able to make the trip in your place if you offer to do the same for them on a future assignment. Another option would be to discuss with your customer or client the possibility of rescheduling the trip to another time that might work better for your schedule, and may possibly work for them as well. If you know that your position requires you to travel on business and you have a personal issue that arises and may keep you from being able to travel, you should notify your company immediately. Of course, this is if you have advanced notice of something happening which might affect your availability to travel.

Family can also stress you out in many ways. How do you make time for a significant other? How does a single parent manage taking care of their child while in school? The first thing to do is to set your priorities straight. Analyze your life and determine what is most important to you as a person. Never give up on your personal goals.

Do not let the people closest to you determine what you want to do in your life. The bottom line is, whatever you decide, the people in your life who truly love you will support any decisions that you make in life. Most people want to have a career so they would not mind getting up at 6: 00 a.m. to get some work accomplished. A college education can help you determine what profession interests you the most. Unfortunately, going to college has some obstacles to overcome in order to succeed.

Three major things to concentrate on are: attending class, studying, and fulfilling obligations to a group project. All of these scenarios can be extremely stressful. There will be times that you will feel that the situation is unsolvable. Staying dedicated is the key to making it out of these types of situations.

Physically you need to take care of yourself in order to carry out all of the mental factors in life. If you have a heart condition, it can be difficult to make your doctor's visits and take medication regularly and also attend to your school work. Trying to maintain a healthy diet is nearly impossible for some people, especially if you work eight hours a day and then go to school at night. Nobody feels like cooking a full course meal at 10: 00 p.m. A way to overcome this situation is to carefully plan out all your medical and health needs everyday. A pilot survey conducted at the University of Warwick revealed that many adult learners experience some degree of financial difficulty during their studies (Merrill, Barbara, Feb 98).

As we go further into the financial aspect of returning to school, you will learn how the financial piece could be the most stressful and how to combat it. As adult learners, most of us are employed full-time and are lucky enough to be afforded the opportunity to attend classes at night. We are looking at this as a chance for "job security" or an "opportunity for advancement". We believe once we obtain our Bachelor's degree, the company will consider us an asset because you have the hands-on experience as well as the book knowledge. Unfortunately, this is not always true.

This can lead to a stressful situation. We now have thoughts of surviving the pending layoffs or receiving the next available management position (with a nice salary increase). This is stressful in many ways; you are now worrying about the job reimbursing you for courses taken, or having to repay your employer for courses taken if you are laid off, or finding part-time employment to pay for the portion that was not covered by your employer. A part-time job comes in handy for multiple reasons. Upon returning to school, one of the many things an adult leaner must decide is which bills have precedence, the kids must be fed nightly; the rent / mortgage has to be paid if one wants to sleep somewhere warm and safe. As far as transportation, the monthly car note should be paid; however, we will touch on that later.

One semester it may come down to deciding to pay the mortgage or taking a class. In many cases, employers will reimburse you but that may take up to three to six weeks to process. Do you want to take the chance of letting the mortgage go unpaid for that length of time? Your kids participate in after school activities; how will they get to and from these activities.

It really isn't an issue how much money one spends on other things until it's decided that you want to continue your education. If you are married, one way to relieve this stressful situation would be sharing the responsibilities with your spouse. Asking your parents, if possible, to chip in especially when it involves the kids. Develop a plan, and stick with it.

The plan can be as simple as going to school every other semester to loosen the financial strain attending every semester would cause. The cost of returning school involves buying books, paying tuition every five to fifteen weeks, and transportation. A public institution may bill you over $150 per credit hour and on top of that you have to purchase books (sometimes new) at a cost of somewhere between $35.00 - $100.00 each. All of these items we have mentioned can cause each person some stress. How you deal with it and move forward is what will make all the difference. Spend some time figuring out what your priorities are in life and move towards this the best you can.

Finding ways to deal with your stress levels will make things easier for you to do so.

Bibliography

1. S. Michie. Occupational and Environmental Medicine. Jan 2002 vs.
59 i 1 p 67 (6), InfoTrac. University of Phoenix Online Collection, April 8, 2003, Keywords: job stress 2.