Work Stress

PERFORMANCE PRESSURE

No matter our role in our careers, we always have the pressure to perform well. Some professions have a profound pressure to perform well, compounded by intense demands: 

• The Medical Field
• Technology and Engineering Fields
• Athletic Organizations
• First Responders and Emergency Response
• The Legal Field
• Airline Pilots

In these high-stress roles, we must be both physically and mentally healthy to cope with all the demands and pressures associated with our roles. 

BURN OUT 

The first day we enter our field, we experience a combination of nervousness and excitement—we found our purpose. We give everything we have, but as time progresses, as we gain more experience, the excitement we once had transforms, most likely due to things out of our control. Businesses evolve, not necessarily for the better, and we feel inundated over those changes. Perhaps there are cut-backs; we feel pressured into tasks in our role which we are uncomfortable; more hours, yet pay which does not reflect those hours and additional responsibilities; feeling critiqued as if we weren’t being productive enough. It just gets harder to be excited and remember that purpose—we get burnt out.

ORGANIZATION BETRAYAL

Organizational betrayal occurs when there is a breach of psychological contracts, unkept promises, or unacknowledged systemic harms, resulting in moral injury, particularly among high-achieving employees. Perhaps we are overlooked for a promotion due to favoritism; perhaps we do not feel supported from management; perhaps our concerns were dismissed and retaliated against for speaking out; or we are simply laid off.

The high price of this betrayal: retention, trust, and brand, as organizational betrayal has been a growing concern in exit interviews. Some industries are incredibly competitive, including the tech industry or professional athletic organizations, where employees feel they must continually fight to keep their jobs— living in survival mode, rather than living in innovation. High-achieving employees can be exposed to toxic cultures, where the misuse of “resilience” in the toxic environment may result in psychological numbing. 

STRESS AND CORTISOL 

Many times, we mistake the symptoms of high cortisol with our personality. Perhaps we are considered a workaholic, or a Type A-personality. In reality, we overachieve and attempt to be perfect and successful to hide our feelings of not being good enough, most likely as a result of growing up in a strict, highly demanding, and critical home environment. It is the high cortisol which makes us competitive and controlling, as well as irritable and impatient. Those of us living with constant stress may have random eye twitches, losing our hair, or long-term lower back pain. High cortisol not only adversely affects us on the exterior, but also our interior processes, including making it harder for our bodies to process food properly and impeding the mineral balance keeping us hydrated. 

Living in a constant state of stress, our muscles instinctively tense to protect us; if this is activated long enough, our brain will treat that tension as the new normal. Over time, we enter a state of sensorimotor amnesia, where our brain will physiologically forget how to release that tension; our brain will stop sending relaxation signals to certain muscles, explaining:

• Knots in our shoulders that never go away
• Constant jaw locking
• A tight neck
• Bad posture we’re always trying to correct
• Back pain which does not go away
• Waking up tense and sore
• Feeling as if we can never actually relax

Our clinicians can help provide tools to constructively cope with the stress and demands of the issues associated with our workplace, empowering you in what you can control. We can help you find the right work-life balance to remain balanced. Most of all, we can help you navigate your path: towards rediscovering your purpose, or finding a new path of purpose.