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What do you do when times are tough? Look at the current US economy. President Obama is making every effort to revive an economy that is in a downward spiral. Pundits are concerned about not only the current one trillion dollar proposed deficit in the national budget but the prospect of year after year of national deficit. Financial gloom meets us at every corner. Unemployment is increasing – the Bureau of Labor Statistics paints a vivid picture of job losses: “The unemployment rate rose from 7.6 to 8.1 percent, payroll employment has declined by 2.6 million in the past 4 months. The number of unemployed persons increased by 851,000 to 12.5 million in February, and the unemployment rate rose to 8.1 percent.  Over the past 12 months, the number of unemployed persons has increased by about 5.0 million, and the unemployment rate has risen by 3.3 percentage points”.

The newspapers also tell the story: many firms are downsizing or closing their doors. Nokia (dropped 1700 jobs), The Sportsmen’s Warehouse (sold off many of its shops – though not in Alaska!), Caterpillar (5000 jobs), Sprint Nextel (8000), General Motors (2000 jobs), Home Depot (8000 jobs), and even Microsoft is considering job cuts.

All of this is happening at a time when there is widespread outrage at the massive bonuses being paid to AIG executives. Today’s local newspaper gives accounts of public protests, death threats, increased police presence around the homes of wealthy executives in the ‘Gold Coast’ area of New York, warnings to employees not to wear company badges or identification, and so on. Yesterday there was talk about Congress enacting a bill to tax 90% of the AIG bonuses.

All the negative news about unemployment, recession budget deficits, job cuts etc sounds big warning bells, increases anxiety, intensifies feelings of unpredictability, threatens personal security, and elevates personal stress and work stress. Anxiety has many faces but typically we think of situation specific anxiety (e.g., test anxiety) and generalized anxiety. Anxiety is a psychological response to stress. Anxiety can manifest itself in many ways: somatically (bodily or physiological reactions like elevated blood pressure, stomach aches, palpitations, even nausea), emotional reactions (such as irritability, being short tempered, feeling tense), cognitive difficulties (inability to be able to concentrate, short-term memory lapses), and behavioral reactions (engagement in risky physical behaviors, elevated activity levels, or lowered activity).

Charles Spielberger’s early research pointed to two ‘types’ of anxiety – state and trait. Trait anxiety is a long term representation of elevated stress and consequent anxiety, almost a personality characteristic for an individual. State anxiety is short term and reactive. One of his tests of state anxiety will give you an idea of the associated feelings one has with state anxiety. Here are the key emotional terms: calm, secure, tense, regretful, at ease, upset, worried, at ease, anxious, comfortable, self-confident, nervous, jittery, high-strung, relaxed, content, over-excited, rattled, joyful, and pleasant.

Some of these are positive feelings; most are negative. In terms of overcoming the work stress, or worries about being sacked, or not being able to pay your mortgage, or pay for the kids’ college tuition fees, consider some of these words and work out a strategy. Let’s take calm and contented. Sit down with your partner and write down your specific fears. Test these fears to see if there is any evidence that what you are worried about (job loss) might happen. Make a list of all the positive things in your life. Develop a feeling of calmness, contentment and satisfaction. Give thanks for what you have and celebrate your achievements. Put a positive face on the current situation. Get rid of the negative feelings that YOU have created (feeling jittery, tense, upset, high-strung). Note that all of these negative feelings are a result of your failure to put things into perspective and maintain a positive, balanced view of life.

If things are really tough, instead of sweating it, plan for bad times. I like the idea of President Barrack and Michelle and the kids planting a vegetable garden in the White House grounds. During the Second World War people worked on what was called their ‘Victory Gardens’. This is a classic example of finding positive strategies to increase confidence and reduce anxiety – and at a catastrophic time in our history.

I am not trying to diminish the importance of facing the facts and being realistic about job losses and financial challenges. I am trying to put a positive face on the work stress and personal stress so that you deal proactively and effectively with the challenge – and so that you will suppress and eliminate negative self-talk. You CAN control workplace stress and by so doing you can make yourself much less stressed and anxious and more productive and positive. Go out and dig that garden (physically or metaphorically) and you will reduce and relieve stress. Good luck.

Warm regards

Dr Jeff

For the team at Mighty Digital Downloads

PS Some neat ideas from the Youtube video below!

Tags: manage stress, managing stress, reduce stress, relationship stress, relieve stress, stress at work, stress relief, work stress, workplace stress

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 21st, 2009 at 7:45 am and is filed under Dr Jeff on Emotional Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.